Reflection

      I don't think I would've been able to have completed everything of my physical project if it wasn't for my mentor. My mentor and I kept in constant communication whether she wasn't going to be there the day that I was coming or if  I wasn't going to make because I was sick or I had to stay back at school or even if the school schedule changed. My mentor was pretty understanding when it came to my schedule because she knew how busy it was to be a senior.
     Over the 25 hours I worked with my mentor, she helped me a lot on what I need to do because sometimes I would be confused with what to do and she would be able to help me on it. When I started working with the kids, I knew I couldn't let them get away with anything but I also knew I couldn't be too strict, so I told myself I had to be in the middle, I wasn't too lenient but I also wasn't too strict. I was being my usual fun, happy-self. I always made sure the kids were having fun especially when we were doing our activities.
     Personally, I had so much fun working with these kids because knowing about their skills, it still didn't bother me. I treated them as if nothing was wrong with them. These kids always had me smiling from day one, I loved seeing the smiles on their faces as well. Socially, the kids made me seem more opened about how I taught each and every one of them. Knowing that I want to teach, they have given me the opportunity to show that I'm able to teach any kind of student.
     I've encountered many problems when I worked with the kids not only because of their disability but also because they're still young and they don't really know how to act in school yet since they're just in kindergarten. It was hard to get their attention most of the time but I learned to discipline them in a way without them knowing that I was disciplining them. I basically would just tell them that they wouldn't receive their sticker or that their star would be moved down to a star that meant they weren't doing any good. Most of the time, when I was there, the kids didn't really do anything that was severely bad. Just a little acting out was the worst I've seen the kids. But in the end when Ms. Wood told me how they were in the beginning of the school year, I wouldn't believe her because of how they are now. Honestly, I loved working with these kids and I just love working with kids in general. This made me love teaching even more and that I really want to be a teacher now.

April 19, 2013

Today when I got to Los Cerritos, the kids were so excited to see me as usual. I told them that today was my last day and they seemed pretty sad about it. A couple of them asked "Where are you going Ms. Sammie?" and all sorts of questions but all I told them was that I needed to go back to school and that I didn't need to come back anymore. But when I got there they were starting their board math and then we split up into groups. Ms. Wood just had me do coloring worksheets with the kids. Pretty easy last day, we just hung out, colored some worksheets and talked a little about themselves and how they were feeling that day or basically whatever they wanted to talk about. Today was just an easy day filled with the kids being all happy and what not. When it was time for me to go, all the kids came over and gave me the biggest hug ever and said "BYE MISS SAMMIE!"so loud. It was cute but it was also sad that I had to leave the kids because I grew to love them so much.

April 18, 2013

Today when I got to Los Cerritos, I went back at the usual time around 9:10 and they were starting their board math. After board math, we split up into groups and Ms. Wood had me do another worksheet with the kids on numbers and connecting the dots and guessing what the picture was. The kids had a little hard time with connecting the dots since it's not all in the correct order where you would have to move the lines so you could see the picture. I ended up helping the kids connect the dots and having them just coloring the picture after I connected the dots. The kids were pretty good today! After we did each groups, the kids went to the rug and their speech teacher came in and had speech with them. While they were doing speech Ms. Wood had me help put up the sunflowers that the kids made from yarn and popcorn kernels. It was cute because each kid made their sunflower differently from the others. Today was a pretty good day with the kids.