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Xlibris US - Dr. Daniel Singh

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67 pages

English

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Description

In follow-up to the first book, Which Reminds Me of a Story, this book, Since You Asked Here’s a Story, is a second collection of short autobiographical anecdotes written for the tween and early teen.

Each is an entertaining true story of life as it happened to the author but told in a way and point of view that engages the younger reader!

More importantly, the reader can identify with the timeless content of each story, which might be about maturing, lessons we learn, emotions we feel, meeting new challenges, recognizing one's mistakes, dealing with changes in life, and going through situations with family and friends, to name just a few.

Many of the stories were originally presented orally in the classroom; meaning, they were first related from time to time by Dr. Singh to his students. As with his students, don’t be surprised if the reader will also begin to reflect on his or her own experiences in life, thus building on learning from personal memories!

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Biography

Autobiography

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Publié par	Xlibris US
Date de parution	31 octobre 2022
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781669853688
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0200€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

SINCE YOU ASKED, HERE’S A STORY
Dr. Daniel Singh

Copyright © 2022 by Dr. Daniel Singh.
Library of Congress Control Number:
2022920473
ISBN:
Hardcover
978-1-6698-5370-1

Softcover
978-1-6698-5369-5

eBook
978-1-6698-5368-8

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of creative non-fiction. All of the events in this memoir are true to the best of the author’s memory. Some names and identifying features have been changed to protect the identity of certain parties. The author in no way represents any company, corporation, or brand, mentioned herein. The views expressed in this memoir are solely those of the author.

Cover design and art by Ariel Sinha. For further information about the artist visit www.arielsinhaha.com .

Rev. date: 10/31/2022

Xlibris
844-714-8691
www.Xlibris.com
846675
CONTENTS
Introduction
The Dance Contest
First Book
Moving and the Secret Room
Science and Mystery
Discovering a Hero and Model
Daniel Van Winkle
Big Brother, Little Sister, and Halloween
Living in India
Chicken for Dinner: Step One
The King
The Red Fort and Elephant Ride
Daily Life
Learning Hindi
Kites and Cricket
Doctor Mom
Making a Dash for It
Caused by a Snowball
Background Information
Landing the Job
What Happened
Spectacles
Weathering the Weather
A Peak Experience with Beethoven’s 5 th
The Perfect Game
Forces of Nature
When Lightning Strikes
“It’s a Twister! It’s a Twister!”
The Bike Race
Mister Spelling/Misspelling
How Not to Use Your Head
INTRODUCTION
This book is another collection of personal anecdotes written for elementary and middle school students, especially those in their tween and early teen years. As a teacher of that age group, on occasion I would orally share with the kids of my classroom autobiographical snippets of when I was their age. They found them entertaining and often informative, stories they could relate to, and from time to time, they would ask whether I’d written them down. That kick-started me, so I began gathering several into short stories, which became the first compilation, Which Reminds Me of a Story . After that book, more stories began bubbling up in my memory, and so we have this second effort, Since You Asked, Here’s a Story .
Here’s how this book got its title. A few years ago, I was attending the middle school graduation ceremony of a class of students to whom I’d taught math and science back when they were sixth graders. I’d taken on other educator roles since that time, but they invited me to come to their event when it rolled around a couple of years later. Knowing how busy they’d be during that evening’s ceremony, I paid them a visit earlier in the week over lunch so we could all eat together and have fun chatting once again (when I was their teacher, we often did that, something we all enjoyed).
I sat down with them at their long cafeteria table, and we all crowded around. It was a fine time seeing everyone again, and we easily fell into conversation as though it were yesterday. At one point, however, one of the students asked, “Could you tell us one of your stories?”
“A story? Which one would you like to hear?” I asked.
“Tell us one about an elephant!” another student said.
An elephant? I had never told them a story about an elephant before, so this request seemed to come from out of the blue! I’m in a spot! What do you do when you have a gaggle of young faces pressed in around you, all expecting to hear a story about an elephant?
I shifted my thinking into high gear because even if I had to make up one on the spur of the moment, I just had to tell them a story about an elephant! Disappointing the kids was not an option! I raced through the pages of my memory and . . .
Something came to mind! I did have one elephant story that happened in my life. With relief, I could answer with “Well, since you asked, here’s a story ,” and the kids, now almost ninth graders, squeezed in closer to hear. I told them of when I was a young boy living in India and rode an elephant for the first time. You’ll find that story in this collection, along with a few others from that period in my life.
As with Which Reminds Me of a Story , for most stories of this book I provide some introductory background information and discuss the world as it was for me in my youth. And if there was a lesson I gained from the experience, I point that out too—after all, life teaches us many things along the way, if we only stop to notice. At any age, young or old, reflection is an important means by which we learn and grow.
To respect identities, I’ve changed the names of people and places you’ll read about, but just as in Which Reminds Me of a Story , the anecdotes in this book are also true. I don’t know about you, but to me there’s something a little extra special when you know a story actually happened! There it is before you, life as it took place.
So I hope you can squeeze in and enjoy these as well. And let me remind you: don’t forget the stories from your own life. Someday there might be a young face or two (or even a whole class!) gathered up close, wanting to hear them!
Dr. Daniel Singh
THE DANCE CONTEST
“Good morning, class,” greeted my fifth grade teacher, Miss Kellerman, in her usual warm, friendly way as we all came in first thing Monday and took our seats. “I have a surprise thought for you today! Last Friday after school, a couple of girls came to me with an idea. They proposed we have a dance contest. What do you think? Shall we have one?”
A low murmur of interest started up as we all began to ponder the notion. A boy raised his hand.
“Yes, Mark?”
“How would we do it?” he asked.
Miss Kellerman directed her answer to the class. “Well, simple, really. I have a portable record player. You and a partner can pair up and dance to records participants bring in. I’ll serve as judge and decide which pair seems most skilled. And I’m sure I can find another faculty member to help judge too. Sound like fun?”
Now the idea caught fire! The low murmur became a louder excitement. You could hear words to the effect of “Yeah!” with kids nodding and turning their heads every which way to check on one another’s reactions.
“All right, what say we take a blind vote?” Miss Kellerman suggested. “You know the drill. Heads down and no peeking.” (In the interest of privacy and fairness, she would have us do it this way, like in the classroom game Heads Up/Seven Up, so you can vote freely without others seeing your choice.) “Those in favor of a dance contest, raise your hand.” Every hand went up. “Okay, heads up. It’s unanimous in favor of a dance contest! There’s just one small detail. We’ll need to get the principal’s okey dokey on this, but I don’t think it’ll be a problem. I’ll let you know after lunch.”

Electric anticipation buzzed through us the rest of the morning. During lunch, it seemed everyone at our table in the cafeteria was talking about it, laying into plans, and pairing up. Except for me. I made no effort to find a partner.
First thing after lunch and recess, Miss Kellerman gave us the news. “Okay, my good munchkins,” (she affectionately called us munchkins after the wee folk in The Wizard of Oz ), “we got the green light from the principal. Let’s have our dance contest last thing this coming Friday. We’ll do it out on the playground. You and a partner let me know by the end of the day Wednesday if you’re going to participate. Bring any 45s you’d like. Let’s hope for good weather, but if not, I have a Plan B location. Now, if you don’t want to enter the dance contest, that’s fine, you can watch. Good luck to all the contestants!”
A dance contest, eh? I had raised my hand when we voted—sounded like fun—but to be honest, it wasn’t grabbing me. I’d never been in one, and I wasn’t so sure I was capable, anyway. I didn’t think of myself as much of a dancer, just average at best, so I figured any chance I’d have in a dance contest was next to zilch. Besides, unlike most kids in the class, I didn’t have a partner. Adding it all up, I decided to close the door on the prospect of participating. I was okay with just being one of the students watching on the sidelines. And so, my mind was made up.
All that took an about-face the next day when a friend of mine, Jay, came up to me during morning recess.
“Hey, Dan! Let’s be partners and enter the dance contest!”
“You don’t have a partner, Jay? I dunno. I gotta tell ya, I don’t think I’m a very good dancer . . .”
“Oh, that’s okay. I’ll teach you. You’ll catch on fast.”
“Well, um, maybe,” I answered. I was just being polite to Jay with that last reply, but to tell you the truth, I was far from convinced about entering. I was sure I didn’t have the chops to be a good dance partner. But I kept the conversation going with “Do you know how to dance, Jay?”
“Do I know how to dance? Moi ? Heck, yeah! My sister’s in high school. I’ve watched her plenty of times during parties, and she’s taught me. I can show you!”
“Well . . .,” I said in a long, drawn-out pause, turning it over in my mind, but no