Journal 10/5/09 only 4 days left...

Domain 8 - Global and Multicultural Perspectives
My teacher took over today...almost completely but thank goodness I am here to help direct and get her back to the routine. I can only imagine how hard that would be. I am understanding, now, how hard it is not to jump into instruction/conversation when another is working with the students. I feel like the coins have turned, like they are my students, and I am having to teach her what I do. She kept a lot of the stuff that I do, today. Hopefully, as the week progresses, I can share more and more things with her. I think the hardest thing to switch over are the assessments...I have all sorts of checklists and things I write down and keep track of. I'm not quite sure how I am going to do this transition. Perhaps tomorrow I can make copies of all of them and give them to her. She has a copy already, of the blank ones, but not of those in progress.

Almost every, if not every, day, I hear the aide talking to the student works with about how he should know something (or something along those lines). Things that are simple, such as how many feet are in a yard. Then when she talks to us or to him about them, she explains that he knew them before, and she doesn't understand why he doesn't know. For quite awhile now, I have been reflecting upon this, observing it throughout the weeks, and experiencing myself with him. Obviously, it is not because he is not "remembering", but rather, it is because of his disability. I don't know if there is a specific name when students can remember something one day and then the next, it can be completely gone, but it just goes to show that even though they might be teaching him at his level, they are individualizing his instruction to the fullest because instead of moving from lesson to lesson, he would be receiving more instruction in those areas where he needs more exposure...not necessarily the 40 times, but more than a worksheet that he receives help on...again, I could be exaggerating, but I think I have explained my thoughts enough.

I love giving over the reigns...I think I will get a lot done this week. I thought I would be teaching a lot more, but I think having my teacher doing it and then helping them through it is better...I hope that's ok. I have just kind of gone with the flow of where my teacher has gone, and she told me not to write any more plans...hard because I keep thinking of other things I can still do or other things I still want to do, which I may.

Almost half of the journey is completed...and another awaits! I'm excited for what the future holds and grateful for my time here. I will truly miss this placement!