Week 1 Placement

La Casa de Don Pedro

Starting out at La Casa every day has been a little rough for me. As chaotic as the environment seems, my teacher did not seem to openly welcome our presence in her classroom. After having been there for a few days now, I think it was more about her desire to establish control over her own room and being uncertain of what my experience, attitude, and activity level were going to be in her class. While I can't say that things have fully warmed up, relations have been more cordial since two things changed: I taught my first finance lesson and I apologized for the broken down communication between the cohort and the staff and administration at La Casa.


However, the students (2nd/3rd/some 4th) are a lot of fun, and they are very enthusiastic to have us helping out in their room. When I taught my finance lesson this past week, they at first complained because some of them were familiar with the curriculum from their schools. However, when I resolved to take an active role in engaging the students and enticing them to participate in the lesson, even those more familiar with the lesson got involved and everyone seemed to have fun.

I like that the location is air conditioned! It certainly makes the mornings easier to deal with in the heat. I am confused about how the trip schedule works at this site. At first it sounded like we would be needed on several trips, but now it sounds as if we may be needed or wanted on only one. My impression at the end of this first week is that things are just starting to get settled, and now that roles seem to be a bit clearer, things should be a bit smoother.

Ridge Street

In contrast to La Casa, I felt welcomed at Ridge right away. The teachers are happy to have the help. This is probably due in fact to the fact that they are in charge of a larger number of students all at once, and that they have to watch over the students while they are running around outside all afternoon long. Keeping up with them can be a challenge, and having a few extra hands is something they are clearly grateful for. It also helps that the teachers know we will be working alongside them or in the building with them during the fall, so they probably are more willing to welcome us into their community.

I play games outside with the students every day. Usually I can be found tossing a football around, teaching basketball fundamentals, or kicking a soccer ball with small groups of students at a time. What I think is interesting is that in all my earlier classroom placements in this program, it has always been the case that the boys have been the first to approach me and engage me. However, here in the summer program, I find myself being asked by the girls to play at a much more frequent rate. I think part of the reason behind this is that I don't make them feel excluded from sporting activities and keep encouraging them to pursue whatever sports they love, even "boy" sports like football. In any case, I have been engaging with the students every day and they are very excited to have us all there to play different games with them.

I've tried to find ways to incorporate instruction into what we're doing outside as well. In one game I play when tossing the football, I throw the ball to the person who can give me the fastest correct answer to multiplication and division fact questions. It worked so well that the day after I tried it, three of the students who played it approached me the next day and asked if we could play it again.

The trips on this program are fun but, as noted in other posts here, often exhausting. Students have a lot of energy and don't like staying in one place for very long. Despite the draining days in the sun, I'm having a positive experience and am getting to better know the Ridge Street community, which will be immensely helpful in the Fall.