Driving up to No Name Elementary was most definitely an interesting venture. It's down a one-way street and for some reason I had to turn around THREE times because I apparently have no idea how to go down one-ways. I parked on the side of the road because there is limited parking at the school. I was quite nervous doing this because there were signs everywhere that said "No Parking". "Oooo great," I thought to myself, "I'm gonna get a ticket for coming to an elementary school." The neighborhood didn't exactly look very inviting. The school, however, looked like it was in decent condition.
I went up to the front doors which were peeling because of all the times they were probably painted and there were massive amounts of red paint chips on the ground. I tried pulling on the handles but none would open. There were two people behind me loading up a truck full of broken desks and chairs so I felt like an idiot because I couldn't even open a door. Finally after a good two minutes, I saw a box next to the doors. I pressed the button and assumed that it was the speaker system for the front office. They buzzed me in and I got my first whiff of what was to come. I signed into the front office and luckily, my teacher was already there so she brought myself and the other girl that was there down to the lower level. She explained to us that at this time in the school, the children go to their reading class. The reading classes are constructed by reading level. If the children are at kindergarten reading level, they are put in a kindergarten reading level class, no matter what grade they're in. The same would go for 1st grade reading level and so on and so forth. We dropped the girl off into her classroom and we were heading to mine. The teacher said, "The class you're going to isn't as hectic, however, it is a class of twenty 2nd graders who all read at the beginning of 1st grade reading level." This was perfectly fine with me because they all needed extra help and I was very happy to give it to them.
I walked into the classroom and was introduced to the reading teacher, Ms. So and So. She left me and I said hello to the class. I couldn’t help but notice that the majority of the class were actually minorities. Half were probably African-American, many were of a Latino or Hispanic background, and there was one little white boy in the corner. I knew they all had trouble with reading so I was waiting for the teacher to start the lesson. Instead she told me to work with a child on her reading. We started the page and she would be guessing the words. I told her to try to “dissect” the word and she looked at me with a puzzling look. “What is that???” She asked. I explained it to her and she says, “We don’t do that.” I wasn’t sure how to respond but I continued with the reading.
The space was used pretty well. The desks were organized into groups like I had in elementary school. There was a lot of light that came into the classroom from the big windows overlooking the playground and it seemed like it was a good environment for learning. The children seemed to like the setup also because they were able to talk in their little groups and work together. The school itself seemed as though it was sort of old and falling apart and the halls were very dark and dreary, however, it wasn’t in HORRIBLE condition.
Even though I didn’t completely agree with the teacher’s strategies, she seemed to value group work a lot. I think that is a good quality in a teacher because usually they can’t stand too much chatter. The kids seemed to work well together and when they didn’t, they were threatened to have to work alone and they alllll were able to work together in a very structured way. I was a little overwhelmed with everything but we’ll see how I feel next Friday!
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2 comments:
Hi Maria,
Sounds as if you had an intense first experience. You've described many of the facets with interesting details. I like how you mention the light. I would have loved to have read more about why you think it was a good environment for learning.
You've theorized that group work is valued here. What might that say about the teacher's pedagogy? How does she think learning occurs?
Continue to think on these things,
Dr. August
Oh, I forgot to mention: please organize your posts into paragraphs--more like an essay than a running commentary. You are a good writer; I look forward to reading more.
Dr. August
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