Week 10

This week was another quiet week. The children were back to normal since Mrs. Young was back and in full force. The time that I observe is a little bit different because it is always during lunch, recess, math centers, and writing. This week the children did something a little bit different in writing which was so cool. The standard was on list making and the children made lists of their favorite colors. I found myself working with one child in the class who just came to the class last month and is in foster care. I can see that he is a very bright boy, but he does not believe in himself which I am sure has come with his life situations. I sat with him almost the whole time and worked with him on his list to sound out the names of his favorite colors. With individual scaffolding and encouragement he did great! When he finished he was SOOO proud of himself and it was such a rewarding thing to see. I could see the look in his eyes was like "Maybe I can do this." It is amazing what a little bit of encouragement can do.

I am excited for next week as I am going to go in the morning for my last day. Mrs. Young has been encouraging me to do this all semester as she says the children are much more focused in the morining and that there are not as many behavioral issues. I am not surprised about this. I will let you know how it goes.

This week for class we went and saw the presentation on Three Cups of Tea. I really enjoyed it but what I got out of it the most that hit home since I am teaching at Summerville was the part about poverty. He said to understand it you must smell it, taste it, and understand it. This made so much sense to me and I think what he really means is that we need to be empathetic and understand where these children are coming from and help them overcome that in their learning and not be just sympathetic. This is how the children will get the most out of their learning experience.