I was fortunate enough to experience a “nurturing” response (from a writing professor) that not only impacted my risk-taking abilities, but also brought out the best in myself as a writer. So, in my first year at college, I remember visiting my writing professor—let’s call him J—to talk about a final writing assignment (it was something to do with evaluating Wikipedia as a source of knowledge). I don’t recall why I disliked that assignment, but I remember I found some courage to share my honest thoughts and feelings. I wasn’t sure how J would respond…but guess what happened? J paused, looked at me thoughtfully and then warmly said, “Write what you want to write…just make sure it’s your best writing.” I was shocked but truly delighted!

Today, I wonder why J had listened and responded with kindness, respect and trust. I believe he was one of those beautiful souls who probably applied the Namaste concept or its equivalent in his classroom. His powerful words truly nurtured my thinking and writing, and I ended up writing my very “first” fiction piece in his class. It’s phenomenal how J’s nurturing response supported my growth, transformation and risk-taking abilities as a student writer. Yes, J had chosen kindness, in that he made sure his students’ writing experiences were made as rewarding and fulfilling as possible. It was indeed J’s kindness that he chose to bend rules and make exceptions to support my writing needs. If J had not demonstrated kindness, I would have certainly completed that Wikipedia assignment, but I wouldn’t have experienced what it feels to be heard, understood and nurtured in an academic setting. I am truly grateful to J for not only demonstrating respect and kindness toward me, but also shaping my path to do the same for my students today. Thank you, J, for everything you did. You have my highest respect and deepest regards.

I think it’s far easier to teach and have students practice the kindness concept in a writing classroom but rather difficult to do the same when it comes to teaching teachers. I am reminded of a faculty member at my university who taught writing to undergrad sophomores and juniors a couple of years ago. She was known as a rough, insensitive individual with a very strong negative vibe. She once told her students in class that she made things really “difficult” simply because that’s what life had given her. In other words, she justified why she chose a harsh, unfair and disrespectful attitude toward her students. I found that very strange, wrong and depressing.

After reading this piece, I wonder how would someone like this person ever choose kindness and respect? How would they even cultivate a “kind” classroom culture if they have so much anger and negativity rooted inside? I wonder what would motivate someone like this person to embrace kindness for themselves, their classrooms and their students…

I live and teach in Qatar (Qatar was previously known as a small oil-rich country in the Middle East but is now famous as the host country for FIFA World Cup 2022). At my school, we have many Indian and South Asian students who I am sure would totally understand and appreciate the use of “Namaste” as a concept for a workshop classroom.

An equivalent to Namaste would be “Salaam” for my teaching context in Qatar. Salaam is a common greeting in Muslim countries. It means wishing “peace” and it carries intentional respect and kindness toward the other person. For a writing workshop classroom, Salaam can be understood as a peace-based concept that encourages safe, healthy, respectful dialogue and that discourages verbal or written “attack” on a student’s writing. If I were to do a writing workshop with my students in the future, I may consider replacing Namaste with Salaam for we have a very high Muslim student population in our school. That said, I am actually reminded of a Bollywood movie titled “Salaam Namaste.” Isn’t that interesting? Salaam Namaste would mean “peaceful greetings of respect and kindness.”

As long as we are creating and maintaining the kindness culture in our classrooms, I think we can safely play with the word choice, depending on our location, culture, teaching situation, students and other preferences.

Audrey was very lucky! Not many children get that opportunity, especially in third-world countries where parents, teachers and sometimes even elderly find it completely okay to treat children in demeaning, controlling and disrespectful ways. In schools, instead of creating a culture of respect and kindness, teachers demand strict “obedience” from students, regardless of age. To see the author talk about such things is refreshing because I have seen children disrespected for voicing themselves.

The notion of “co-constructing respect” is indeed one of the most beautiful choices that a teacher, a parent or any individual for that matter can make in life. That being said, I wonder to what extent can kindness be taught to someone? Isn’t kindness something that naturally pours from a person’s heart? Also, choosing kindness at times can be a difficult choice to make…how can we motivate students to choose something that’s not easy? How can we as writing teachers reward kindness that’s intentionally chosen by students?