Friday Fun Day!

So it was my first full day in the classroom and it was very interesting I must say! It was honestly a weird day. It was a Friday Fun day so the teacher didn't teach anything the whole day. The kids had recess in the morning then they were working on a Mother's Day project and watching a movie. I sat back an observed the behavior not only of the students but also of the teacher.

I think that being the end of the school year has the teachers drained because my mentor was not paying much attention to her students. I noticed that the students picked up on their teacher's frustration because they would just act up knowing that there was a huge possibility the teacher wouldn't notice. I was ver disappointed with the teacher's attitude because I can just tell that these kids need that attention.

As I sat back and observed, I watched two students in particular. For the sake of their privacy, I'll call them James and Ryan. So, James' desk is in the back of the classroom facing the wall. I wondered why he sat back there so when I saw him interact with the teacher, I could tell he had trouble following directions. When the class was working on their Mother's Day project, he approached the teacher and asked for a pink sheet of paper. The pink sheet was the second step of the project. The first part was a letter. His teacher responded by yelling at him, "James get away from me! You haven't done the letter so what makes you think you can start coloring and decorating the pink sheet? Get back and sit down. I don't care if you don't want to give your mom anything!" The look on his face broke my heart. He returned to his seat and just sat there.
I went ahead and pulled a chair next to him and asked to see his letter. He told me he hadn't written it yet so I asked him to pull out a piece of paper. He told me he didn't have a notebook so I asked another student for a piece. Once we had the paper and pencil I asked him to give me three reasons why he is thankful for his mom. He had a negative attitude towards the project in general so he claimed that he couldn't come up with a reason. After about twenty minutes of me asking him questions about his mom, he came up with three reasons! He then wrote the letter to his mom and when we were done, I complimented on his handwriting and work ethic and the frown on his face changed to a huge smile! It warmed my heart! He finished his project and then he showed me his drawing skills (he is really good!).

When I was done working with James, I looked over and noticed Ryan. He too tried talking to the teacher but he was mumbling and she yelled at him and said "If you're not gonna speak up and talk to me normally, I don't wanna hear you! Go back to your seat, or speak up!" Ryan just returned to his seat and continued to draw on a piece of paper. I walked over to his group and pulled up a chair next to him. I noticed he was very shy and quiet. I made conversation and I was just asking some questions to get to know him. He did mumble when he talked so I had to pay close attention. I asked about his drawings and he explained his interest for Club Penguin which is an online game where you can customize your penguins and hang out in their city. I told him I used to have a penguin and he was so happy! We talked about that for quite some time then he showed me the rap song he wrote. He even chose to rap it for me. As we talked, I was analyzing his behavior and I came to an assumption that he might have Down syndrome. I asked one of the other Hope students who works with the special education teacher and she confirmed that Ryan does go to see that teacher and that he does have Down syndrome. After I found this out, I was very disturbed by the way his teacher acted towards him. I sensed her frustration with him, and I found it very unfair because I could just tell he enjoyed that personal time we had where I made him feel as though he and I were the only ones in the room. He definitely came out of his shell and opened up to me. I decided I want to work with him and James very closely while I'm here.

After school, we all hoped on the train and went down to Hollywood to walk around! We saw ver interesting characters once the sun went down. It was very interesting to see the difference between Hollywood and Watts. I was with a group of three other girls and we just walked up and down Hollywood Blvd. We had lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe so that was a great time. We took that time to debrief about our day at the school and then enjoyed the rest of the evening. We were out there for a few hours and then we all headed back to the hotel. We might have arrived around midnight or one in the morning so we were really tired! It was a great time though!


-Miss. Jackie