Tales Out of School

For those of you wondering, I had a FANTASTIC time on Monday during my student observations.  In the morning, I sat with Jamie's reading teacher from last year.  I even got to help out with reading aloud when her voice got tired.  The school cannot afford to buy enough copies of books their reading to send a copy home with each student, so the books have to be shared and read during class time.  Sometimes, Mrs. B reads chapters aloud, then stops at key points to ask students to make predictions, observations or connections to what they have read.  Monday was a read-aloud day.  It was great to hear the kids' opinions and predictions!

When it was time for Mrs. B's planning/advising/break, I went to Jamie's current English teacher, Mrs. F.  Jamie had already had his class with Mrs. F by this time, so there was no conflict with my sitting with her class.  They were working on writing an essay on the themes in Langston Hughes' "Thank You, M'am".  Lunch period was also during the time when I was with her class, so I got to sit and eat lunch outside in the courtyard with Jamie and his friends Spencer, Brandt, Maxwell and J.W. (I think?). The kid whose name I am not quite sure of looks a scarily-similar to Jamie - nearly the same color eyes, hair is nearly the same color, freckles like mad, and only a teensy bit taller.  It was very strange to see the two of them sitting side-by-side.  But, it was good getting to eat lunch with all "my kids" - well, except for our friend William.  William purposely hid when he saw me in the cafeteria; he said he was afraid I'd do something to embarrass him.  Who, me?

After lunch, Mrs. F and I got a chance to chat during the last few minutes of class.  She told me that Jamie wasn't being challenged enough by her regular English class, and wanted me to get the counselors to move him to her Pre-AP English class.  Considering Jamie has a 100 average in the class, I agreed he must not be challenged enough, and went straight to see the counselor.  His schedule will be rearranged today, and he'll start Pre-AP English tomorrow.  He's excited, and so am I.  When I got back, Mrs. F and I swapped lists of "must-read" books.  We both like YA fantasy literature.  I've been invited to come back to her class any time I want.  I definitely will be back next time I do observations!

Lastly, I went back to Mrs. B's class to observe her Advanced 6th grade reading class.  I was not impressed at all with some of the students in this class!  They were in the midst of group projects, so they were rowdy.  On top of that, they were disrespectful to each other and the teacher.  Also, their responses to Mrs. B's questions on their group projects did not show nearly the critical thinking skills that were observed in the so-called regular classes.  But it was good to see how she kept the kids on task and from being too loud when working in their groups.

When the day was over, I was sad to realize I wouldn't be back again for several weeks for more observation.  I had a lot of fun and learned a lot from the teachers.  I cannot wait for next time!