Oh yeah, there is still the word STUDENT in Student Teacher...

Hello World!

Okay so I wanted to let you know I have not forgotten about you!  I have been very busy with the end of the semester craziness, leaving me with no time to update ya'll about my little kiddos!  Do not fear though! I have been keeping track of things I want to tell you wonderful people.  Once this student part of my student teaching calms down I will be updating you on the goings on of my crazy classroom!  

For now I will leave you with this scene.  All 28 of my students are lined up in the hallway waiting to head back into the classroom after our bathroom break.  We are still waiting on a few more students when we all hear... "I believe I can fly... I believe I can touch the sky..."  One of the boys was singing to himself as he was washing his hands.  Just preforming for himself I guess, or maybe it was a kind of pep talk.  Who knows!  

"Hey, cause I believe in me, oh
If I can see it, then I can be it
If I just believe it, there's nothing to it
Hey, if I just spread my wings
I can fly"

In the words of Walt Disney, "If you can dream it, you can do it!"

Dream on dreamers!

Be the Change!

Sarah

He Speaks!!!!

There is a student in my class who my mentor teacher and I think was a select mute.  Now if you are not sure what a select mute is, as I was not before meeting this student, here is an always trusted article from none other than wiki!     Wikipedia

This student, David, would not communicate (verbal and non-verbal communication) with any person in our classroom; not his peers, not my mentor teacher, and especially not me.  For a while my mentor teacher and I were really concerned as to how to deal with a challenging situation like this, but ultimately decided that we would continue to try to engage David in activities, and let him decide if he would like to communicate or not.

I am here to tell you that David spoke today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Not once, not twice, not even three times, but multiple times.... AND HE RAISED HIS HAND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I'm convinced this is just shy of a miracle!!!!  The actual reason I think he decided to speak was because my mentor teacher built an awesome, non verbal, non threatening, relationship with David by playing tic tac toe with him during dismissal every day.  It's incredible to see a student respond to someone's simple gesture of playing a game with them with such a huge sign of respect as breaking your silent streak.  I think this also speaks volumes to my mentor teacher's ability to reach the "unreachable"students.  Kudos Jen!  I have to admit I nearly fell out of my chair when I heard David's little voice offer an answer to the math problem on the board.  Already seeing the importance of this job... changing lives!!!!

Be the Change!
Sarah