SOOOO, monday-friday there is school and i am the 1st and 2nd grade aid, so apart from making awesome posters, covering books and making copies for the teachers, who are very sweet and kind...i work one on one with students through out the day, as well as after school. The students i work with after school happen to be the same hooligans i see during the day, so we've started to form quite a bond!
After the school assembly (which is every morning at 7:50) my team switches off reading to the preschoolers (its my favorite time of day!) then i take clint or benard (we switch off every day-they are both in class 2) for reading for about an hour. After tea, i help Kilonzi (also class 2) with math. (Sadly the subtraction and addition flash cards are also a great refresher of my own math skills!) After lunch i work on reading with Susan, one of the sweetest, quietest girls in first grade. And then i finish up the day with random jobs from teachers or other staff...and sometimes if im lucky, get the chance to take a quick nap!
What im having a hard time with as i work with these kids is creativity! I'v always known that kids (people for that matter) learn so differently and what works for one student might not work for another but after so many different methods of adding and subtracting i sometimes get discouraged! and reading!!!..how do i teach a kid to read other than the old fashioned "sound it out!" so im trying to be creative; for the readers, trying to bring the stories to life...experience what it is they're reading about so they understand that words have meaning! and for math...i've started a hands on approach where i make Kilonzi physically add or subtract things from a pile...some days its books, others its pieces of paper. And even still, after days and days of review i sometimes fail to see them making connections! i am not mentioning this to say they are dumb...far from it (in fact if anything im only pointing out the areas where my teaching skills could improve!) but its made me extremely grateful for good teachers and has even softened my heart towards bad ones (because im afraid i might be put in that category if there's a master list somewhere!) and a quick shout out: Its made me extremely grateful and proud of my mom (who's a fabulous 3rd grade teacher) and although i've ALWAYS looked up to her, her heroism has reached new heights in my mind...i work with 4 students...most often 1 on 1...she works with 20 somethin kids who all have different needs, different deficiencies etc..and then comes home to take care of her crazy family! (i love you mom, you're great!)
so anyways...if anyone out there reading this is a teacher, or has a passion for learning and you have advice on how to teach so that kids actually absorb what you're teaching, any thoughts or pieces of advice are much appreciated! (im also in the business of praying...and am thankful for anyone who wants to take part in praying for me and the students!)
(its become tradition to take a picture everyday after tutoring
so the next couple are of me, benard and clint doin our usual after school shenanigans!)
and i can't load the video of kilonzi, but i will try to get something up soon!!!
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