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  • Writer's pictureOshi the Clown

Classroom on the broom

Updated: Oct 3, 2019

Another great reason why silliness and perspective are a clown’s best friends:

At a primary school recently, I was asked to help find a broom. I found a chair.

The two first-graders looked at me like I didn’t understand. In Hebrew, chair and broom almost rhyme. So, I explained that if they took me to their classroom, I’d explain to the teacher that although a broom was the goal, a chair was the result.

The teacher welcomed me in.

I wondered aloud why the need for a broom.

The teacher pointed up to the overhead projector.

There is no broom – a la Matrix – wouldn’t work here. The kids were too young.

So, I took a long look at the overhead projector. Then I looked at my feet, slowly measuring my height compared to the distance of the power button. And I looked at the chair.

Using hand movements, I asked the teacher: chair – educational clown – projector?

The teacher voiced my idea to the class.

Excitement ensued. Could the chair and a clown replace the broom?

I put the chair under the projector and got up on it. It was a tad short. I got off.

I surveyed the situation again.

I asked for a volunteer to hold the chair. A boy readily agreed to do so. And while he was holding the chair (which I did not end up using, but it was good that someone held the chair for the sake of holding a chair), I got up on the adjacent school desk.

Ta da! I turned the power on.

I thanked the two girls for coming to get me, for asking for a broom but getting a chair. I thanked the boy for holding the chair I didn’t need. I thanked the class for their support. And I left with the chair.

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An hour or so later, as I was readying to leave the school, the two first-graders ran up to me. “Oshi,” they said, “we need you.”

I apologized that I was leaving but would be happy to see them next week when I return.

“No. We NEED you,” they repeated. “The projector turned off and we need YOU to turn it on.”

I suggested they ask the maintenance guy on the ladder who was fixing something in the secretary’s office.

Or, I added, they could find a broom.


Oshi is a member of the Educational Clowning Center - Talia Safra in Israel.

 

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