Journal!

Some days at my placement there isn’t really enough to do, and then some days there is way too much to do. When I am in Mrs. Smith’s class, she doesn’t really ask a lot of me. I help these two girls in her class, and sometimes I help a young boy. I usually help them with the class work they are presented with, and sometimes Mrs. Smith wants me to read with them. However some of the time they can handle the work, and I am really not needed. On the off time she will ask me to mark or do a small activity for her that will save her some time later on. Such as marking a test or cutting things out, although that is rare. On the days that I don’t seem to be doing much, I try and make an effort to help the other students in her class, that may need my assistance.

Days that are so busy are during my all star reading days. During these days I have twenty minutes with each student, and it goes by fairly quickly. Then I have five minutes to write everything down, get the books and work out, for my other students, and go and get that student, all in that time frame. As soon as I arrive at St. Andrews, I have about fifteen minutes to get all the books, activities and equipment needed for the day. This includes the booklets for each child, one or two books per child, stickers, one or two activities and sheets to fill in for each child. I follow a schedule that is important and I need to be on time. If I am not on time, then one child may get a shorter time, which may result in them not finishing an activity or a book. This can slow down the child’s process.

This week however, I actually learned something new. Mrs. Smith on Monday took me to the back room in the office and she taught me how to work the paper cutter, the photocopier, and another and more efficient type of photocopier. She told me her code, for the photocopier and how to work the other two office equipments fairly quickly. It was straight forward, and she told me that I would be using the equipment frequently. I was glad to learn something new, because these new skills can be beneficial for me in the long run.

I also found it frustrating this week on various days. On Monday it was my first time using the paper cutter and Mrs. Smith photocopied the sheets that I needed to cut out unevenly. So when I was cutting out the pictures on the sheets of paper, it was really difficult and hard to keep the sheets inline. Also there is a new parent working with the all star reading group, and on Tuesday he came in to watch how the program works. However he kept on watching me read with the children, and the children were not paying any attention to me, or the book we were trying to read, because they were distracted by the new parent. It was hard enough getting their attention in the first place, but when they see a new face, it is even more difficult. Also I found it a little frustrating on Thursday as well. This is because the all star reading was cancelled and Karolina and another student Cathy, and I got moved to Mrs. Greer’s room to help her out. It was frustrating because she was asking us to do a hundred things at once, and it was difficult to get it all finished. Plus another teacher wanted our assistance as well. Overall it worked out, and these experiences will also be beneficial in teaching me how to stay calm under frustrating circumstances.


These are some of the books I read with the children in the all star reading program throughout this week: