This week at Rose scholars there was a different group of kids I was not familiar with. One of the girls seemed to have some issues getting along with the others. She was getting yelled at by the teacher for her reckless behavior, but I felt like all she wanted was someone to play with. I proceeded to invite her to draw with me, and I drew a few paper dolls of me, her, and the couple of other girls sharing the table. She loved it so much, looking in awe at her “twin”. It was not a fantastic drawing, but she loved it. She warmed up and settled down, proceeding to play with my hair and give me braids like her mom does to her hair. It was a situation that resolved with some patience and care.

This was my sixth hour or so,

My last chance to prove I wasn’t there for no

reason.

 

One rowdy kid was relegated to doing his homework

Because the project he alone shirked.

I took a peek at his writing exercise,

Thinking that here, finally, was a place that I could advise.

He was supposed to make sentences with words,

And seeing what he had down gave me serious concerns.

“a sweater is clos.

a shoe is clos.

a school is where kids go to Iran.”

To call myself a bard seemed now rather cocky,

Seeing that this kid had composed Jabberwocky.

(I only later managed to discern

That “Iran” was how he spelled “learn”)

Hartek, the Bard

Today was the day of the spelling contest, After completing a very large packet of math amongst all of the fourth graders, we decided that we would try you spell each other‘s names as a way to get to know each other. Then we decided to increase the level of difficulty and learn to spell countries, animals and the hardest words I could think of.
This proved to be helpful, as the students have started their ABC projects this week. Each week, they write a report on a country with a corresponding letter. We then began to practice spelling countries around the world, and it turned into a contest between ten students and I.
I was quite impressed at the spelling level of these students, as many of the words on their lists have complicated spellings that I do not remember attempting at their age. In addition, they were equally amused trying to think of challenging words for me to spell.

When I volunteered in the art room this time we worked on a lot of calming, repetitive art projects like hand-knitting with yarn and weaving cut strips of paper together. One of the students in particular was very invested in his weaving and seemed very focused on what he was doing. The teachers told me that some of their most energetic students can really benefit from these tasks because they give them something to put their energy towards, rather than being disruptive. Although I still haven’t decided on a New Year’s Resolution (and probably my resolution will actually be a bunch of different goals), I think that introducing more activities like this into my day-to-day life would be stress-relieving. During the summer I like buying thread and working on friendship bracelets, but the projects could be even more short-term and easy so that the activity is solely about the act of making rather than the end-product.

Volunteering has been a wonderful experience so far and I’ve learned that a lot of the techniques used when teaching children are positive behaviors which we could all apply to our own lives, such as expressing our feelings clearly, the importance of positivity, and the need for down-time. I can’t wait to volunteer more next semester!

Today was my last day of the semester in The Maker’s Place. Over the course of the semester I feel like The Maker’s Place was a little escape from the heavy environment at Cornell. Being around the kids and helping them out with their projects has made me more comfortable with my decision of becoming an elementary teacher. I felt that since this was my first time being an observer that it was nice that I didn’t have many responsibilities, but there were moments throughout the semester that I wanted to challenge myself and make lesson plans. I feel like my experience at Beverly J Martin Elementary has prepared me for my fieldwork next semester. One skill I feel that I’ve learned through being a volunteer that I didn’t have before was being able to talk to kids. I’m not use to being around young children, and I haven’t had experience with kids since I was in junior in high school. I’m looking forward to coming back next semester and seeing some familiar faces and learning more from the kids!