Placement+2+Week+3+Experience

Week of March 29th, 2010

3/29/10

Wow! Talk about an amazing feeling! Ms. Stamp totally took me by surprise this morning. In making our usual rounds about campus preparing for the day, we needed to stop by the principal's office for a quick visit. While we were there, Ms. Stamp actually told Mr. Allen she thought he should hire me to teach next school year! I was thrilled, thankful, proud, shocked, nearly speechless, so many feelings all at once! Wowweee! What a way to get a job recommendation!

Today I also spent time getting to know one of the students better who is considered to be Limited English Proficient (LEP). I shared a fun little interest inventory and personal interest survey with her in hopes that I'll be able to use some of her likes and dislikes to tailor the content of her lessons to the things she most wants to learn about. I am happy to hear that she enjoys Science most during school, but wishes that Narcoossee Middle offered a class where she could be a teacher's aide or office assistant for a period. She told me that she wants "to help teachers understand the kids better because [you grown ups] don't get us very well." That made me laugh because some things never change...I remember thinking that when I was in school, too.

I hope I have the chance to learn a lot from this student and her friends!

3/30/10

Since there are just a few days left until the end of the third nine-weeks grading period, the students and teachers are in a race to get assignments turned in so that grades will be all ready for report cards. Those will be issued once the students return from Spring Break on April 12th.

I really like that Ms. Stamp uses this time to go the extra mile. She prints out special missing assignment and grade reports from the "Parent Internet Viewer" or PIV online program for all the students on campus that have failing grades. Then, she tracks the kids down to see what she can do to help them get back on track. Sometimes that means helping a child re-do incomplete or missed classwork. Other times, we just counseled a kid with poor organizational skills on ways to make sure he does his homework on time and makes extra-sure it gets turned in on time. Then there are just those kids who don't want help. That's sad, but Ms. Stamp was sure to warn me that, "You can lead a horse to water, but like the old saying goes, you can't force him to drink."

Over all, I liked helping the kids who were falling behind get back on their A-game though. It really means a lot to them when they see that someone still cares if they succeed, even when they've already given up. Maybe it does mean putting forth that extra bit of effort, because no one asked Ms. Stamp to help these kids...but the reward of seeing them run toward us waving a report card with A & B Honor roll when they didn't think they could do so well will be worth the time spent!