Through taking my FNED 346 class and doing my VIPS tutoring at Mitchell Elementary, my teaching identity has really begun to take shape. I have learned so much through this experience and so much more than I thought I would.
I have to admit, when I first stepped foot into my FNED 346 class, I never thought in a million years it would give me the insight that it did. I walked into the classroom just thinking that we would do some volunteering with children and learning basic methods of how to run a classroom, but could I have been more wrong. FNED and VIPS taught me how to interact with children on a mature teaching level and how to better myself as a teacher. From learning about all the different theorists who I've mentioned in my past posts and more, this has been an unforgettable experience.
One experience that really allowed me to soak in this experience was one of my first times at Mitchell Elementary School. It was my third VIPS visit and the little boy that I had been working with for the past two visits, Alex*, was finally starting to get used to me. The first few times that I went there and helped him, he was very reserved and somewhat stand off-ish to receiving help from someone that he didn't know. But by working with him each session for approximately an hour and a half each day, he seemed to warm up to me. During our session that day, Alex started to really show his personality. He was happy and willing to learn. After getting used to him, I soon realized that he typically wasn't one to not put every effort that he had into what what he is doing. Once I got to see this side of him, my whole VIPS experience became a lot better. Alex usually ready to learn and happy to be around. And that day he really showed me that. He gave me a hug when it was time for me to go and asked when I would be coming back. This really showed that I had only begun starting to make an impact on Alex during my VIPS experience and it was extremely touching.
This experience has also made me extremely open to many different ways of thinking. It has showed me that in order to be a culturally competent teacher, one must be free of bias and open to new experiences and ways of thinking. With this experience I have already begun to take what I have learned whether it be with theorists or during VIPS and have already started using it in my teaching career. By being so fortunate to have been given these opportunities, I feel that my teaching identity has already begun formed and will only grow in a more positive way from here.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Sociocultural and Linguistic Differences
Sociocultural and Linguistic differences in room 308 at Mitchell Elementary School are undoubtedly prevalent. With the variety of cultures of the different children in Mrs. Kelly's classroom, it is impossible to ignore. Mrs. Kelly, the Special Education teachers, and myself have communicated in ways that demonstrated sensitivity towards these differences.
In Mrs. Kelly's classroom, there is a large majority that speak English as a second language. Many of these children is of the Hispanic descent, so Spanish is what most of them speak in their home. This comes in handy because one of the Special Education teachers happens to speak Spanish fluently. Whenever there is linguistic problems with any of the children who speak Spanish, Ms. Carter helps them out. Mrs. Kelly and I will try the best that we can with helping them try to make sense of what they are working on, but if it gets to the point where Ms. Carter has to speak to them in Spanish, she will.
Besides having students who are learning English as a second language, we have one student who is not partially deaf, but is also bilingual with Spanish and English. Bobby* has to wear a hearing aid at all times, while Mrs. Kelly has to wear the microphone set so that he can hear everything she says. If he still is unable to hear things, Ms. Carter will use the microphone and talk to him in Spanish, this ensures that he can hear and understand the lesson that is being taught. This could be problematic considering one would think that he couldn't hear his classmates talk and learn from them or that he wouldn't be able to hear Ms. Carter or myself when we speak to him. On the contrary, the students that are in this class stay in this class all day long together. They are used to Bobby and his hearing handicap. They have worked it out with him that Bobby needs to be able to very clearly read their lips. With the combination of Bobby being able to read people's lips and slightly hear what they are saying, he is able make sense of what is going on around him. Also, when we have to split up into small reading groups, whomever is the teacher for that group, which is usually Ms. Carter, will wear the microphone. This helps ensure that Bobby is understanding what is happening in the classroom and help him to talk with his classmates.
The theorist that I thought related most to this experience was Claude Goldenburg with his article, "Teaching English Language Learners". In this article, Goldenburg discusses misconceptions, facts, and research conducted about the average child whose first language is not English. In the article, is says that it isn't as hard as one may think it is to learn English in their native language. They use the method of "transferring" which allows them to use some of their native terms to help them figure out what a word means in English. I was astonished at this because I have never thought of that before. And when I think about it I now recall one little girl, Rosa*, speaking to herself in Spanish while Mrs.Kelly was trying to teach a vocabulary lesson. This was way to learning was extremely helpful for her and will be very helpful for the other bilingual students as well.
In Mrs. Kelly's classroom, there is a large majority that speak English as a second language. Many of these children is of the Hispanic descent, so Spanish is what most of them speak in their home. This comes in handy because one of the Special Education teachers happens to speak Spanish fluently. Whenever there is linguistic problems with any of the children who speak Spanish, Ms. Carter helps them out. Mrs. Kelly and I will try the best that we can with helping them try to make sense of what they are working on, but if it gets to the point where Ms. Carter has to speak to them in Spanish, she will.
Besides having students who are learning English as a second language, we have one student who is not partially deaf, but is also bilingual with Spanish and English. Bobby* has to wear a hearing aid at all times, while Mrs. Kelly has to wear the microphone set so that he can hear everything she says. If he still is unable to hear things, Ms. Carter will use the microphone and talk to him in Spanish, this ensures that he can hear and understand the lesson that is being taught. This could be problematic considering one would think that he couldn't hear his classmates talk and learn from them or that he wouldn't be able to hear Ms. Carter or myself when we speak to him. On the contrary, the students that are in this class stay in this class all day long together. They are used to Bobby and his hearing handicap. They have worked it out with him that Bobby needs to be able to very clearly read their lips. With the combination of Bobby being able to read people's lips and slightly hear what they are saying, he is able make sense of what is going on around him. Also, when we have to split up into small reading groups, whomever is the teacher for that group, which is usually Ms. Carter, will wear the microphone. This helps ensure that Bobby is understanding what is happening in the classroom and help him to talk with his classmates.
The theorist that I thought related most to this experience was Claude Goldenburg with his article, "Teaching English Language Learners". In this article, Goldenburg discusses misconceptions, facts, and research conducted about the average child whose first language is not English. In the article, is says that it isn't as hard as one may think it is to learn English in their native language. They use the method of "transferring" which allows them to use some of their native terms to help them figure out what a word means in English. I was astonished at this because I have never thought of that before. And when I think about it I now recall one little girl, Rosa*, speaking to herself in Spanish while Mrs.Kelly was trying to teach a vocabulary lesson. This was way to learning was extremely helpful for her and will be very helpful for the other bilingual students as well.
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Working with Parents and the Community
Through my experiences with having being around children in a school-like setting for years, it became clear to me that one of the most challenging tasks, aside from teaching the students of course, is interacting with the the children's family.
The child's family plays a big role in their life. Before and while they start schooling, those are all the people they have to learn from. To most children, at this age of nine, their family probably one of their biggest influences in their life. It really makes the child who they are turning out to be thus far in their life. The culturally competent teacher values this and respects this to the fullest.
Some challenges that the teacher, being myself in this case, might come across when teaching other people's children could be parent's concerned that the teacher isn't able to connect with their children with their style of teaching or it could be that the parents don't influence their child to strive to do well in school at all. Seeing some of the children of Mitchell Elementary and knowing their backgrounds, it has become very clear to me that most children usually fall in those two categories, and nowhere in between. The children who have their parents calling up Mrs. Kelly all the time and the children who strive to to better. It is evident that their parents push for them to be the greatest they can be. While on the other hand, the children who aren't pushed as much in their home atmosphere are the ones that sadden me the most. Those children usually don't have the proper guidance or are told that school matters. Most are just told school is something they have to get through, and that's what they do. I've noticed over the weeks that whenever I'm there it is the same students who do the homework and have a good track record, and it is the same students that don't do their homework and constantly get notes home. But the children who get notes home, usually don't change their ways after that. For the most part, they still continue to have their name get put in the orange and red zone and bring in incomplete homework. And what I've noticed is somewhat seems that the teachers are slowly starting to give up on them. I've seen many times Mrs.Kelly and the special education teachers reprimand the children, but do not try to help them change.
Lisa Delpit discusses situations like this in her article "The Silenced Dialogue: Power and Pedagogy in Educating Other People's Children". In this article, Lisa discusses the trials and tribulations of trying to educate children other than your own and the challenges that minority parents face when it comes to educating their child. She states that "to provide schooling for everyone else's children that reflect liberal, middle class values and aspirations is to ensure the maintenance of the status quo, to ensure power, the culture of power, remains in the hands of those who already have it." This just re-enforces that, to this theorist, the White man assumes the role of those whom already possess the traits necessary to provide schooling. This could be concerning because parents of minority children "want to ensure the school provides them with discourse patterns, interactional styles, and spoken and written language codes that will allow them success in the larger society." This means that Delpit is saying minority parents want the same schooling for their children as white people's children get, if not more. Because their children might not speak English, the children might have to work twice as hard just to achieve to achieve their goal because of a language barrier.
Through learning this, one of the things that I might do in regards to the parents concerns, might be to send home teacher evaluations (for myself) to parents and students perhaps once or twice a month. Then if a parent does have a problem, we could schedule a conference to discuss that. I feel like this could be effective because not only would it help the students and parents to get their voices heard, but it would also help me to become a better teacher.
The child's family plays a big role in their life. Before and while they start schooling, those are all the people they have to learn from. To most children, at this age of nine, their family probably one of their biggest influences in their life. It really makes the child who they are turning out to be thus far in their life. The culturally competent teacher values this and respects this to the fullest.
Some challenges that the teacher, being myself in this case, might come across when teaching other people's children could be parent's concerned that the teacher isn't able to connect with their children with their style of teaching or it could be that the parents don't influence their child to strive to do well in school at all. Seeing some of the children of Mitchell Elementary and knowing their backgrounds, it has become very clear to me that most children usually fall in those two categories, and nowhere in between. The children who have their parents calling up Mrs. Kelly all the time and the children who strive to to better. It is evident that their parents push for them to be the greatest they can be. While on the other hand, the children who aren't pushed as much in their home atmosphere are the ones that sadden me the most. Those children usually don't have the proper guidance or are told that school matters. Most are just told school is something they have to get through, and that's what they do. I've noticed over the weeks that whenever I'm there it is the same students who do the homework and have a good track record, and it is the same students that don't do their homework and constantly get notes home. But the children who get notes home, usually don't change their ways after that. For the most part, they still continue to have their name get put in the orange and red zone and bring in incomplete homework. And what I've noticed is somewhat seems that the teachers are slowly starting to give up on them. I've seen many times Mrs.Kelly and the special education teachers reprimand the children, but do not try to help them change.
Lisa Delpit discusses situations like this in her article "The Silenced Dialogue: Power and Pedagogy in Educating Other People's Children". In this article, Lisa discusses the trials and tribulations of trying to educate children other than your own and the challenges that minority parents face when it comes to educating their child. She states that "to provide schooling for everyone else's children that reflect liberal, middle class values and aspirations is to ensure the maintenance of the status quo, to ensure power, the culture of power, remains in the hands of those who already have it." This just re-enforces that, to this theorist, the White man assumes the role of those whom already possess the traits necessary to provide schooling. This could be concerning because parents of minority children "want to ensure the school provides them with discourse patterns, interactional styles, and spoken and written language codes that will allow them success in the larger society." This means that Delpit is saying minority parents want the same schooling for their children as white people's children get, if not more. Because their children might not speak English, the children might have to work twice as hard just to achieve to achieve their goal because of a language barrier.
Through learning this, one of the things that I might do in regards to the parents concerns, might be to send home teacher evaluations (for myself) to parents and students perhaps once or twice a month. Then if a parent does have a problem, we could schedule a conference to discuss that. I feel like this could be effective because not only would it help the students and parents to get their voices heard, but it would also help me to become a better teacher.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Sociocultural Awareness
At Mitchell Elementary School, the need for a culturally competent teacher is crucial. To me, the culturally competent teacher needs to be able to cope and understand different cultures and different views that children have and/or might have instilled in them already.
The children of Mrs. Kelly's classroom in room 308, are all noticeably different, but yet all the same. About 98 percent of the children in there are of a minority; Hispanic, Black, Asian, Native American, and so on. In the classroom there are only two caucasian children. Most of the children who are of Hispanic descent are bilingual, speaking both English and Spanish. Since the children at Mitchell do tend to be so diverse, this is something that our society can benefit greatly from.If the future of our children is to grow up submerged in a world of bilingual, our students will be so much more cultured and globally aware of their surroundings.
Also, Mitchell Elementary School is located right no the outskirts of downtown Providence, therefore most of the children have grown up and lived in a more city-like atmosphere. Because of this, I've notice that the students are more aware of social trends and happenings. For instance, although only 9 years old, roughly half of the classroom has a cell phone. Compared to when I was a kid, I didn't have one until I was fourteen. But on a more serious note, a handful of kids have experienced more serious things, things that a 9 year old shouldn't be experiencing this early on in life. For instance, an African-American boy, named, Anthony*, in the classroom got in trouble one day for bringing a large pocket knife to school. Anthony said he wasn't going to hurt anybody but his dad had just gotten it for him to protect himself. This was something that caught me extremely off guard, but really opened my eyes. It goes to show that kids are more aware of things than we think they are. The impressions that we make on them are long lasting and something that they usually follow in the footsteps of whoever is closet to them, which in Anthony's eyes, was his father.
I felt that this experience strongly related it Allan Jonson's article, "Our House is on Fire". In his article, Johnson discusses the issue of race, how people tend to feels towards it, and how society typically views it. I felt that it related to this because in his article, Johnson states that "Supposedly, the strange and unfamiliar bring out some innate human tendency towards fear of the unknown and intolerance of difference." This was clearly exemplified by some of the students in the classroom and myself in this particular situation. The students and myself became filled with fear when it was announced that Anthony has a knife on him. We were unaware of the reasons why we had it and let a feeling of curiosity as well as fearing the unknown fill our minds. I feel like this also demonstrated a sense of racism and privilege in a way. The part of racism came into play because, ashamed to admit it, I feel like I did at first discriminate against Anthony. Because of the stereotypes that society gives us, I feel like I used those stereotypes on Anthony during this experience. Had it been a white student, of the same gender and age, I feel that I might have been more forgiving. I might have used the excuse "Oh well they don't really know what that means or what that's for. They just saw it and picked it up because they liked how it looked". But since it wasn't a white student, I noticed that I was quick to judge and assume that even though Anthony was a young male, one such as the supposed "white student" could have been, that I was more app to think badly of the student, thinking that his intentions were meant to be ill mannered. This is what Johnson talks about in his article. He talks about the ever so prominent "privilege" that white people have. This privilege means that because they have a certain skin color, they are seen in a certain light, almost considered a better light. And this situation that occurred is just one of the many incidents that occurs on a daily basis for some people in our society.
The children of Mrs. Kelly's classroom in room 308, are all noticeably different, but yet all the same. About 98 percent of the children in there are of a minority; Hispanic, Black, Asian, Native American, and so on. In the classroom there are only two caucasian children. Most of the children who are of Hispanic descent are bilingual, speaking both English and Spanish. Since the children at Mitchell do tend to be so diverse, this is something that our society can benefit greatly from.If the future of our children is to grow up submerged in a world of bilingual, our students will be so much more cultured and globally aware of their surroundings.
Also, Mitchell Elementary School is located right no the outskirts of downtown Providence, therefore most of the children have grown up and lived in a more city-like atmosphere. Because of this, I've notice that the students are more aware of social trends and happenings. For instance, although only 9 years old, roughly half of the classroom has a cell phone. Compared to when I was a kid, I didn't have one until I was fourteen. But on a more serious note, a handful of kids have experienced more serious things, things that a 9 year old shouldn't be experiencing this early on in life. For instance, an African-American boy, named, Anthony*, in the classroom got in trouble one day for bringing a large pocket knife to school. Anthony said he wasn't going to hurt anybody but his dad had just gotten it for him to protect himself. This was something that caught me extremely off guard, but really opened my eyes. It goes to show that kids are more aware of things than we think they are. The impressions that we make on them are long lasting and something that they usually follow in the footsteps of whoever is closet to them, which in Anthony's eyes, was his father.
I felt that this experience strongly related it Allan Jonson's article, "Our House is on Fire". In his article, Johnson discusses the issue of race, how people tend to feels towards it, and how society typically views it. I felt that it related to this because in his article, Johnson states that "Supposedly, the strange and unfamiliar bring out some innate human tendency towards fear of the unknown and intolerance of difference." This was clearly exemplified by some of the students in the classroom and myself in this particular situation. The students and myself became filled with fear when it was announced that Anthony has a knife on him. We were unaware of the reasons why we had it and let a feeling of curiosity as well as fearing the unknown fill our minds. I feel like this also demonstrated a sense of racism and privilege in a way. The part of racism came into play because, ashamed to admit it, I feel like I did at first discriminate against Anthony. Because of the stereotypes that society gives us, I feel like I used those stereotypes on Anthony during this experience. Had it been a white student, of the same gender and age, I feel that I might have been more forgiving. I might have used the excuse "Oh well they don't really know what that means or what that's for. They just saw it and picked it up because they liked how it looked". But since it wasn't a white student, I noticed that I was quick to judge and assume that even though Anthony was a young male, one such as the supposed "white student" could have been, that I was more app to think badly of the student, thinking that his intentions were meant to be ill mannered. This is what Johnson talks about in his article. He talks about the ever so prominent "privilege" that white people have. This privilege means that because they have a certain skin color, they are seen in a certain light, almost considered a better light. And this situation that occurred is just one of the many incidents that occurs on a daily basis for some people in our society.
Friday, November 6, 2009
Prompt #1 - My First Day of VIPS
Upon pulling up to Mitchell Elementary School* for my first day of service learning, I was overwhelmed with a mixture of nervousness and excitement. Mitchell Elementary is only 2 blocks down from my apartment, so the drive is short. The school is right in the middle a residential neighborhood and next to a park; so it was very pretty looking at the school combined with the fall scenery.
As for the actual school building, Mitchell looked like a school that I wasn't used to seeing. All of the windows on the school were covered with bars, the main entrance to the school was facing in towards the parking lot, and the parking lot was also used as the children's recess area. Whereas, when I went to elementary school, my school was a little bit more spread out and we had recess on the playground in the back of the school, which was on a clearing of land, since I lived in what some people would call the "boon docks".
After I had buzzed in through the front door, I signed in into the front office. The secretaries were very nice and were dressed very casually. I soon noticed that just about all of the teachers at Mitchell Elementary were dressed very casual compared to the other elementary schools that I've been in. A majority of the teachers wore jeans all days of the week and either the school t-shirt or a nice shirt.
As I walked out of the office and made my way up to the 3rd* floor to room 308*, I slowly took everything in. I passed through the 5th grade wing first. There the hallway was filled of a mixture of different sounds such teachers teaching, kids talking, and papers shuffling. The walls were painted with pictures of all types of animals, pictures of children, and various inspirational quotes. As I walked by I glanced inside some of the classrooms, noticing the classrooms were typically filled with what looked like about 25-30 kids. In each classroom there seemed to be at least 2 teachers; 1 teacher, 1 special education teacher, and sometimes a VIPS volunteer.
As I came to the end of the hallway, a Caucasian teacher had pulled a young boy of the African-American descent out of the classroom, a few doors ahead of me. She starting yelling at him, telling the boy that he "couldn't call his classmate a white girl because that wasn't how we spoke to each other." Coming from a rural middle class neighborhood, this was my first time ever in an urban, multicultural elementary school setting so this incident was somewhat of a culture shock to me. It made me start to think that my VIPS experience was definitely going to be an interesting one.
As I passed by the teacher and young boy, I turned the corner and saw the sign for room number 308. Taking a deep breath, I entered the 4th grade language arts classroom that I was going to be joining for the rest of the semester. I walked into a room full of smiling hopeful faces; which eased my nerves a bit Mrs. Kelly*, the classroom teacher, was in the middle of a lesson but she stopped to greet me. She introduced me to the class and had me sit at a side table. She told me that since this was my first time, she was going to let me sit and basically observe, as that is what she had all her first time VIPS volunteers do. So as I sat there, I took in my surroundings. The classroom was a corner classroom and was a little bit bigger than the others I had seen; the ceilings were high and even though the desks were in the middle of the classroom like most rooms, there was enough space on all four sides that there were extra tables all around, which I later found out were used for group work. The side of the front board was covered with the spelling words of the week, the theme of the week, and the children names of who are in the "yellow zone", which was the warning zone.The walls were covered with different motivational posters, bus schedules, and different drawings that the children had given to Mrs. Kelly. Besides Mrs. Kelly, there were 2 more teachers in the classroom, which were special education teachers, who were helping out children.
What I noticed most amongst all the teachers were that they all seemed extremely determined. The special education teachers worked side-by-side the children that they were working with until they understood what they were supposed to be doing or what the teacher was saying. Mrs. Kelly was willing to go over and over again with the children something that they didn't understand or she would explain it in a different way. None of them seemed to move onto something new until they were sure that all the children had a thorough understanding of the subject at hand.
One thing that did I did notice though was that the children seemed to have a lot of little of side conversations. Many didn't make it past a few minutes without talking to the child sitting next to them. This, like most teachers, it what drives them up the wall. Mrs. Kelly made it a point to mention that respect is what she values most in her classroom and she has little patience for speaking out of turn. So the teachers usually responded to this talking out by yelling at the children, which didn't seem to have much impact either.
Overall, aside from the side conversations, most of the students seemed willing and excited to learn. Though some were starting to become less interested and more anxious as the fifty class period wore on, but for the most part, everyone, including the teachers, seemed happy to be there.
As for the actual school building, Mitchell looked like a school that I wasn't used to seeing. All of the windows on the school were covered with bars, the main entrance to the school was facing in towards the parking lot, and the parking lot was also used as the children's recess area. Whereas, when I went to elementary school, my school was a little bit more spread out and we had recess on the playground in the back of the school, which was on a clearing of land, since I lived in what some people would call the "boon docks".
After I had buzzed in through the front door, I signed in into the front office. The secretaries were very nice and were dressed very casually. I soon noticed that just about all of the teachers at Mitchell Elementary were dressed very casual compared to the other elementary schools that I've been in. A majority of the teachers wore jeans all days of the week and either the school t-shirt or a nice shirt.
As I walked out of the office and made my way up to the 3rd* floor to room 308*, I slowly took everything in. I passed through the 5th grade wing first. There the hallway was filled of a mixture of different sounds such teachers teaching, kids talking, and papers shuffling. The walls were painted with pictures of all types of animals, pictures of children, and various inspirational quotes. As I walked by I glanced inside some of the classrooms, noticing the classrooms were typically filled with what looked like about 25-30 kids. In each classroom there seemed to be at least 2 teachers; 1 teacher, 1 special education teacher, and sometimes a VIPS volunteer.
As I came to the end of the hallway, a Caucasian teacher had pulled a young boy of the African-American descent out of the classroom, a few doors ahead of me. She starting yelling at him, telling the boy that he "couldn't call his classmate a white girl because that wasn't how we spoke to each other." Coming from a rural middle class neighborhood, this was my first time ever in an urban, multicultural elementary school setting so this incident was somewhat of a culture shock to me. It made me start to think that my VIPS experience was definitely going to be an interesting one.
As I passed by the teacher and young boy, I turned the corner and saw the sign for room number 308. Taking a deep breath, I entered the 4th grade language arts classroom that I was going to be joining for the rest of the semester. I walked into a room full of smiling hopeful faces; which eased my nerves a bit Mrs. Kelly*, the classroom teacher, was in the middle of a lesson but she stopped to greet me. She introduced me to the class and had me sit at a side table. She told me that since this was my first time, she was going to let me sit and basically observe, as that is what she had all her first time VIPS volunteers do. So as I sat there, I took in my surroundings. The classroom was a corner classroom and was a little bit bigger than the others I had seen; the ceilings were high and even though the desks were in the middle of the classroom like most rooms, there was enough space on all four sides that there were extra tables all around, which I later found out were used for group work. The side of the front board was covered with the spelling words of the week, the theme of the week, and the children names of who are in the "yellow zone", which was the warning zone.The walls were covered with different motivational posters, bus schedules, and different drawings that the children had given to Mrs. Kelly. Besides Mrs. Kelly, there were 2 more teachers in the classroom, which were special education teachers, who were helping out children.
What I noticed most amongst all the teachers were that they all seemed extremely determined. The special education teachers worked side-by-side the children that they were working with until they understood what they were supposed to be doing or what the teacher was saying. Mrs. Kelly was willing to go over and over again with the children something that they didn't understand or she would explain it in a different way. None of them seemed to move onto something new until they were sure that all the children had a thorough understanding of the subject at hand.
One thing that did I did notice though was that the children seemed to have a lot of little of side conversations. Many didn't make it past a few minutes without talking to the child sitting next to them. This, like most teachers, it what drives them up the wall. Mrs. Kelly made it a point to mention that respect is what she values most in her classroom and she has little patience for speaking out of turn. So the teachers usually responded to this talking out by yelling at the children, which didn't seem to have much impact either.
Overall, aside from the side conversations, most of the students seemed willing and excited to learn. Though some were starting to become less interested and more anxious as the fifty class period wore on, but for the most part, everyone, including the teachers, seemed happy to be there.
Monday, September 7, 2009
Introduction
Hey my name is Andréa Rauch. I'm currently a sophomore at RIC and I live off campus in an apartment. I am majoring in Elementary Education with an undecided concentration, but leaning towards either Enlgish or Special Ed. I'm from New Jersey, though originally from Connecticut. When I'm not at class, I'm working on campus in the student union or hanging out with my friends.
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