Today was a great day at school! This morning I had the pleasure of giving a spelling test. I think that the kids were really disarmed by the fact that I sat on a table to give the test. I am not sure what my mentor teacher thought about that either. After that, school went on as normal and I got to take "my" reading group into the hall to introduce thier special reading. We talked about the assignment-they get to write about their pet. One of my students wants to write a 10-page paper. He can be my guest; I love to read their writing, and they love me to read it. We worked a bit on some other reading assignments on case and pronouns as well. It was kind of hard!
As well as learning more about culture and students, I am really learning a lot of the things that I skipped out on in fifth grade. That grade was not a stellar year for me if I remember correctly. This week I have learned a new way to tackle long division.
My reading group is great. There are three girls and 2 boys-caucasian, Hmong and black. I feel like the ability in this group is very high for the age group, but also the students are very diverse in learning styles. One of the boys is so squirmy that he has to sit at his own table in the classroom just so that he does not disturb the others with his flailings. I told him today that he can feel free to do his work rolling around on the floor...I don't mind that.
This afternoon I finally had some free time to spend with the kids. I offered to teach some kids how to play Sudoku, since it has helped me so much with my number sense. I got Dallas (who will pretty much do anything to be around me. She drew a picture of me today...), Frank (see photo) and Caroline. I have not talked about her yet-What an amazing young lady. She has several hurdles to jump that I won't get into. She dresses like a boy, gets pulled out for anger management groups and special ed, but I have not met a more delightful and loving young lady. She is not used to liking a challenge, since most of school is a challenge for her. Today I feel so amazing to have been able to introduce her to something that she actually ended up liking!
She first just wanted to watch...then started up on a 4X4 puzzle. She experienced sucess with that one and moved on to a 6X6. I think that it really helped that the "smartest girl in the class" was having just as much trouble as her, and together the three of us worked and helped eachother to get to the bottom of the strategy of Sudoku. Frank sat at the end of the table and watched us, all the while working his puzzle. At the end of the day, they all asked for puzzles to take home. Frank rolled them up neatly to go into his pocket, with the one marked "Frank. A+" right on top.
Caroline came up to me at the end of school and told me, "Now I will have something to do this weekend that is not video games." These kids are dying for a challenge, like using thier brains, and thrive on little sucesses. I think that the failing child looses this wonder sometime in their schooling...I hope that I can keep the sense of adventure for learning and challenge alive at the high-school level.
I forgot a though of the day from a few days ago. When the kids were being told a storty about the moon lander "The Eagle" and that famous comment, they really thought they were talking about an Eagle. They were so confused. In Alaska, eagles are everywhere. You can find them in the city, sitting on lamposts etc. It's no wonder they thought that!
1 comment:
Where are you, my dear roommate. I miss you.
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