Tuesday October 29th, 2018 was my fourth time going to my Field Experience school and I have to say everyday I go gets better and better and makes me upset to think of when I have to leave. I have started to form more connections with the kids in the class. When I walked in the children all were happy and excited and came up to me to give me hugs and say they were glad I was back. This Field Placement has helped me realize that this is was I really want to do and that has made me so happy because there is nothing else, I would rather do then help out kids and see them smile!
I had also gone alone this day as my partner could not make it, so he would be going on a later day to make up for it, her only having me she kind of threw me in the deep end. What I mean by this is last Tuesday I had mentioned that I wanted to try and help out more in the classroom but did not want to teach a lesson just wanted to try helping out at first to get a feel for things and that is what she got me to do without telling me. My co-op teacher had asked if I wanted to help with the kids stories and I said yes! My job was to get through their stories with them and help them find their spelling mistakes and show they how to spell it properly or where to put punctuation marks. At first it was all over whelming because I had a few of the girls come up to me and ask about how to spell words and fix their spelling mistakes so they could move on to the next part of this assignment which was making a good copy of their story to display on the wall in the hallway outside of their classroom along with a picture of a hunted house each kids had drawn.
Well I was working with the kids I had one of the little girls I help come up to me and hand me a sheet of paper that said “Happy Halloween! BOO!” with pictures of ghosts and pumpkins she had drew and it said thank you on the back, her handing this to me made me so happy! Once they had finished both they were given a pumpkin picture to color and I had on of the girls come up to me and ask if I would one color with her and I said yes. This was after I had finished with the little boy. I then talked with the girl and her friend at the table and got to know what they were dressing up for as Halloween.
They then had recess and after recess they had Math class. For their math class they were doing greater than or less than. The grade 2’s was just starting to learn about numbers up to 100 and the Grade 3’s was trying to finish with the number from 1-100. They were both given two different assignments and when they had finished the one my co-op teacher had told them to either come to me or her to get it corrected so they could move on to the other assignment. Many of the children had come up to me and again at first, I was a little over whelmed but then got used to it and was able to fly through them. Before they did their assignment though my co-op teacher put 3 pairs of numbers on the board and did these two times to get the kids used to doing greater then or less than again. To help the kids remember which she said to imagine a Pac-man eating the larger number to help them get used to the symbols.
I was even able to have a one on one with the boys in my co-op teachers class who does not do well in groups but better when he is by himself and on Tuesday, I finally got to see his full potential for myself! The kids were working on their Halloween stories they were to be writing and had started sometime last week. The little boy was not really working on it when I was looking around, he was just flipping through his book. So, I went up to him and asked if he would like my help at first he said no and was not very open and shied away, but after about 3 minutes he came up to me and asked if I could help him so I sat down with him and my co-op teacher came over and was surprised he let me help him and said to ask him what he would like to write for his story and I write it for him. I then asked him what he would like to write and just like that he started spitting out ideas for his story and what he wanted me to write at first, I could not keep up because he had surprised me with how well he can focus when it is only him.
As for the question for this week the different form of diversity there is a mix of students some Caucasian, First Nations, and a few with learning disabilities. I have seen this throughout the whole school in just about every grade. Some form of diversity that are not visible would be the kids with disabilities because not all of them are noticeable disabilities. I see the teachers honouring inclusive practices by allowing everyone of their students special opportunities. Like the First Nations girl in her class that has started trying to learn Cree with one of her friends in the class, so my co-op teacher asks her to teach the class at least 3 new Cree words a week to help her open up more and want to learn, she has even taught the class part of her Jingle Dance which is a type of First Nations dance. Another would be the little boy in her class that she tries to give him one on one time for some classes to help him succeed in class. Like my co-op teacher also allows him to use the standing table for most things because he does better when standing sometimes or if they are reading a story, she gives him a fidget, so he can focus rather then bothering other kids around him or he wears headphones that muffle or block out sound, so he can focus on his work rather then those around him. My co-op teacher is not the only teacher that does this I have seen many of the other teachers do this as well when I walk around the school or they even have a teacher who comes and take those who are struggling more then others with reading or other subjects to get extra help, so they can become caught up with the rest of the students.
I cannot wait to go back to the school next week and continue working with the students and my co-op teacher and continue to build relationships and connection with the kids. I also cannot wait to do more work with my co-op teacher like helping the kids with spelling or correcting their math work. I will say I have never been so happy to be pushed into the deep end!