Tea & Empathy

Every spring for the last ten years, I’ve offered a Women’s History Challenge to 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders at my school, which is the oldest girls school in New Jersey. The Women’s History Challenge was a research project that required students to read and write about ten different featured women plus one woman of the student’s choice. The girls had six weeks to complete the project independently, and then we celebrated by having a tea party and participating in a quiz show. I wrote about the 2021 Challenge here.

I intended last year to be my final year since the colleague who facilitated the event with me was retiring, and many teachers thought the independent project was too difficult for the students. However, every year (even during COVID) at least twenty students chose to participate. I wanted to shine a light on those students who loved to read, write, and research. I wanted the girls to have an opportunity to learn about all kinds of women from all kinds of backgrounds doing amazing things.

So, Women’s History Challenge is a thing of the past. Well… almost… that was until I came across the tenacious duo to Tannishtha and Maxine. They were determined to convince me to keep the Challenge for one more year, their last year in the Primary School. They had participated in 3rd and 4th grades, and now wanted the opportunity to have one more year. I kept telling them I’d think about it. But they pulled out a secret weapon – they wrote me a letter. Actually Tannishtha wrote the letter, but I knew Maxine was right beside her giving her ideas. She teamed up with Tannishtha, the writer, to deliver their powerful argument. Both girls are the kindest students I know. They are polite, responsible, and diligent. Those are three qualities to champion, especially in this chaotic world!

Did I give in? Of course I did! It was two against one! And anyway, I’ve always loved a tea party! Tannistha and Maxine are two very smart and convincing little girls! I decided to offer the Challenge to the 5th grade students who participated when they were in 3rd or 4th grades. There are 6 of them. That is a very manageable number – a wonderful number for a spring tea party. So this weekend, I wrote the invitations and listed the instructions. Each student will choose one notable woman to research and write a 2-3 page biography about the woman’s accomplishments and give reasons why they have chosen her.

Tannishtha and Maxine were so excited when I told them there would be one more Women’s HistoryChallenge. I was happy that I could make them happy. It is gratifying to know that I will mark the end of the Challenge with this group of remarkable girls. I’m sure that we will be hearing more about their accomplishments in the future. As I write this post, Maxine is emailing me to make sure that I have completed the invitations. I would not be surprised if this girl, becomes president one day!