Week six: My journal of recent thoughts

           

            Today has been a very insightful day for me. As I have mentioned several times, I am enrolled in the Elementary Education program. As part of our course, we are required to have 20 hours of “field experience.” Ten hours of first through third grade and ten hours of fourth through sixth grade, all students need to participate in this exercise to pass the course. This is to give the future teachers an insight to the realities of the classroom.

            I spent the entire day in my daughter, Karly’s third grade class at Salem Elementary. Her teacher Mrs. Clayson has been a teacher since 1972 and offered me a lot of valuable information. In addition to helping Mrs. Clayson with various tasks through out the day, part of my assignment was to ask her several questions about teaching. So, as time permitted during the day, I was able to ask her some questions I had prepared for her. The first question I asked her was, “How long is an average day for her to be at the school and what her longest day has been?” I was surprised to hear that she usually works from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm. However, she did add that she usually goes in at least two Saturdays a month and has been known to work from 6:00 am to 9:00 pm to get things ready for class. I think that is dedication. Another question I asked her was “What are the most rewarding and frustrating parts of her job?” Her answer was both a little of what I expected along with a few good points I had never thought of. She said her most rewarding part of teaching is “Talking to the kids and really getting to know them” and “witnessing their various struggles during the year and seeing her student’s hard work paying off when they overcome their obstacles.” She said, “She has learned more from the kids then she ever imagined.” The part that really got me was how sincere she was when she expressed the impact these little people had on her. Her students are obviously very precious to her. She told me that what frustrates her most of all are the mandatory meetings that teachers are required to attend. In her opinion, all the extra meetings that get thrown at the teachers, take a lot of valuable time away from what is most important, teaching the kids. 

I enjoyed seeing first hand how teachers are dedicated to touching the future. Mrs. Clayson had complete control of her class at all times, they were a rowdy bunch of kids, after all what could I expect from a crowd of eight and nine year old kids? She was very soft spoken and consistent with the students. I was really surprised how patient she stayed as she made the children go back outside and line up to come back inside SIX times. She gave them chance after chance to enter the classroom quietly and every time they came into the class they were loud and rambunctious. After the fourth time of getting up from their desks and going back outside to line up I heard various comments from the kids like, “I don’t care if we do this the rest of the day, it’s stupid” and “this is the last time Mrs. Clayson is going to make us go out because, she is old and she is going to get tired.” Well, Mrs. Clayson showed them, she got her point across and on the sixth time the class entered the room, they were as quiet as a mouse.

            I was reflecting on the occurrences of my day as I drove home at 3:30 pm. It was nothing like my usual work day that I am used to in an office setting. I felt good, almost refreshed! It was a very rewarding experience to see our countries future learning the basics of life. If nothing else, this project has confirmed my decision to be a part of the education system.