For the love of a mother

Mr. Wizzet was busy rearranging his room and changing desks here and there. He quickly swapped the boards and turned on the projector. He brought out a fresh set of files and folders and dumped them on the front desk.

Abdul was still bent over his task.

"You must leave now Abdul. Tomorrow is another day. You come back and finish your work."

Abdul pulled his stuff together, bungled them into his folder while Mr. Wizzet was at the door receiving his next class.

Mr. Wizzet made it a point of duty to stand at the door and shake every student's hand. He made sure that he ignited an eye contact with all of them. He would end up spending about 20 seconds with each student to contact their spirit and welcome them into his room. By standing there at the door, he clearly demonstrated that you were coming into his domain. By standing there, he made you feel welcomed by personalizing a greeting and handshake. By standing there, he took charge of the fact that, he was in control and also it was a collaboration.

As the last one was coming in, Abdul, was waiting by the door to jet out. 

"Listen buddy, good job today. However you don't have to finish everything in one day. Tomorrow is another day. Take care!"

"Thanks Mr. Wizzet. But I need to finish everything. It is a goal that I have set for myself".

The next time Mr. Wizzet had a lesson with Abdul's class, he moved Abdul away from his mates. He sat him alone in a quiet corner. Here Abdul was able to concentrate and figure out what he had to do. Abdul was not the brightest of kids but he had an irrepressible determination. He would not leave his work unfinished. His mates didn't seem to care much about work once the lesson time was over. They wanted to move on.

Abdul took special interest on the spreadsheet that signaled his performance. Yellow meant absence, red meant failed and no color coding meant you are on safe ground. If you had a green, it meant outstanding. Abdul's eyes were on the green. He wanted to populate his cells with the green color. He loved seeing his cells being highlighted with green. He was always asking what he could do to improve his grades.

Another significant thing about Abdul was that he never missed a lesson. He was always present for every single lesson. His attendance was 100%. He walked with a swag and wore such a beautiful smile. He looked disorganized from the outside. However, he was organized to a fault. His shoes were always shiny. He had a comb in his pocket and he only combed his beards. Mr. Wizzet was once tempted to ask him why he couldn't extend such benevolence to his hair.

He spoke in a calculated manner and counted his words when he spoke. You needed to understand him to realize that you have to be patient with him. He gave utter consideration to whatever he wanted to say first before spewing it out. Some of his comments were too weighty for some of his mates. His comments were on the high end of the spectrum, being able to connect whatever he learnt to real life situations.

One time they were studying about timelines and the character the class used for the case study was Hisun, a Chinese. At first glance Abdul thought it was an error. He blurted in a calculated note "Mr. Wizzet why are the books we study always with the foreign names and stuff. What about Hussain and places in the Middle East?"

'You are correct Abdul. This is the sort of conversation I want to encourage you guys to have with me. If you notice Abdul, at the end of each unit, I always set work that relates to you transferring your knowledge to that of your context."

Preparations were in top gear for the upcoming Eid holiday. The fast was drawing to an end and the students were genuinely tired. All what they wanted to do was come in, have a chat and check out of the room. Only the likes of Abdul could sustain a deep conversation and work ethics.