A New Experience

Today in the 3rd grade classroom a couple things happened to me that were new and wonderful that I observed. First the teacher asked me to color, cut out, and put together a paper scarecrow so the children would have an example for their upcoming activity. As I sat to the side working on this assignment, one of the boys came up and asked me for help on his literature assignment. This particular kid is the one that's usually physically off task and often becomes passive during classroom activities. I helped him with his assignment, then went on to do the same for a couple other children. I returned to my scarecrow and had many pieces of scrap paper that needed to be thrown away. The boy sitting ahead of me stood up, turned towards me, and started gathering up the unneeded paper and threw it all away. Even when I had additional pieces that needed tossing he took care of it for me without asking for his help. I was touched by his pro-social behavior and service oriented attitude. I told him that he was a fantastic helper, he started to beam and said in return "I'm always a good helper." He showed me a few new books he was excited about and we picked one to read together. He seemed very excited to read to me and made sure that I wouldn't forget to come over. Many of the other children also expressed excitement in reading to me and couldn't stop telling me about their favorite books.

At the end of the day, the boy who is usually physically off task ran over to me and gave me a hug before getting in line. I was so taken back that I almost didn't know what to do or how to respond! He was the same one that told me he loved me after I helped and complimented him on his reading last week. I gave him a quick hug back, hopping that was the right thing to do.
The teacher usually pounds fists with everyone in line before they leave. This boy stretched out his arm with a fists towards me with an eager expression, wanting to pound mine before he left. I ran over, we pounded fists and everyone left. Today was a new experience for me because I was able to witness the kindness of these children, their open minded attitudes, desire to be loved, and appreciation for being helped. I walked out of the school today very contemplative feeling very grateful and happy.

Schools vs. The Past

From this week's module I learned a lot about how schools have changed through out history. I was amazed at how different times and customs were even in the 60's. For example, I like learning about the Little Rock Nine, and Ruby Bridges and many of the unfathomable hardships they had to go through just for the right to attend a regular school. I'm grateful that things are different now and that every child who enters school are accepted. I've also learned from this lesson that for whatever reason people tend to respond to unknown situations or people with aggression and malice.
When going to my Resource classroom today I was able to look at the teacher and noticed how caring she is to all the students and willing to work at their level to meet their needs. She is very kind and approachable to every child no matter their background or situation. I think it's wonderful that in school we have teachers that want to help and show they care for all their students. Although I do believe that there is more work to be done. Even though we have eliminated many various types of discrimination, children are still criticized for their differences whether it's by their peers or adults. I've decided that if I see anyone being discriminated against in school that I will do my best to help them and never include myself in any activity that would be considered discriminatory towards others.

A Different Assignment

While I was visiting the 3rd grade class I volunteer for, the resource teacher came in and asked if I would do a specific assignment for her. She needed me to watch a boy in class and observe his behavior. He is known for being more off task than the other children and his mom wanted some data on his performance. This boy's appearance is also somewhat messy and usually has stained blood around his nose from an unattended nose bleed. So for 20 minutes on each minute intervals I would mark the boy as either physically, verbally, off task, passive, or on task. Most of the time I marked him as physically off task and passive. He couldn't seem to sit down and stay still. He was always moving around and/or responding to his classmates in obnoxious ways. After he becomes bored (which is often)  it seems he tries to cure his own boredom by random physical motions with his body.
After observing him I was able to interact with this boy and make some observations of my own. I helped him with his literature assignment and let him read aloud to me. While he read to me I decided to give him attention by complimenting him on what a good reader he is. After he finished reading to me he immediately told me that he loved me. I had no idea what to say in return, but he continued to say that he wished I could be a regular substitute or assistant teacher. It made me wonder if this boy is not getting all the help he needs. He is very physically rowdy and often annoying, and I wouldn't know where to start to help him, but I wonder if this is his way of lashing out because he's not getting the attention he needs.

Resource

In the resource room today I helped a child with a test of place value. It included only about 8 questions, but he seemed very confused. While helping him, I noticed that he kept yawning almost every 3 mins and was very unmotivated to do his work. That accompanied by his lack in skills in math made it almost impossible for him to want to continue. The teacher excused him so he could stop for a while and work on it later. After that, a group of 4th graders entered the room to do math. One of the children was very energetic and repeated things out loud, mainly random and obnoxious things. The teacher had to remind him a couple times to stay focused. A group of girls entered the room and I was given the opportunity to lead their reading session. While reading I helped the girls sound out words and phrases, but they were able to do much of it themselves. The teacher told me that they mainly needed help with comprehension. Today I learned that patience is a key factor is teaching children with special needs, or in any circumstance.

Working with Resource

Yesterday I observed two children taking an assessment test to see if they qualify for placement in the Resource program. The teacher was running a little late and put me in charge of a small group while she finished the assessment. I went in the hall with about 5 children to do some writing. The children’s assignment was to write a narrative about anything they wanted. Some of the children already knew what they wanted to write about but others needed more brain storming. I started working with a girl who wanted to write a story about being kidnapped. She explained that it was a story about herself, and as she continued explaining her story it became more scary and gruesome. I wasn’t sure how true it was because of how farfetched it seemed but nevertheless felt concerned for her. For the next boy I worked with, we practiced brain storming stories that he could write. It took almost the entire period, but he finally decided what he wanted to write about. The third girl knew exactly what she wanted to write about and seemed confident in her writing ability and needed little help from me. The last boy was very energetic, loud, and distracted from the assignment. I remained easy going and patient as I worked with him to brainstorm ideas for his story. This experience was very unique. I was able to witness many challenges the children had and gained a good insight on working with resource. 

My First Fieldwork

This week I was able to volunteer for two classrooms. The first class I observed on 9/3/13 for about 2 hours in a resource room. I'm observing this particular class for my Exceptional Students fieldwork assignment which focuses on how we can better help children with special needs. In this classroom I mainly observed children practicing place value in math. The teacher made sure to go at an appropriate pace so each child could understand and had the correct answer before continuing. Some of them struggled, but the teacher made sure they were comfortable and had the help they needed.

Today I volunteered for two and a half hours in a 3rd grade classroom. The teacher had the children sit on the blue carpet to learn about writing a story. As the children learned I was surprised  how respectful and ready they seemed to listen. Some of the children had a hard time sitting still, others were just fine. I think that connects to the learning model. The auditory kids were probably able to sit and listen easier because that's how they learn. The kinesthetic learners I'm sure had a harder time sitting through because they learn better through acting, seeing, or doing. The teacher allowed the children to go to their desks and practice their new skills. As they did, the teacher walked around and made sure to address every child question with their hand raised for help. After this I was assigned to help pass out snacks to all the children. Every day the school brings a fruit for the children to try for snack, which I think is a great idea. The fruit the children were exposed to today was a cross between a plum and an apple.
After the early bird children left for the day, the remaining children listened to a story with the teacher then were assigned to their desks to practiced finding and sounding out vowel sounds in their books. I walked around and helped the children find different vowels. I helped a couple students with that, then went on to listening them read to me. Many of them varied in their abilities to read. I walked around and helped the children with whatever level they were at and helped a few sound out words. Others were very good at reading and pronouncing words themselves.
At the end of the day, I found that the children were really happy to have me help them. They enjoyed reading to me and were excited when I helped them find correct answers. One of the children told me that I was his best adult friend. It made me feel good to help them and enjoyed knowing that they liked having me in the classroom.