An excerpt from week seven of my field placement:
During this time, one student was being fidgety and loud and was ignoring his book. Multiple students asked him to stop whistling and be quiet. I decided to sit with him and asked him about the book he was reading. He told me it was a book about cars, and without me prompting him, he began to read his book to me quietly. After each page, he would stop reading and tell me about his knowledge of cars. He told me about a cardboard car he watched a video on and about how innovative Tesla’s are. As soon as I started engaging with him and asked him to share his interests, he settled down and began to focus. I’m thankful for getting this experience with him. In lectures and seminars we’ve discussed how to invite and engage students, but having a real-life experience engaging a student is invaluable and something I will take with me.