March 20, 2016 - 20:51
- Today when I walked in, the kids were finishing up lunch. They were really quiet and calm for the first few minutes and I just walked around, observing them clean up.
- I went into the block room where a couple of the girls were playing with plastic straws. One of the girls exclaimed, "I know you!" and they asked me for my name again. We had a conversation about my name and them they continued to play with their straws
- One of the boys (Bob) came in with an easter egg hidden in his pocket. He kept taking it out at random points and showing it to his friends and teachers.
- After a little while of playing indoors, the teachers decided that the weather was good enough to go outdoors. The students got really excited about this and started asking about their Nature walk as well. At first the teachers denied going on a nature walk, but they changed their minds later.
- When the students got outdoors, they all separated into different groups and went to play. One of the students (Pat) wanted to swing, and he climbed up on the swing himself and started swinging. I was going to offer him a push but he did it himself and then explained to me that he actually knew how to pump his legs. I sat with him for a while, since he was playing all alone. I asked if he wanted to play with the other kids but he said he was content where he was. This student was really interesting- he really loves the Beatles. He had on a shirt that he explained to me was a copy of George's (from the Beatles) shirt. He started telling me stories that his dad told him about the Beatles and other various things. I talked to him about different Beatles songs and their movie.
- After a little while, the teachers decided that they did want to go on a short nature walk. The students were lined up in pairs and we went up the path towards the pond. Earlier that day, a couple of the girls were playing a game based on the movie "Brave" and were making bow and arrows but were told not to create weapons in the classroom by the teachers. When we walked up toward the pond, we saw the archery class getting ready to shoot their first lesson. One of the teachers asked whether the kids would want to see them shoot and they all got really excited.
- We walked over to the pond first, and the kids were really excited to see the geese. They watched them for a while, but spent most of their time shouting about and avoiding "goose poop".
- On our way back, the kids stopped to watch the archery class. At first they were really excited but after watching the first shot or so, they got bored and started climbing on the fence and acting out.
- Lunch time was something new that I saw. I didn't know whether they were just running late, or I had just not noticed the end of lunch the last two times that I had come to the classroom. Either way, the kids were very well behaved and organized as they cleaned up their lunch.
- I feel like the kids weren't sure about how to address me- as a teacher or as more of their equal. They kept messing around with my name until I told them they could simply call me "Sid" and the teachers told them to not be rude about what to call me. I think that they felt like they could tease me like their equal.
- Bob was really excited about his Easter egg and he was also playing alone for most of the time. He went around to a couple different games before he settled on playing with the blocks after another group of kids was already playing with those blocks. I think he was having a hard time socializing in a way that made the other children comfortable.
- The kids were really excited about going outside and I was surprised to see them start talking about their nature walk. They seemed so excited to learn about nature and that was really cool to see.
- Pat, the kid who was really interested in the Beatles was really funny and engaging. He started talking about the Beatles out of nowhere but I could see how interested he was in them that I couldn't make myself tell him that I knew absolutely nothing about the Beatles. I encouraged him to keep talking to me as I hadn't really talked to him at all inside the classroom in the past couple of weeks. He changed subjects really fast but was overall engaging.
- The kids got excited about the nature walk all over again and for the most part stayed well behaved during it. They, I think, knew that this was a privilege and could be taken away if they did not behave. They stayed with the group and although they were having their own conversations amongst themselves, they also paid attention to the teachers, who gave them their own space to talk about anything they wanted but also encouraged them to talk about the nature walk.
- There was such a huge outburst about all the goose poop that I think the kids were more distracted than they usually are in the nature walks. They talked about geese and spring and flower, but they were also so concerned about not getting their shoes dirty. I felt like it kind of defeated the purpose, but the teachers found the trip successful. I guess just taking them outside on a walk and talking about various parts of spring was enough for the kids.
- I feel like the archery lesson was something cool for the girls who were interested in Brave to see. The rest of the kids thought it was interesting for a couple seconds but were over it in a while.
Comments
Spending Time Alone
Submitted by Mmacdougall on March 22, 2016 - 08:14 Permalink
I think it's interesting that you point out that there were a couple of students who played alone. It's particularly interesting that it seems that they were alone for different reasons. Bob playing alone seems a bit counter to what he wanted out of his classroom experience, but it seems Pat did not mind being alone, and perhaps was seeking some time away from his friends. It reminds me that while we, as teachers, likely want to see our students interacting and building social skills, it is important for some people to spend time alone, and we need to allow space for that.