I was only able to get into the classroom once this week because my school had Monday-Wednesday off, although I was able to be there for 2 1/2 hours today.
The majority of the time I am in the classroom I feel as though they are not doing much literacy either (like marie03 mentioned). Today my cooperating teacher told me to help whichever push-in teacher needed my assistance. Because neither needed much help, one of them just had me sit down and help a group of students cut out pictures of money for the project that they're working on. She said, "Feel free to talk to them, about anything really, because these children need to be immersed in as much language as they can. Talk to them about anything, their life, anything." So I did. Because of their hispanic backgrounds and the culture they are immersed in they talk differently and are at times timid to speak in English in fear of saying the wrong thing. For example, a little girl said "color" but pronounced it as "codor" and I was able to bring it to her attention and she corrected herself. She would also ask me questions that in order to get the answer you must think logically and critically, and instead of telling her the answer I would assist her in finding the answer herself. I feel as though rich conversation like this is not available to these children at home and it is nice to be able to give them such opportunities.
I was also there for math time today. My job during math time is to walk around and help the students who need help with their addition problems. Today I realized how satisfying it is when I can help students figure the answer out on their own and see how happy their faces are to know that they were able to do it and that they made me and the teacher proud.
Although I am not directly focused on literacy and reading I still feel as though applying what I have learned throughout my college education is having a positive impact on the children I'm working with and will benefit the way I approach educational settings in the future.
-Ashley
I agree with your last statement; though the both of us are not able to focus on literacy as much, applying what we have learned thus far in school is definitely beneficial to the students. Though we are not applying literacy quite yet, we are applying other knowledgeable skills we have acquired. Good outlook!
ReplyDeleteIt's really great that you're helping your students find the answers instead of just giving it to them. This will be very helpful in the long run, I'm sure! Just having someone to talk to that's willing to listen is probably giving your students a lot more confidence in their English ability!
ReplyDelete