My heart was still racing, but I was optimistic that he would be okay.
~ words from Ashraf that keep us thinking and wondering ~
Not hers. Not yours. People are always more than the chapters anyone could share. Hold what is here gently. Approach with curiosity, before judgment.
Notice what you notice. Wonder what you wonder. There is no quiz, no right way. Read until something stays.
this film has no words. notice what you notice. notice what you wonder. wonder out loud. and don't forget to notice what you feel, too.
Jobs Jobs Jobs
Have you checked your pulse before? This is a great way for you to learn how fast your heart is beating! You can find your veins and record how many pulses you feel in a minute. Is it within the range of 60-100 beats per minute? How does your heart rate compare with the person sitting next to you? Maybe you can make a picture graph with your whole class!
Has a fear of failure ever stopped you pursuing something you have an interest in? How do we overcome these fears?
A shortage of paramedics is one factor that results in our long hours. There is just too much need and not enough trained paramedics. Is this a challenge where you live? How can we inspire more people to choose a path in paramedics?
How do my current expenses compare to my monthly salary of $300? If you add $300 together five times, that is how much I will make in my new job! Can you help me figure out how much it will be, and how much I will save if I only spend money on food?
Ask students to help arrange seats in a circle to create an inclusive environment for discussion in this lesson.
“What are some of the most important jobs in your community?” You might get answers that include jobs like police officers, firefighters, doctors, or teachers.
“Why are these people important? What do these people have in common?” You could explain what jobs YOU think are essential for a positive and safe community. “Do we have enough of these jobs?”
Watch the video I am Ashraf, and then read aloud to your class the learning journey story, I am Ashraf. Begin by facilitating a conversation delving into job value.
“What do you think of Ashraf’s job? Does it seem important to you? Why might paramedics are undervalued in Ashraf’s country? Are they valued here in our country? How can we know?” If the class did not mention paramedics in the opening question, ask them why. “Are we familiar with paramedics? Do we know what their job is? Ashraf isn’t paid very well. Does that surprise you? Is it important that the people working the most important jobs get paid the most? Does being paid well matter? Is better pay the reason we should take a job?”
Practice adding and subtracting 3-digit numbers by helping Ashraf think about his budget. Also, learn how to take your own pulse and chart it as a class!
To check reading comprehension, ask students, “To where is Ashraf moving? Why?” Before Ashraf decided to move to Bahrain, he made a budget to compare what he would earn and spend there and where he lives now. This information helped him decide whether or not to consider moving. At the bottom of page 2, Ashraf lays out his major expenses.* Practice comparing 3-digit numbers and adding and subtracting 1s, 10s and 100s in order to help Ashraf determine how much money he will save. Now, finances aren’t the only thing he considered, but it is the biggest factor for him. “What other factors do you think he could have considered? Imagine you’re a grown-up: What would you consider before moving to another place?” At the bottom of page 1, Ashraf talks about taking people's’ pulse. Now it is your turn! Help students find their pulse near their wrist bone on the thumb-side of their hand. Another spot is on their neck under their chin. Once they have all found their pulse, ask them to count for 30 seconds (then double it) or for a full minute. Then, create a picture graph to chart the heartbeat of everyone in your class!
Let’s dream into the future and imagine that students are facing a similar situation as Ashraf: they have to decide whether or not to move countries for a different job.
In this imaginary scenario, what job would they have? What are the two different locations they might be comparing when making the decision about whether to move or stay? What are the factors they think about?
This is one way to teach this story. You could also weave your own way, threading two or three other people the AI finds for you alongside.
Want to weave a full lesson around this story?
The weaver finds 3-4 real people whose stories thread together with this one.
Weave a lesson →Life Saver
I wipe the sweat off my face and open the ambulance door wider waiting eagerly for the next breeze to float in. Mumbai heat is unforgiving here in India, and I sometimes spend hours waiting in the carpark for our next call. It’s a good thing I have the company of Babu and Manoj. The radio goes off with a few shrill tones, and I quickly jump into action. We race off and as I arrive at the site, I find a man laying on the ground unconscious. Many people were standing around watching. These accidents always seem to draw onlookers. A few people craned their necks closer, just to take a picture, and many were pulling over their cars to see what was happening. People rarely call an ambulance as soon as an emergency happens. Sadly, this means people often don’t get the care they need in time.
Why do you think people stand and watch when accidents happen or when people are affected by medical issues?
Have you ever seen an accident and not done anything?
Do you think it might sometimes be because we expect someone else will take action?
What happens if everyone thinks this way?
Without a second thought, I jumped into my procedures. I couldn’t feel a pulse. His airways were clear, and yet his chest was not rising. This is not good. His heart had stopped beating. He must have had a cardiac arrest. I placed my sweaty palms on his chest and began CPR to restart his heart. For every 30 compressions, Manoj gave him two breaths through the mask. It’s important we give at least 150 compressions every 2 minutes. It’s a tiring task, so to maintain speed Manoj and I switch places every 2 minutes.
If I don’t keep count, I could slow down and may not be able to save him. Can you help me keep count? If I’ve done 22 compressions, how many more do I need to do before Manoj gives two breaths? Now I’ve done 47, so how many more compressions are left before 60? How many more do I have to do before switching with Manoj?
We carried him onto the ambulance and continued treating him as we jolted to the hospital. I checked the ECG, a machine which measures his vital functions, and saw on the monitor that a shock was required to jolt and restart his heart. I kept doing CPR and checking the ECG. There was traffic everywhere. Our ambulance was struggling to move and most people weren’t even trying to get out of our way. Come on, we don’t have much time! Every minute that passes reduces the chance of our patient surviving. My chest tightened, and I felt so nervous.
Why do you think some people don’t move when there is an ambulance behind them trying to get to a hospital?
How do you or your family respond when you see an ambulance on the street?
Many people in my country think ambulances are just hearses.
How can we help them realize that is not the case?
I continued with the procedures for shock treatment. I pressed my fingers to his neck and felt a mild pulse. We were getting there! Slowly, he began to regain consciousness. His eyes fluttered open and a sense of relief came over me. We wheeled up at the hospital, rushed him into the emergency department, and then returned back to the ambulance. My heart was still racing, but I was optimistic that he would be okay. I collected myself and got ready for the next call. Here we go again.
Even though I have done this procedure many times, every time I still feel nervous.
In what instances do you also get that feeling of being nervous?
How do you manage it?
In no time at all, my radio went off again. There was a patient who needed to be transferred to a larger hospital where he would undergo a bypass surgery. The doctor informed me that he had been receiving 2400 ml of saline (salt water) per day through an IV and that I would have to continue giving him saline as we transferred him. I wheeled him to the ambulance, and off we went.
The drive to the hospital is 2 hours away. This patient needs 100 mL of saline every hour. How much do we need for the two hour trip? Now what if I told you that every 6 minutes, he needs 10 mL. Could you use a line plot to help plan out how much to give during the drive? What if we get stuck in traffic and the drive is longer?
We reached the hospital, transferred the patient, and began the drive back to our base hospital. This hospital run was fairly short, but I have made many long journeys between hospitals and sometimes even between hospitals and people’s residences. One such trip was to the state of Assam in the far Northeast of India. It took a full five days to get there and another five days to get back. We rarely got off the highway and would spend just a few hours a day sleeping. It’s a tough and demanding job, but so deeply rewarding.
What are some other jobs you can think of that may be similarly difficult, but all worth it?
What makes these jobs feel rewarding?
What are some things you do in your life that feel rewarding?
How do those things impact your energy and how you feel?
So, that's a little taste of my story! How about you? Who are you!? :)
Begin the class spending two minutes in silence reflecting on things for which you’re grateful. In this lesson, you may also consider using this time to breathe in and out deeply to start off class. You'll see why soon!
“What do you wonder it might be like to save lives?” This will get the group excited! “We often hear that saving a life can be one of the most rewarding things that someone can do.
What do you think it would be like?” Encourage students to really describe it: what would they feel? What might they think? If you’re practicing writing, you could use this as a short free-write prompt. If you’re learning about adjectives, you could collectively make a list of describing words on the board.
Then, watch the video I am Ashraf. “Do some of those feelings we imagined come up in Ashraf’s video?
Do you think the emotions we feel when saving a life vary depending on where you’re from, or might they be similar around the world?” To understand Ashraf’s experience deeper, read the story that goes along with this lesson. As a group, discuss the challenges that Ashraf faces in his role as a paramedic. “What surprised you about Ashraf’s work? How does his job compare to other jobs you know about? What it be like for you to step into his shoes? Would you enjoy or dislike the job? Why do you think that?” To imitate the pressure that Ashraf feels in his work, you could set up an obstacle course throughout the room. This could be something physical, and it could include academic challenges. Whatever you think your students will enjoy! Then, offer a narrative: A cat (or another animal your students may find important) has been stuck in a tree for days. She has not ate or drank anything. If she is not rescued in the next 15 minutes, she may not make it! Students need to complete all the challenges to make their way to the “tree” and rescue the cat. Debrief the activity by asking things like, “How did you feel with the time pressure? Did you notice it impact how well you could think? What did you feel in your body? Could you imagine doing this every day?” Then zoom out for a discussion about what makes a job a “good” job. “How do you think we get more people interested in the truly important roles that our society needs rather than wants? What job would you like to have? What has inspired that decision? TV Shows? Books? A good salary?”
Explore how numbers and math shows up while Ashraf is in the ambulance working! In the story, Ashraf describes the system for giving someone CPR: 30 compressions followed by 2 breaths.
Students can solve missing value problems and word problems with “more” or “fewer” by helping count and track the numbers of breath. To explore how fast Ashraf has to give compressions, consider asking students to jump up and down 150 times in two minutes. “How fast do they have to go? Are they tired? Imagine doing that for a half hour!” Later in the story, Ashraf describes the need to calculate and administer saline water during an ambulance drive to a different hospital. This provides students with a simple adding 100s problem. You can also ask them, “How might a line plot help us track how much we give the patient and how much we need to make sure we have with us in the ambulance? How important is it that we calculate this correctly?” As a class or individually, students could draw a line plot with marks every 6 minutes (practice some tricky skip counting!), and 10 mL of saline every 6 minutes. Guide them to imagine how this might help a paramedic keep track of how much medicine they give, and how much they need at the end of any given timeframe.
Write to the paramedics in our community! Find the nearest hospital and ask the best way to deliver the letters.
Encourage students to include both a drawing from their favorite part of Ashraf’s story as well as an explanation regarding why they think the role of a paramedic is important. “Think about how you would feel if you got a letter of encouragement. Can you imagine how Ashraf would react if he received all of our letters?! We must always remember to remind people how valuable they are to the world.”
This is one way to teach this story. You could also weave your own way, threading two or three other people the AI finds for you alongside.
Want to weave a full lesson around this story?
The weaver finds 3-4 real people whose stories thread together with this one.
Weave a lesson →Not hers. Not yours. People are always more than the chapters anyone could share. Hold what is here gently. Approach with curiosity, before judgment.
If a moment stayed, follow it. If a question rose up, hold it. The quiet teaching is still teaching.
Three or four real stories woven into one lesson, your topic, your time. Ashraf is one. The weaver finds the others, threads the math, the literacy, the values, the reflection.
Open the weaver →