First Impressions

I completed my first (half) week of student teaching.  Everyone keeps asking me how it’s going and how I like it.  In two words: LOVE IT!

I am working in an inner city school.  It is an ESL (English as a second language) school, so needless to say there is a lot of diversity. We have Caucasian, African-American, Hispanic, African and Asian children.   The classroom I am in is a 2^nd/3^rd grade split class, meaning the grades have been combined and the teacher is trying to teach two sets of curriculum.  This in itself is a difficult task, but when you add second language learners and many of them from lower socio-economic backgrounds, it makes for a challenging classroom experience.

 There are several students in this class that really do want to learn.  Unfortunately, there are several others who either don’t care, or don’t have the support system at home to help.   We have one student who lives with foster parents, one who has a social worker that works as a liaison between the teacher and their parents, and several others who live with grandparents or other relatives for various reasons.   Quite a few students have eyesight issues, yet they do not have eyeglasses to help them see the blackboard or their work.    Also, there are several students with behavior issues, and a couple of children who have a hard time working independently enough to get their assignments completed on time.  We’ve got kids who haven’t completed more than one homework assignment the whole year.  There’s a kid whose mother made it clear at the beginning of the school year that she would not be attending any parent/teacher conferences.  This is the same kid who was late for school one day this week because his mother had to cut his hair!  Yes, folks, it had to be done THAT MORNING! Hahaha.  I could go on and on, but you probably get the picture. 

Right now I am just supporting the cooperating teaching, assisting students with questions and helping grade assignments.  In another week or so I will begin teaching a little and eventually the teacher will turn over all teaching responsibility to me for several weeks.  I’m looking forward to implementing some of my ideas into this classroom.  This is going to be a challenging experience that I hope to learn a great deal from.