Priscilla Carpenter

Journal Entry #3
Date of Service Learning Experience: 9/21/07
Total hours that day: 2 hrs; 10:30-12:30
Total hours of service learning experience: 6 hrs.

Today’s service learning experience was not what I would have expected. I was very disappointed by the class today and I was very disappointed in myself and the teacher. I was very sick today and really didn’t feel like doing much of anything, which I know sounds completely terrible. The teacher was very stressed out today as well because of a very sudden and deadly illness in the family had occurred and she had a lot of meetings she had to endure that day. So as you can tell, the class was a little rowdy due to the fact of the lack of organization within the classroom. Then to make matters worse, the air conditioner broke and it made it extremely hot in the classroom. It was going to be a long day…

The time that I observed and helped the children was during their reading time. The teacher really didn’t feel like teaching a lesson per say, so she decided to have the students work in pairs and read a chapter about Sounds in their science textbooks. After they read the chapter, they were supposed to write their own questions about what they read and quiz their other classmates. The students had fun with this assignment and came up with some very interesting questions. You could really tell who was asking the higher order questions and who was asking the lower order questions. After this assignment, they had a little time for silent reading while I helped some students with the STAR test and dibbles. Also during this time, one of the students birthday’s was today so he brought in cupcakes and goody bags for the students, which of course made them even more rowdy!

This weeks service learning experience wasn’t a very productive one to me, but I still enjoyed being with the students because they can always make you laugh no matter how bad you feel. Next week will be more exciting when I get to do my read aloud and a lesson I incorporated with it. I am also excited about next week because I start my Junior Achievement lesson’s as well. So I am very disappointed in myself this week because I didn’t learn as much as I should have and I don’t think I helped the students as much as I should have. However, that will definitely change next week when I teach a lesson to the class and do my read aloud!