Summer, summer, summertime. Pt. 1

La Casa de Don Pedro

After the orientation a couple of weeks ago, I was pretty excited to be placed at La Casa, especially since they have air conditioning. It seemed as though we would have a lot of freedom to implement our lessons and bring our interests into the classrooms. The first day that we were there and met with Ms. Dlugos, she kept mentioning how many of us there were and how many other people would be in the classroom (teachers, students, teen interns, etc). I felt as though she did not want us there, which also made me feel that I was in the way and not needed. Needless to say, I did not want to go into the classroom. Looking back on it now, I think that I was a little bit intimidated by the number of people who would be in the room and thinking that I would be in the way.

Hazel mentioned something about library and wanting to organize it and make more space in there and Deb, Nicole and I were in the library and sort of just jumped into the project. It was a lot of work and there were tons of books, but it looked great once we were done. On the second day of the library project, Evan and Joe also helped while their group was away on a trip and somehow I ended up working to organize the closet (which is a bigger mess than the library). I finally felt like I was helping and not just in the way. I was actually thinking of making labels or signs that would help the kids find the books that they want more easily. I do realize however, that I need to stop hiding behind the library and become more involved and interact more with the students. I had the opportunity to go on a trip with them, which I thought would be a fun way to get to know them outside of the class, but due to health issues, I was out for a couple of days and could not go. I was really disappointed because I barely know the kids at La Casa and I love the ones at Abington, so my goal for this week is to become more involved and get to know them more.

Abington Elementary

After leaving La Casa, I did not know what to expect when I arrived at Abington for the NPS program, but I love being here. The lead teacher and teacher are very laid back and let us play our own games with the children and play music and just have fun with them. The security guard is always willing to point us in the right direction and Ms. Heinz was on the playground with us one day last week talking to all of the kids. It was amazing how she knew something about each one of them. I love her!! The first day we had no supplies, except a flat basketball so that was definitely an example of monitoring and adjusting and coming up with games to play with them. Somehow, I became known as "the loud one" (go figure).

For our child study assignment, I picked one kid right off the bat on the first day. Nicole and I talked to him for a while until he worked up the courage to go hang out and play with the other boys his age. However, in these past couple of days and getting to know more of the kids, there are about ten that I want to write about! I don't know how I'm going to choose. I knew that I was having fun and making connections with the kids, but I did not realize how much until these past couple of days that I could not attend. I could barely walk, but I told my mother that I was going to NPS to see "my kids." Unfortunately, it did not quite work that way. I cannot wait to get back and finally have a full week with all of them!