Made it through my first week of teaching after-school for the Guadalupe Center! *Phew*! Like I believe I mentioned before, I have a first grade class, with 19 students, all of whom have been very consistent in showing up. I am fortunate to have two high school tutors as well, who are a great help to me throughout the program. For those of you who know me, you would know that I studied Early Childhood Education for 2.5 years in college, so this whole experience is right up my alley.
I'm not too sure what made me switch my major, and I have been feeling conflicted about it this week as I made preparations, lesson plans, behavior charts, etc. I kept thinking to myself: I LOVE this stuff! Soo...that is a whole other issue that can be thought about more in depth at a later time.
Anyways. The focus of this program is not only homework help (because some of the student's parents cannot speak or read English, they cannot help their children with homework), but also to do activities to be supplemental to what was learned during the school day. The focus is reading comprehension. It's been really hard this week, because a lot of the children are behind. The books they have (that they probably checked out from the school library) are above their levels...the books I have at home that I can bring in are also above their level, I am finding)...I find them just looking at pictures, and if there is to many words on a page, it stresses them out. A lot of them are more on a kindergarten reading level than first grade. The books in the classroom I teach in are off limits, because they were purchased by the teacher and also she told me when I spoke with her that most of the books, again, are above their level.
But I've been working on reading to them out loud for now, and going over Who, What, Where, and having them make predictions...they seem to enjoy that, so I figure it's a good place to start. I want to get more books for them though , that they can actually read.
My kids are all pretty well-behaved with the exception of one child. He is sweet and means well, but has a big problem listening. It's frustrating because if students are talking or messing around, I wait for them to change their behavior and make a better choice before proceeding. This specific child makes me wait...a lot...and therefore makes the class wait as well. Today when we were playing outside, he wasn't listening, again. I started to feel very frustrated, but then he came up to me with a little flower and gave it to me and walked away. I'm a sucker for these kind of things, it was so sweet. It reminded me to be calm and more patient and put things into perspective: he's an energetic child, he's been in school all day, and now he has to be here for a few more hours. Later in the day, he hugged me, when he really should have been sitting down. I hugged him back then asked for him to sit down, and he said "keep hugging me! I'm so tired!"
I also have to change my perspective and realize I have NO idea what his life is like. What are things like in the home? Who does he live with? Where does he live? How is he treated? These things I do not know, and will probably never know. I have to remember this for all of my kids. And in fact, I should remember this about everyone I meet. I don't know people's stories, where they are coming from, what happened in their day...these children remind me of this every day.
I start at Pace and Gaudalupe Center next week. I am so excited. My whole life down here will basically be devoted to the children, the youth, the young people. I'm all about it. I'm all about trying to make a difference in their lives now, and hoping it will carry on with them throughout their whole lives. I had so many amazing people mentor and be there for me, encourage and support me throughout my life. I love the fact that I am now in a position where I can be that for someone else.
Hoping whoever is reading this is having a most beautiful day. Keep a smile on your face, and remember: don't judge people to quickly. You only see the tip of the iceberg.
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