Monday August 25, 2008

            Today is my first day and I am only observing.  I am a little excited; all the children are staring at me.  They know that I am new on campus.  One of the students recognized me from my other job.  The fact that I work at Wal-Mart was so shocking to them.  It made me feel like a celebrity.  Every corner I turned on some child recognized me.  This makes me want to never wear my badge while at Wal-Mart.  I am actually nervous and this is so shocking to me. 

            The teacher that is my teacher supervisor is Mrs. Latisha Sargent, a Tougaloo Alumni.  I think she is the best.  She is great at what she does.  There are also two other teachers who work with me her, Ms. Linda Key and Ms. Brittney McDowell.  Ms. Key is the fifth grade inclusion teacher.  She is retired and she is also a hard workingwoman.  She only works half of the year, but she gets the job done.  Ms. McDowell is Mrs. Sargent’s right hand man (woman).   She is the assistant teacher, but she works just as hard as anyone else.  She goes from class to class just as the inclusion teacher does. She is also a student at Hinds Community College.   I have not had the privilege to meet her yet because she is sick, and she want be back till next week.

            The way the exceptional education department work is great.  They have it set up to run smoothly.  The only problem that is occurring is lunchtime and resource times.  Lunchtime is cutting into tutorial.  The general education teacher and the exceptional education teacher need to come together on that.  The students never enough time to complete their work.  Some time the student miss out extracurricular activities because they are always late for tutorial.  Also, Mrs. Sargent works extremely hard; she sometimes misses all her breaks except lunch.  She is always on the move.  When I do get a class I want to be just like her. 

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

            Today I observed again.  When Mrs. Sargent goes into the third grade class, she goes in fall force.  She actually teaches reading for 45 minutes.  Sometimes she does not know what the teacher has prepared for them and she always finish with a great job.  You cannot tell that she did not know the lesson.  On this day one of the students decided that she was going to be rude.  One of the students was sitting in her desk.  Another student was sitting in her desk and left pencil shavings in her seat.  She accused the wrong student of doing it.  I tried to tell her that the student she was accusing did not do it, and she went off on me.  I thought it was so funny, because I could have checked her down really quick, but Mrs. Sargent set her straight.  The student began to cry, I was amused because I thought it was strange that she can dish it out, but you can’t take it. 

            The way Mrs. Sargent handle the situation was very professional.  The child actually got smart with her too.  The way the student talked to Mrs. Sargent was worst than how she talked to me.  The general education teacher could not understand why the student reacted this way.  She claimed she had never act the way before.  Therefore, the general education teacher took the student outside for a one on one conference, while Mrs. Sargent and I went on with the lesson.  I really thought that was strange, the teacher said she would handle the situation.  I honestly believe that the teacher did not do anything about the situation. 

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

            Today I had the honor of making the Classroom Management System.  It turned out to be very nice.  The classroom is decorated in orange and purple, because colors grasp children attention.  The classroom management system consists of six short rules, four consequences, and two rewards.  I had so much fun making it and I did it all by myself.  I also received my parking spot today; it made me feel as if I was wanted here at Walton Elementary.

            Today I met Aston, a student who is known as an inclusion student, but the exceptional education teacher thinks he should be in (TMR) Trainable Mental Retardation.  Aston is a first grader, who cannot function on a first grade level.  He can only recognize one alphabet and that is the A.  He can also rope count 1to 10.  Aston also has Danny Walker Syndrome, he walks sideways.  Also, when Aston speaks you cannot understand what he is saying.  You have to ask him over and over until you understand what he is saying and he will repeat himself over and over until you understand them.  Sometime he still has to use pull-ups because he still has accidents. 

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Did Not Attend (Registration)

Friday, August 29, 2008

            Today was a day of testing.  We had the students in the classroom with us all day long.  I was in charge of the third graders.  I worked with them all the by myself.  I learned that for some students you must modify, their tests.  When modifying, the exceptional education teacher are able to eliminate some question and are capable of helping the students. We can also use pictures and objects to help them understand.  We can also give them more time.  This experience taught me to be more patient.  The children learn, it just takes them much longer to figure out things.  When the students have help, they finishes much quicker because they have someone to explain exactly what is needed of them.  It’s like they know exactly what to do.