Week One!
The first entire week of class I was extremely worried, and I felt overwhelmed. I’m not sure if I felt this way because I thought I wouldn’t understand anything or because I felt I was nervous about just being in a college classroom without really knowing too many people. But as the week continued to drag on, I got more comfortable in my new surroundings, I started learning people’s names and understanding most of the upcoming assignments that were due. In this first week we did a number of activities that taught us things we might have not known about ourselves. I learned I’m a mixture of a visual and an auditory learner. Meaning that I learned much better by having things in front of me and an explanation behind it, this I already knew but it’s completely accurate I always learn faster and more efficiently when I have things drawn out and explained. In my stress test I actually, I’m under way more stress than I ever gave myself credit for when worrying about other things in my life that were worrying me. Although I took the IQ test for the first time that was kind of scary for me because it required way more thinking that I thought it would. I was slightly afraid I wouldn’t do well on the test and get a low IQ. My inventory test was pretty much well expected. It was fun to take it again although it didn’t really help me learn or establish too much of anything that I didn’t already know about.
The first entire week of class I was extremely worried, and I felt overwhelmed. I’m not sure if I felt this way because I thought I wouldn’t understand anything or because I felt I was nervous about just being in a college classroom without really knowing too many people. But as the week continued to drag on, I got more comfortable in my new surroundings, I started learning people’s names and understanding most of the upcoming assignments that were due. In this first week we did a number of activities that taught us things we might have not known about ourselves. I learned I’m a mixture of a visual and an auditory learner. Meaning that I learned much better by having things in front of me and an explanation behind it, this I already knew but it’s completely accurate I always learn faster and more efficiently when I have things drawn out and explained. In my stress test I actually, I’m under way more stress than I ever gave myself credit for when worrying about other things in my life that were worrying me. Although I took the IQ test for the first time that was kind of scary for me because it required way more thinking that I thought it would. I was slightly afraid I wouldn’t do well on the test and get a low IQ. My inventory test was pretty much well expected. It was fun to take it again although it didn’t really help me learn or establish too much of anything that I didn’t already know about.
Week Two!
At first I was nervous about having to meet and teach a student I had never met before. I felt scared that I would forget my lesson plan or that I would have a crazy child who didn’t care to listen or to learn. Luckily I was fortunate enough to not come into in contact with a kid like that. They were the complete opposite; they were intelligent and loved the contact. It made my entire morning that I could read a book to these children and they could listen, learn, and even teach me a few things.
My first student to read to was Jeremiah, he was so adorable they all were, although I was nervous because my book was quite lengthy compared to most picture books so I thought the little guy might not be listening. To my surprise he was highly intelligent, he knew most of the word i considered hard for his age right off the back. Even though he glanced at the book only a couple of times while I was reading he was more than aware of what was going on he even got the moral within the story before I even had a chance to ask. My second partner, Ashley was very social as well as intelligent as the first. It made me happy when Ashley told me she enjoyed my book and she even learned a thing or two about Tennessee. We did not have a third child to read and teach that day because of the shortage of kids in that particular class. We had to observe another group read to their students, it showed me new ways of teaching lessons to the students. I learned I could also let them read a page or two so that they can feel involved and get into the lesson a lot more than me just reading them and them figuring out the figurative language within my book or answering vocabulary and reading comprehension at the end of the story. My fourth reading buddy was Melanie she was very sweet and like the story of the Swamp angel she said it made her feel happy when I read it to her. And her being happy with the story was just enough for me to happy with the ending result.
I chose my Swamp Angel by Anne Isaacs, as reference to the “The Love of My life” (p. 269-271) within our textbook. The main character in this picture book was Angel and she loved the people in her small town so much she took on the biggest baddest bear in the backwoods of Tennessee. No matter what the men taunted and teased her about. It had fairly advanced vocabulary for a picture book and an exciting plot. I enjoyed watching the kids light up when they got a question right or remembered a complicated word.
Week Three!
I chose my book I Don't Want To Take a Bath by Julie Sykes with the intention of my lesson for this day being to teach the kids, more in depth version of the persuasive form of writing. I wasn't quite so sure they would like such a short book. I thought maybe some of they would misunderstand my picking of this book. Fortunately none of the kids disliked the story. All four of them, agreed it was funny and cute. They all enjoyed the shortness of the book because it gave me time to bond with each child a little more during our short time together. For this particular lesson the hardest thing for me was finding a book that was short enough that i could still share my time with partner. It was also difficult trying to find a book the went deep into persuasion as well as other modes of writing too. In the end i chose the perfect book. And Jereimiah, Ashley, Gavin, and Melanie all understood what was in the book beyond the words in it. They understood author's purpose and all that.
Week Four!
As my last week reading with the kids, I wanted to choose a book worth remembering. And since most of the kids I was teaching were of a different race, I decided on a book about culture; called This Next New Year by Janet S. Wong. As most of them were telling me how they celebrate their Fourth of July in each of their cultures. Since none of them were of the Chinese decent I thought a good way to connect with them through this book was showing them how another culture would celebrate their favorite or upcoming holiday. I also chose this book as a reference to Parts one two of our text book from the short story “An easy choice” (p.53-56). In the book, This Next New Year, the little boy (he has no name) is making it his priority to make good choices while preparing for the New Year upcoming. He goes through his entire house cleaning and preparing the entire house to bring good fortune in their house.
My first partner Jeremiah really like this book he told me he had friend who celebrated the Chinese New Year and he liked the things his friend told him about. My next partner Ashley, was excited to find out that different cultures celebrated their holidays. My third partner Gavin said he liked the story and found it interesting to see how the Chinese celebrated their New Year he and my last partner were curious about how the Chinese celebrated their Fourth of July if they did all that just for their New Year.
Even though at the beginning of this journey to becoming a mentor I was completely unsure about how this experience would turn out. When it came down to the last day of mentoring I was sad to see them and I wished I had a little more time to teach them more. As each child left I was sad to see them go but I was happy when I received their appreciation cards. I felt as if I made a difference in their abilities when it came to reading it was really nice to know I could make a difference in what they were doing. As well as teaching them, they taught me a few things as well. I hope I inspired them half as they much as they inspired me, this was an experience of a life time I wouldn’t change it for the world these kids really are special.
I chose my book I Don't Want To Take a Bath by Julie Sykes with the intention of my lesson for this day being to teach the kids, more in depth version of the persuasive form of writing. I wasn't quite so sure they would like such a short book. I thought maybe some of they would misunderstand my picking of this book. Fortunately none of the kids disliked the story. All four of them, agreed it was funny and cute. They all enjoyed the shortness of the book because it gave me time to bond with each child a little more during our short time together. For this particular lesson the hardest thing for me was finding a book that was short enough that i could still share my time with partner. It was also difficult trying to find a book the went deep into persuasion as well as other modes of writing too. In the end i chose the perfect book. And Jereimiah, Ashley, Gavin, and Melanie all understood what was in the book beyond the words in it. They understood author's purpose and all that.
Week Four!
As my last week reading with the kids, I wanted to choose a book worth remembering. And since most of the kids I was teaching were of a different race, I decided on a book about culture; called This Next New Year by Janet S. Wong. As most of them were telling me how they celebrate their Fourth of July in each of their cultures. Since none of them were of the Chinese decent I thought a good way to connect with them through this book was showing them how another culture would celebrate their favorite or upcoming holiday. I also chose this book as a reference to Parts one two of our text book from the short story “An easy choice” (p.53-56). In the book, This Next New Year, the little boy (he has no name) is making it his priority to make good choices while preparing for the New Year upcoming. He goes through his entire house cleaning and preparing the entire house to bring good fortune in their house.
My first partner Jeremiah really like this book he told me he had friend who celebrated the Chinese New Year and he liked the things his friend told him about. My next partner Ashley, was excited to find out that different cultures celebrated their holidays. My third partner Gavin said he liked the story and found it interesting to see how the Chinese celebrated their New Year he and my last partner were curious about how the Chinese celebrated their Fourth of July if they did all that just for their New Year.
Even though at the beginning of this journey to becoming a mentor I was completely unsure about how this experience would turn out. When it came down to the last day of mentoring I was sad to see them and I wished I had a little more time to teach them more. As each child left I was sad to see them go but I was happy when I received their appreciation cards. I felt as if I made a difference in their abilities when it came to reading it was really nice to know I could make a difference in what they were doing. As well as teaching them, they taught me a few things as well. I hope I inspired them half as they much as they inspired me, this was an experience of a life time I wouldn’t change it for the world these kids really are special.