{This is a response to Friday Fictioneers’ photo prompt for the week. The photo depicts a synagogue, which, I just realized, I don’t even know how to spell! Obviously, venturing into this territory might be a reach for me. So I stuck with something I am more familiar with: required children’s reading. Hope you enjoy the story, and don’t think me too cowardly, for brushing over the more serious aspects of Anne’s story, in favor of the ones–such as being cooped up, in a small space– which every child can relate to.}
The classroom’s window ran, uninterrupted, end-to-end, along one wall. Clear glass.
It taunted everyone, within. But Ellen, most of all.
Waving and dancing, in all their greenest glory, the spring fields demanded her full attention.
“Ellen? Did you hear me?”
Crimson shame. Ellen shuffled papers. Anne Frank dropped to the ground.
Laughter pealed from the eaves.
“Now, is that respectful?”
Clucking, Teacher swooped her arm down, like a stretching swan. Rescuing the battered victim.
“Ellen. What would you miss, if you were imprisoned in a room, year after year?”
A futile gesture, window-ward.
“Same as now,” she shrugged. “All that.”
Copyright 2019 Andrea LeDew
I think Ellen has some point… being locked inside is a prison in so many ways… and I think she was forced as well.
Many homeschoolers and especially unschoolers would agree with you, Bjorn.
Ellen is imprisoned now in this classroom. Beautiful outside world is calling her. She will feel exactly like the way she is feeling now if she is locked up.
Thanks Abhjit!
A good story, Andrea. Daydreaming isn’t always a bad thing. She could become a writer. She should be gently encouraged to pay more attention in class though. It must have been extremely hard for Anne all those years. Keeping the diary helped. 🙂 — Suzanne
I don’t know how my avatar ending up on your biography below. Strange things happen with WordPress. —- Suzanne
Its a gravatar thing. Every once in a while I have to empty the cache to my plugin. Ill go do that now. Hope you were not offended by the association. ?
Thanks Patricia. My character’s longing for the out-of-doors is a mere shadow of the desperation of a young girl hiding, in an attempt to escape a genocide. But I think you’re right, that writing can be soothing in the worst of times.
That sooo reminded me of my Maths lessons. The great outdoors beckoning… Nicely done.
Thank you Sandra. This time of year, the outdoors can be very attractive to us all.
Even teachers get Spring fever. To bad this is not very understanding.
I bet they do. Yes I’m not sure she fully appreciates, that the little girl in her class feels trapped, too.
Poor Ellen, I guess she’d like to run over hills and climb trees. I also love the outdoors–sitting under a tree, reading, by a lake, reading, in a boat… I agree with the others, the teacher is smart and perceptive. I think that lesson will stick.
Thanks gah. The question is who was teaching the lesson, Teacher or Ellen?
I liked the way you wrote this. Nice one.
Thanks Ted.
Rochelle stole my words 😉
I wonder how well students would learn if they could be outside to do the learning?
Couldn’t hurt, Dale, though it might be harder on poor Teacher.
My husband would identify totally with Ellen. He has ADD, not recognized or understood in Anne Frank’s day.
Yes. Many diagnoses or individual particularities lead people to experience classroom settings as less than ideal. It was eye-opening to me, a fairly bookish student, to look on the experience of education that my son has had, with delayed language and autism and difference and extreme energy all throwing up huge roadblocks every way he turned. One size does not fit all.
True. I have a grandson who was diagnosed on the autistic spectrum, what they used to call Aspberger’s. He suffered senstivity overload, meltdowns, several other symptoms. BUT==the good news is that once he hit 8th or 9th grade, he was considered ready to be cut loose from his TSS support, and graduated with honors a year ago. He’s a great kid, kind, fun. He still has some odd mannerisms, but they don’t matter. You have my very best wishes and prayers for a positive outcome for your son.
That’s wonderful granonine. Many congrats to the young man–and his parents!
Yeah, although I always was a reader, the outside calls to me… I agree with Rochelle, the teacher was smart to turn Ellen’s distraction into a lesson from the book.
Indeed. If she is a skilled teacher, she will use this episode to increase the child’s love for learning.
I can relate. She is a day dreamer and wants to break free. Hmm something about classrooms.
It is a subject often debated in homeschooling circles. There is something incorrigibly coercive about sticking small children in tiny boxes for hours on end. But is it possible to educate a child with no coercion whatsoever?
I’ve often questioned the same thing. School primes kids for the adult world. Most jobs require focus and discipline. Yet kids should be kids.
Dear Andrea,
I think Teacher is very perceptive. She saw the opportunity for an object lesson and ran with it. Well done.
Shalom,
Rochelle
This part of human experience, the yearning for freedom, is something every child understands. What I worry about is how Teacher will respond to such a “frank” answer.
Sometimes taking a lesson outside could be inspiring.
That’s very true Liz. Modern life often seems to trap us inside four walls.
Being in a room year after year is something Ann Frank would have remembered had she survived.
I think so too, Keith. Sadly her suffering did not stop there.
The outside is always so much more inspiring. Interesting take on the photograph.
Thank you Lady C.
I’m with Ellen here. Time to take the lessons outside, inspire the children in a different way.
Good idea, CE.
A shame that school is not inspiring her, but we can all sympathise.
It’s funny how some books seem to exist in layers, too, and and what you get out of a book at 12 is not what you glean from it at 30.
Re-reading books after a long break is often a joy – there are plenty I was forced to read at school that I didn’t appreciate, but returning to them as an adult they are amazing!
So true, Iain. Dickens and the Bronte sisters spring to mind.:)
Not a bookworm. But the outside would be more missed than the classroom for sure.
I loved school, for the most part, but not every child feels that way.