Jan.22, 07

Today was my first day teaching two lessons. The day went by quicker than usual, but by the end of the day, I was really tired. Mondays are more tiring than Fridays, because, like the children, I had three late sleeping days during the weekend. I need to get used to that, because not only would I be teaching for the whole day when I become a teacher, I would be teaching whole days from Monday to Friday. That means planning, teaching as well as assessing, while being alert of every child’s need all the time. These are very crucial tasks!

Ms. Carson showed me how to do a running record of the students’ reading levels, and she let me try it. It is interesting to see how the students try sounding out the words, and how some of them don’t. Their reading levels and attitudes and behaviours do not always compliment each other. Some good readers neglect to see that one of the words do not make sense when they were read incorrectly. Some lower readers try very hard to make sense of every sentence.

While the students were writing their “weekend news”, one girl told me that she had nothing to write after the first sentence. So I asked her, “Did you eat on the weekend?” She said “No…” Then I said exaggeratedly, “You DIDN’T eat during the weekend?!” Then she started laughing really hard. Students need to know that everything in their life is worth to be recognized. We only have exciting days once in a while, and sometimes life can be boring. However, everything becomes significant because we have lived through it. Some kids might feel bad because they did “nothing” on weekend, but we need to encourage them that nothing is “nothing”, because anything about them is important.