Prompt 7

Everytime I sit and observe in the classroom I go to, i imagine how I will be as a teacher. Will i be like her? Will I respond to the situtations she comes in counter with the same as her? How would I respond to different situations in general? Children arent afraid to speak their minds and ask you anything thats on their mind. Am I ready for this? I get anxious and nervous thinking about some of the situations I will have to encounter. I learn everyday. By watching and listening to her, I learn and am able to prepare myself for some of the things that I will need to address(poverty, bullying, etc).
Tutoring and observing in this diverse school has definately better prepared me for the future. This experience has been very successful with teaching myself something about who I am and want to be as a teacher. It was a struggle for me to relate to most of these children since I have had very different childhood then some of them. It has opened my eyes into knowing that not everyones childhood experience is the same as mine and I need to understand that and be flexible in my teaching styles to make sure I can relate and successfully teach every child.

Prompt 5

It's apart of the everyday morning rug routine to collect ice cream money from the children in my first class that I visit. ALot of the students seem to "forget" their money and I have seen the teacher get discouraged. She has said to me that this is an everyday occurance. She continuously reminds the parents not just to bring in ice cream money, but return signed assignments and other things that she has sent home for the parents to read and sign. She says that most of the parents dont have the time to meet with her for appointments about concerns she has for their children. She also says its like "pulling teeth" to get in touch with these parentss and to get the necessary things she needs from them.
Also, I have heard that the parents arent as involved in their childs education as she wishes they were. Some select students dont do required homework and bring in the right materials. But that goes along with any school. Its hard to get full attetion and cooperation from a class of 20+ no matter where you are and waht socioeconomic background you come from.
I would imagine the best way to address problems like I mentioned above would be parent/teacher conferences. I have learned that giving children flyers and memos to bring home to parents is not the awy to go when you expect a response on an important issue. I have seen that contacting the parent yourself is the only for sure way that you know that you are getting the mssage to the parent. sending it through the children isnt the best way to do that.

Prompt 2

As I walked through the hall, I got a chance to see what kind of teachers and faculty work there and also, what kind of students attend Asa Messer Elementary School. The faculty that I had a chance to meet and see are mostly white(the school seceratary is spanish, and one of the aids in my kindergarden is black), and all female. The two teachers I work with are both white. I noticed that most of the children who attend are black or of spanish culture. 4 of the The 6 children (3 kindergardeners, and 3 first graders) are black, and 2 are spanish.
My 6 students listen, but to an extent(they are kindergardeners and first graders, I expected them even before I met them to be a little crazy but it definately could be worse). They love the activities, but some are very easily distracted. There is this one boy who I already know is going to be an issue. He is always looking around, getting up out of his seat, doesnt follow directions and distracts the other boys in our reading group. I hope by the end of my time there I can get the respect from him and actually have him listen to me. The other 5 boys are eager to read, love to play the activities, and for the most part, listen to what I say.

Prompt 4

My personal history/sociocultural characteristics dont intersect with the majority of the students in the 2 classes that I come into contact with. I have nothing but disadvantages and challenges teaching a classroom as diverse as was at Asa Messer.
I have grown up in a completely white, middle class neighborhood/area where I maybe had 2-3 African American children in my Elementary School. I have been completely sheltered my whole life and I know think that this was a disadvantage for the field that I want to be in. In being a teacher, your going to meet and come into contact with children from all over the world. From the time that I began college, and in also visiting multiple schools in Providence for tutoring, I have met children/people from places I have never even heard of before and I find this very interesting.
I know that these children have nowhere near as much as I had when I was their age, which makes me sad because I have such fond memories of my childhood. I feel that if I work in an district like the Providence Public School District, then I would try that much harder to make these children want to strive and exceed to get out of the bad situations some of them are in now.

2nd visit prompt 1

While in route to the school, i took a good look at the area that I was in. Garbage filled the streets, old cars and small houses filled the streets. I could obviously tell by the surroundings that this wasnt a good area and I knew my time at Asa Messer would be interesting.

Just by the outside, i could tell the school is small. The main doors have wire over the windows, which made me nervous. Walking in, the hallways were flooded with children(in a very unorganized way, very different then when I was in elementary school). The classrooms are tiny. The hallways are dark and the doors leading to the classrooms are thick, dark brown wooden doors, with no windows. This seemed strange to me.

Tuesday was my second time at Asa Messer, but my first "real" day working with the children. I arrived, picked up my first graders folders and activities that we were going to be using that day, and went to the kindergarden room to observe for the first hour.

The first day of tutoring at ASA Messer Annex Elementary School was very interesting and exciting. Although I have tutored many children before, this school was new and different than any other school I have been to. When my partner and I first arrived, we quickly discovered we were at the wrong school. We wondered, How is it that we are at our assigned school, but noone was prepared for us? The ONLY office seceratary discovered the problem, We were in the wrong building. I was confused for a bit, but she kindly explained to us that there was another smaller building that we were assigned to down the street. So my partner and I jumped back into my car and drove to the RIGHT school down the block.
We walked in and were greated by Sue Greenfield who explained what our scedules were going to be like for the next couple of months that we will be joining the school. The children that I was assigned to were 3 kindergardeners, and 3 first graders. We were told that for the 2 hours we are there every Tuesday, we start with observing and helping the teacher and the class with whatever projects, tasks or assignments they have. For one hour we are basically a "teachers helper" which is going to be a great time to observe the teachers methods, how she handles certain situations, and learn, by example, how to be a successful teacher.
For the next hour, that will be spilt into one half hour reading session with the kindergardeners, and then the next, and last, half hour with the first graders. This will be a good time for the children to get one on one help and to recieve the one on one attention that they might be lacking from their teacher.
I am very excited to see how everything goes in the next couple of weeks/months. I cant wait to go back and start learning all there is to know about being the best teacher I can be.

bio

My name is Lisa Ax. I just transferred from Johnson and Wales University. I am 20 years old and I' m from Fair Lawn, NJ.