Prompt 7

This Service Learning project has helped me shape my teaching identity. I have seen some great things and a few bad things. I like that I am able to go into a classroom and see what a real classroom looks like. I was able to get a few good ideas on how to put together my classroom. One thing that I never really seen before was the children's pictures and their names beside them hanging up on the wall. I think that is a great idea and helps children feel more comfortable and makes them feel like this is their room. But I would like my classroom to be a little more organized and not so cluttered. I feel like there is a lot going on in the classroom and could be a little overwhelming for a child. I would also like to label more things and have it in English but also a few other popular languages.

Also what I learned during this time was the teaching skills. I like how the teacher has the children repeat after her so they really know what is going on. I think it is a good idea for students to say it themselves so you know they are listening and they understand. But I would like to be nicer to the children and be able to teach them while allowing them to have a good time learning. I feel like this classroom is too strict and more like an army where they do as they told and that’s it. I would like my classroom to be more relaxing and a fun learning environment.

But overall I think it has been really good working with the children and learning how to deal with children. It has been great seeing how a classroom should look like and how an elementary teacher really teaches. I will definitely remember this time and it will help shape me into being a great teacher one day.

Prompt 5

The school that I work in is a very diverse school. There are many different cultures and that means there are a lot of different languages. If I was the teacher in this class I know my main challenge with working with the parents would be the language barrier. Every morning I am there, there is one mother that comes in and brings her son in. They speak Spanish and the teacher's aide always speaks in Spanish to her. I never see the teacher speak to the mother; it is always the teacher's aide. I'm not really sure if the mother speaks English and that is why the teacher doesn't speak to her but I have noticed that every morning. I took five years of Spanish throughout Jr. High School and High School but I would never be able to hold a conversation in Spanish with a parent. Being able to communicate with parents is very important and has a lot to do with a child's success in school. If I am not able to communicate with the parents it would cause a big issue.

Obviously with a teacher's aide who speaks Spanish is very helpful, but I would like to be the one who speaks to the parents. One way to overcome this challenge would to be able to have a translator. The teacher's aid would be able to help me translate in Spanish but there are other parents who speak different languages. Having a translator at parent-teacher conferences would be very helpful being able to communicate with parents. But it is also very helpful if I was to pick up some words in these languages so that I would be able to communicate to them whenever I wanted to. I know that the language barrier is going to be difficult if I was to teach in a diverse environment so I have already thought about possibly studying abroad in Spain so that I could truly learn that culture but also their language. I think learning Spanish would really help me in the future being a teacher.

A little off topic of the prompt that I wanted to add into my blog was about this little girl who came into classes with bruises. She went up to the teacher's aide to ask a question and I was watching and the teacher's aide looked at the teacher while signifying to look at the little girl's arm. Right away I knew what she was talking about so when the little girl sat back down I looked at her and she had bruises on her arm. I don't know the whole story but the reaction of the teacher's aide made me realize that this wasn't the first time the little girl came in with bruises. The teacher's aide told the teacher to remind her to talk to the nurse and have the nurse look at it. But this made me feel so bad. I know at some point as a teacher I will have to deal with this situation but it is going to be difficult to deal with. Knowing that a child may get beat is just a horrific thing to think about. And there are just so many things to think about in this situation. Like is the child really getting abused? Did the child just fall? And you have to think about what to do. I think it is smart for the nurse to look at the little girl and I'm not sure if they are going to call the parents in or what. But I just thought I would share that.