Since we don't have science on Tuesdays and it is my last full week at this particular school, I didn't have to teach today. And since I didn't have to teach, I took the day to observe other classrooms. This was actually quite challenging because all the classes have library and PE and music where they leave their classrooms. So for a while, I was wandering around by myself looking for kids to observe! It was really weird. I kept waiting for someone to pop up around the corner and yell at me for being in the hall by myself or for not doing something productive. Hmm.
Anyway, I eventually found a kindergarten classroom and joined their morning sharing circle. I had to introduce myself when I first came in so the students would calm down and quit asking who I was (and more importantly, why I was in their classroom). I told the students that I normally helped Mrs. J with her class. We finally got back to sharing (aka- show and tell). The teacher passed over me to ask another student to share and you should've heard the fuss they made! "Wait! You forgot Miss... Miss J!" (they forgot my last name and substituted it for my supervising teacher's name). So their teacher asked me if I had something to share with the class. The most interesting thing I could come up with was that some of our cows had had babies this weekend. Well, that set everyone off. They all wanted to know what I named them. I told them that one of them was my sister's calf, so she got to name it. Some of them said we should name these babies Chocolate Chip or Blackie or Butterscotch. I told the class that my dad had to approve all the names before we could actually name a calf. One student stared at me in absolute shock, "You have a dad?!?!" Their teacher explained that everyone has a dad. Another kid piped up, "I don't have one!" This discussion could've gone on for hours, but we needed to keep sharing, so their teacher quickly moved on.
In a first grade classroom, I was sitting on a chair watching the class when a boy came right up to me and announced, "I want a hug." Then he wrapped his arms around me and walked to his seat.
Last week, I had judged some 1-3rd graders at the Expo, which is basically a big science fair, except the topics can be on anything the students are interested in (Legos, their family, a pet, dinosaurs, etc.) and the purpose is to improve communication skills. One boy I interviewed was very shy and it felt like I was dragging information out of him. He actually heaved a huge sigh when I left his table! Well, I saw him in class today, and he kept turning around to look at me (probably wondering why his project judge was in his classroom). The 1st graders had to fill out a worksheet about their Expo project, filling in the blank, "I felt _________ when the judge interviewed me." This particular student had written "I felt scared." Yikes!
In the afternoon, I sat in on a 3rd grade classroom. One pod of students was apparently fascinated by me. Two of the girls almost fell out of their chairs trying to see my shoes (black flats with black sparkles around the edges). One of the boys was the son of Tiffany's supervising teacher. At the end of the day, he came up to me and asked, "You're the helper in Mrs. J's room, aren't you? Are you going to be helping in here now?" I had to tell him no, and I'm pretty sure he was a little disappointed. It's the same boy who always stares at me when our classes take our afternoon bathroom break. I always smile at him, but he never smiles back; he just stares.
The most interesting parts of my day were the ones I spent in the speech therapy rooms. There are two rooms for this: one for early elementary students, and one for the middle and upper elementary students. I've never seen those teachers in action before and it was actually really cool to watch. They do a lot of things with iPads and games; they'll do a speech activity on the iPad, then play a fun game, then go back to the iPad. There are also a bunch of finger signs the teachers use to show what sound a letter makes. The iPad is used to record what the teacher and student say and then it is played back so the individual can hear what he/she sounds like. They spend about 10-20 minutes with students, usually grouped in pairs of two. It was so interesting, I kind of want to spend all day tomorrow with them. If I ever get tired of teaching, I just might have to switch over to speech special ed...
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