Achievements

• I make copies.
• I prepare assignments for the children.
• I help other teachers with papers and errands.
• I taught a lesson on categories using Barbies for the stuffed animals for the boys. They loved it.
• I help students individually with their assignments. 
• I work with reading groups.
• I help teach them good handwriting. 
• I tie MANY shoes.
• I talk with my teacher about different classroom scenarios, and she provides great advice.
• I become friends with the TAs.
• I am told by a child he wished i was his mother.
• I practice authority and the listen. Most of the time...
• I'll think of more things later.

Helping children writing the letter M

Today I spent my time working with small groups, helping children trace and write the letter M. It is important that they write the letter the correct way, so making sure they are following the system is a tedious task. For capital M is supposed to be drawn from the head line to the footling. They then pick up their pencils and draw up, down, up down. They seem to be relatively okay with this. A select few want to draw the first stroke from the foot line to the the head line. They have a great deal of trouble with the lowercase m, as they are told to draw down, up, up hump, up hump. All of them want to start at the foot line. The solution is saying the foot line is stinky, and never start at the stinky feet. This is helpful, but it still fails to stick with some of the children. It was hard to give them all the attention they needed, and sass from a naughty student did no help matters. I now know what to expect though and will be more prepared when I work with a letter again wednesday.

Two Week Summation

 I have waited to record my weeks so i can compile the best points and observations I have made. My days are pretty schedule oriented so I usually know what to expect. There is always a new learning experience that shows up though. The most notable thing that occurred was the guilt I felt when getting a little girl in trouble. They were in their centers and instead of participating she had flipped her paper over and was drawing a "my little pony". I told her she needed to stop and do her work, but she ignored me. I told her several more times, but she refused and started to tear up. I honestly had no idea what to do, so i resorted to the only thing I could think of. I told on her. 
I felt like and adult tattle tail. When i told the teacher, she called her up and had a talk with her. After she had finished, the girl was crying and continued to do so until the end of centers. I confessed to the teacher my angst, and she was very compassionate. She said I had done the right thing. Centers were not play time but learning time, and she was glad I had seen she was not doing her work. She told me sometimes you feel like the bad guy, but you're really the hero. Because you know what;s best for them. That really made an impression on me. I was however sad that the girl would be mad at me. Surprisingly, she wasn't though. She had completely forgotten I had anything to do with her discipline, and began to ask for help at table time. And she was very sweet.
The kids are the reason I love helping out in the morning. There are a select few that love me, constantly demanding hugs and trying to get my attention. I must say, it feels wonderful. And then there are the kids that like me, but are shy and feel no need to express affection. But when I talk to them, I can tell it makes them feel happy. And then there are the kids that could take or leave me, which is nice because I feel more like a teacher with them than the other kids. I love teaching them all, but I feel like this is a good balance.
A naughty little boy who's always getting in trouble and is somewhat of a know-it-all came up to me one day and asked why I am never mad. I was amused and told him I did get mad sometimes. He wondered off and I was left thinking that i wasn't mad because I really couldn't get mad. I had no authority to get them in trouble, so showing anger would be unproductive. Once I am a teacher I will have to "get mad" which i'm sure won't be fun. So for now, i kind of appreciate not having to "get mad".
Last week I experienced the most toughing thing I think i've ever felt. It was teacher appreciation week, which I wasn't aware of at the time, and Ms.Price had been receiving thank you cards with little gifts. One of the really sweet boys in the class came up to me holding a card. It said Ms.Ross on it, which isn't my name, so I asked who I was supposed to give it to. He said it was for me, so I opened it up and it was a thank you note with a gift card to Starbucks inside! I was so surprised and touched. He had written he had fun with him and was grateful I was there to help him learn. I couldn't stop smiling after that, and I felt I was on the path to becoming a teacher more than I ever have before. It's an amazing feeling.
For the first time, Ms.Price allowed me to work with a group of students, helping them learn what she calls "popcorn words". These are the words that pop up the most. Examples are "the" "am" "my" "can" and so on. She gave me the students that needed extra help. I held up a word and they would read it and write it out on a notecard. We went over the words several times, but a a few of them continued to have no idea how to read them. They couldn't even remember what the word was if I went right back to it. Most of them made some progress though, so we played the popcorn game. There is a popcorn box that has popsicle stick in it with words written on them. A student picks A stick and if they can read it they get to keep it. If they can't they have to put it back. There is a stick that says "boom!" on it, and if they draw that they lose all their sticks. The kid with the most sticks wins. They LOVE the game. It's so simple, yet very creative. I think they get a lot from it.
These things were the most notable events from the usual norm. My week mostly consisted of helping make crafts, walking around helping kids with assignments, and helping other teachers with minute tasks. I am going to teach a lesson soon though which should be interesting. I'm pretty pumped. The gist of this blog, teaching is pretty sweet. I look forward to another week of joy.