Tiny Talk Tuesday

Last spring I enjoyed a field experience assisting in an elementary school in north Philadelphia. In this particular school, 99.5% of the students are African American and 85% of the students live below the poverty line, just to give you an idea of the demographic. Working at this school was no doubt one of the main highlights of my stay in Philly. I helped in the kindergarten and first grade classrooms, and these precious young ones provided me with plenty of quotable moments.

I was holding Z-------'s hand as I walked her and some other kindergartners to the gym for an after school program. The time for me to leave and walk the block and a half back to my rowhome dorm on Broad St. was fast approaching, so on cue many of the kids asked to come home with me. I didn't bother to explain the whole no pets no little people rule, but I did say that I can't take them anywhere without their parents' permission. I also said that I don't live in a house and explained my dorm/apartment living situation as a college student. "I don't even live with my mom anymore! My family is five hours away!" They were very impressed by this and relished the idea of me having a mom just like they do. "Is your mom black?" Z------- piped up. :-) Of course I said that she's not, but it was then that I realized that what their teacher had told me earlier was correct: I had confused many of the children a couple days before when I had come to school with my hair corn-rowed. :-)





This was also apparent in another instance when a group of the kindergarten girls were competing with each other to see whose hair was the longest. "Look how long my hair is getting!" they said to one another. I said, "All of you have such beautiful hair! My hair is long, too, isn't it?" My hair extended well beyond the halfway point of my back. M------- grinned at me and made her eyes wide in surprised, saying, "That's your real hair?? I thought THAT was a WEAVE!!!"


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