Week Three

Everyday I wake up excited to see my first graders. They make me laugh and teach me new things everyday. I wouldn't trade this classroom experience for any other, but being in a tough school does really make me thankful for everything I had while growing up and makes me think about where I want to be in the future. My CT has been teaching at this school for four years and recently we were talking about her experience. She expressed that it's draining, emotionally and physically. 

Today I experienced what it was like dealing with some of these emotional and physical challenges. One little girl who doesn't come to school very often taught me a whole lot all in a matter of thirty minutes. She is very smart and catches on to subject material quickly. Today I experienced a new side of her. In our school we have special teachers that help with troubled students, this little girl happened to show up with two of these teachers today. I walked over to this student and talked with her. I asked her how her day was and why she seemed so sad. All she told me was she wanted her mom. As the two teachers saw I had her attention they started to leave. Seeing them leave, the little girl then too tried to leave. I had to hold the door close as she cried and kicked me. While still holding the door closed I talked to her, although she really didn't say much back. Eventually she seemed better and started to do the work the other students were around the room. She had moved away from the door and grabbed her literature book. She then hugged me and within seconds of me thinking she was feeling better she had sprinted back towards the door. Eventually with a lot of extra help from both my partner and I we successfully got the little girl to do her school work. 

This experience melted my heart. Her hug made me want to cry. Learning that her home life was really bad made me sick. All these emotions flooded over me and as I left I had to remind myself not every classroom is like this.