Friday, Sept 18 - "Three Things"

I pondered writing about our 22 individual students in my 6th grade class, but decided to make some basic generalizations about the kids as a whole group. A little background...I feel very fortunate that my supervising teacher, Judy, knew most of our kids from last year. Our school is also a great community in that teachers really talk with one another about the kids (with a healthy approach!) so that they can consider how best to accommodate students to ensure their learning success. Judy is also a strong believer in setting up a positive classroom culture or environment during that first few weeks of school. One of her strageties is to have several activities which allow her to get to know her students better and allow the kids to connect to each other in personal ways. Kids completed three activities (displayed around the classroom): a "Me" poster, a "Hopes and Dreams" poster, and a poster illustrating a cover creation of a good book they have recently read. Most of the kids really enjoyed spending the time on these projects, and they seemed truly proud to share and display their work. The first two activities were very enlightening for me as a teacher.

I have never met any of these kids before this placement experience. And this is not a school in my immediate home community. Of course, there are going to many things I do not know about the students. As teachers, we only catch a glimpse of what their lives are like outside of school. The opening activities in Judy's class allowed us into their private lives as they shared what kinds of activities they enjoy, who is important in their lives, what they hope to accomplish (at school and personally), and the struggles they might feel.

Over the past three weeks, I can make several observations about my kids and what I now know about them:

1) Based on some of their classroom behaviors and general personality traits, I was sometimes led to believe that kids want to keep to themselves and are self-conscious about me and Judy reading their work during class. What I found out (with Judy's encouragement) is that they really like adults to look over their work, praise their efforts, and show genuine care for their well-being in the classroom. It took me a little time to get comfortable in approaching students. I felt a little like I was imposing. But that's the role I am assuming. I am there to help them make the most of their time in school!

2) Just like adults...kids come with their "baggage," too! I dislike the word, "baggage," but can't think of anything more appropriate. As I mentioned, we really don't know these kids' home lives. I've just caught comments here and there from Judy about what she knows about some of the kids' living circumstances. In our class, it seems we have several kids living in single parent homes and dividing their time between parent living situations. They don't often share this type of info during school time. To them, it's almost irrelevant to their "here-and-now" attention to their social and academic lives in school. However, I understand the stress and/or hardship that is often present in "broken" homes. They may not display it outwardly, but I know it will in some way affect how they come to class, how they are able (or unable) to accomplish reading and homework at home, and how they interact with students and teachers.

3) Finally, I want to comment on one student in particular...Mariana. Mariana is a new student to Bell and is identified as an ELL student. Spanish is her primary language. On the first day of class, Mariana approached Judy and informed her that she didn't speak English very well--very brave! With Judy's insistence, Mariana finally has a weekly schedule to meet with our ELL staff to help her learn more English so time spent in our classroom is more positive. I am constantly amazed at how Mariana gets along when she is in our class. She knows very limited English--verbal and written, and communication with her is challenging. So much of what we say and what is put in front of her (class work) has got to be baffling to Mariana--to say the least! However, what I've learned is that she is a very confident young girl and is making the best of her situation. She does not appear to be sad or critically frustrated with her inability to understand everything. Instead, she asks questions (with encouragement), smiles a lot (positive attitude!), accepts help from classmates, and probably goes home thinking she has accomplished great things. I've worked quite a bit with Mariana one-on-one. Without having this interaction with an ELL student, I might have thought that ELL kids are generally stressed and excluded. In her case, Mariana has shown me that a learning challenge like this will not always crush a student's hopes for a positive learning experience and a happy social life.