Reflections #4

4. What (I) specific skills and (II) new knowledge did you apply/acquire through this experience?

(I) I admit that I came into this project with a slightly overconfident attitude where my abilities are concerned. That is to say, I figured this wouldn't be too challenging since I have worked and taught with my aunt before, am familiar with the main curriculum WCS uses, and I tend to mesh well with whatever kids I happen to be around. Well, I have definitely learned a lot about how a multi-grade classroom is run.

(II) One skill I believe I have acquired here is the ability to keep track of what's going on in the classroom with, say, the third grade boys while teaching a second grade class. I would call this a form of multitasking, but it is certainly a form I have never before dealt with as I have in my aunt's classroom.

One piece of relatively new knowledge I have applied is how to improvise in a classroom setting. This is something I learned mainly while teaching an art class in Papua New Guinea last summer: I had prepared a few well-rounded classes for the younger children, but realized at the last minute that none of them were really interested in what I had planned to teach them, so I quickly thought through what their teacher had mentioned would more likely interest them and proceeded through a rather successful class (if I do say so myself). Now - here in Utah - I have been able to put that knowledge to practice while teaching first grade classes. One prime example is from my first day teaching handwriting to the little girls. I hadn't considered before that I really didn't know what the handwriting they're learning is supposed to look like, and therefore did not know how I could teach them that handwriting properly. What was my improvisation? I had the girls teach me what each letter ought to look like! This turned out quite well, as they not only practiced the letters on their own, but they also had to think carefully through what those letters should look like.