Friday (Up and Down Day)
Friday morning started out a little hectic for me. I had planned to finish up some lesson plans that were due when I got to school. Well, I woke up a later than I planned and rushed to the computer lab to finish everything up. For the next thirty minutes I frantically came up with openings, activities, and closings for my small groups in reading and math. I then ran to the cafeteria (literally) and grabbed half a bagel and some peanut butter (at this point, I realized why I enjoy getting to breakfast super early and missing the masses). I made it to the bus in plenty of time and we headed off to school with our Trinidadian bus driver playing some jammin' music (by the way, I found out his name is Ben!).
Class began and I started working with my small group for math. In the thirty minutes I had with them, I found out that they had no idea how to do division and they both believe they are "dumb". We actually spent most of our time talking about how they we're not at all dumb and that, with hard work, they could do anything. Unfortunately, Angel and Christine did not seem convinced when they left me. This hurt my heart so much that I have decided to teach a lesson (when it's my turn to do writing) on writing a letter to yourself using only positive words. More than anything, these kids need to know that they are NOT stupid. They are amazing.
My reading group had a great time figuring out syllables (open and closed) and vowels (long and short). They did a great job!
Later that day I gave a lesson on finding the main idea. During my teaching four different students started crying. By the time I saw tears in the third one's eyes, I thought "what the heck is going on." Fortunately, one of my co-teachers and my observer we're both in the room and took those kids aside. Antonio was sick and his throat was hurting, Crystal was so upset that she had said "shut up" and had to turn her color card, and Angel was still upset about not knowing how to divide. My only comfort is that none of them were crying about what I was teaching.
At the end of my lesson, my advisor and another advisor came into the back. The whole lesson was not going as well as I had hoped. The kids were tired and distracted (Friday, understandably) and I wasn't explaining things as well as I had earlier in the week.
I let them go to lunch and walked to the back to speak with these observers. They praised my teaching skills and rated me proficient in many of the skills they were looking for. Anthony (my Corps member Advisor) even said that we was going to start grading me on the advanced rubric to help me improve even more. Despite my feelings that this was the worst lesson I had taught all week, they still thought I was doing a great job. Sometimes it really helps to get some external feedback!
I forgot to mention that when I picked my class up in the cafeteria that morning, Gilberto (our highest testing student and one of our most focused) gave me an adorable little pink bear. I told him I would keep this for a long, long time and I meant it. Someone once told me that, if you teach, you won't need a boyfriend. Those kids will give you more teddy bears and hugs than any man ever would.
I took a nap in the afternoon and then headed out to have dinner with my CMA working group. Jess dropped me off and then headed out to New York. I waited at the restaurant for about 45 minutes and then everyone showed up. Dinner was great and the company was fantastic. It was fun to hang out with the people that I have worked so hard with in the last few weeks. Unfortunately, I started falling asleep when no one else was ready to go yet. Another girl wanted to go back to the dorm too and after much discussion of who would go with who (about 30 minutes), we finally headed back to Temple. My suite is empty, so I spent some time playing Scrabble on-line and listening to music and then went to bed. It's now Saturday morning and I slept 10 hours - woohoo! Tonight I'm going salsa dancing with some other people and reflecting on all the ups and downs. Life is good!
Class began and I started working with my small group for math. In the thirty minutes I had with them, I found out that they had no idea how to do division and they both believe they are "dumb". We actually spent most of our time talking about how they we're not at all dumb and that, with hard work, they could do anything. Unfortunately, Angel and Christine did not seem convinced when they left me. This hurt my heart so much that I have decided to teach a lesson (when it's my turn to do writing) on writing a letter to yourself using only positive words. More than anything, these kids need to know that they are NOT stupid. They are amazing.
My reading group had a great time figuring out syllables (open and closed) and vowels (long and short). They did a great job!
Later that day I gave a lesson on finding the main idea. During my teaching four different students started crying. By the time I saw tears in the third one's eyes, I thought "what the heck is going on." Fortunately, one of my co-teachers and my observer we're both in the room and took those kids aside. Antonio was sick and his throat was hurting, Crystal was so upset that she had said "shut up" and had to turn her color card, and Angel was still upset about not knowing how to divide. My only comfort is that none of them were crying about what I was teaching.
At the end of my lesson, my advisor and another advisor came into the back. The whole lesson was not going as well as I had hoped. The kids were tired and distracted (Friday, understandably) and I wasn't explaining things as well as I had earlier in the week.
I let them go to lunch and walked to the back to speak with these observers. They praised my teaching skills and rated me proficient in many of the skills they were looking for. Anthony (my Corps member Advisor) even said that we was going to start grading me on the advanced rubric to help me improve even more. Despite my feelings that this was the worst lesson I had taught all week, they still thought I was doing a great job. Sometimes it really helps to get some external feedback!
I forgot to mention that when I picked my class up in the cafeteria that morning, Gilberto (our highest testing student and one of our most focused) gave me an adorable little pink bear. I told him I would keep this for a long, long time and I meant it. Someone once told me that, if you teach, you won't need a boyfriend. Those kids will give you more teddy bears and hugs than any man ever would.
I took a nap in the afternoon and then headed out to have dinner with my CMA working group. Jess dropped me off and then headed out to New York. I waited at the restaurant for about 45 minutes and then everyone showed up. Dinner was great and the company was fantastic. It was fun to hang out with the people that I have worked so hard with in the last few weeks. Unfortunately, I started falling asleep when no one else was ready to go yet. Another girl wanted to go back to the dorm too and after much discussion of who would go with who (about 30 minutes), we finally headed back to Temple. My suite is empty, so I spent some time playing Scrabble on-line and listening to music and then went to bed. It's now Saturday morning and I slept 10 hours - woohoo! Tonight I'm going salsa dancing with some other people and reflecting on all the ups and downs. Life is good!
posted by Sarah at
10:25 AM
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