Time: 11:20 AM - 12: 25 PM
School: Minneola Elementary
Grade: Second Grade
Purpose: JA Program Planning Visit
I decided to meet with my Junior Achievement classroom teacher (which her name will be kept anonomously) so I could discuss her students' discipline problems, classroom behaviors and the children's likes/dislikes.
When I arrived to the school, she greeted me with a huge smile and led me to her room. As I entered the room, the children were not there (they were in music class) and there was a teacher's assistant in the room. I told the teacher that the purpose of the Junior Achievement class that I'll be teaching on October 1st would be to teach children about how their community works. I gave the teacher a copy of the volunteer guide/lesson plans. She looked it over with me and gave me suggestions of word banks/charts/graphs.
She also told me the kids are pretty well behaved except one boy named Dylan. She began to say extremely horrible things about him. "He's . . . mental, crazy." She exclaimed, "Sometimes during class, he will just scream out, starts to yell, and run around like crazy. I just let him do what he wants because there is no way to control him. I basically taught the whole class to just ignore him." She then points to a sign that's posted on the podium, it looks like this:
Since I thought that this is definitely not the way to handle this situation, I asked the teacher, "Is this the only way to handle the problem?" "No", She answered, "I personally do not think so, but since his mother thinks that there is nothing wrong with him, she refuses to let us pull him out of the regular class. She really needs to come in here and see how he acts, I mean, he's uncontrollable." O . . . k, I thought to myself, I really did not know what to say. I could not believe that teachers in America today would still have attitudes like this. She then added, "So, we just ignore him, and trust me, I got approval from guidance to do this."
The teacher's assistant joined in the conversation and said, "When Ms. (teacher) posted that sign, she didn't tell me anything cuz' I come in only once a week or so. So one day when I came in after lunch and saw Dylan actin' out, I said,'Dylan! What are you doin'?' Then Ms. (teacher) stopped teaching and said, 'Mrs. (assistant), we just ignore him now!'" Then Ms. (teacher) and Mrs. (assistant) began laughing and laughing until they both almost fell over. I really did not know what was so funny.
It was 2 minutes until noon, and Ms. (teacher) said, "Well, the kids are coming back from music class in 2 minutes, do you want to meet them?" I responded, "Sure!" "All right, let's go and pick them up." I began to follow Ms. (teacher) out the door, Mrs. (assistant) then shouted, "I bet ya that boy Dylan's gonna come up to ya and yell out, 'WHO ARE YOU?'" She then began laughing again. I shook my head quietly and continued to follow Ms. (teacher).
We went in the music classroom, the children all looked at me with amazement. Their eyes were filled with curiosity and I smiled and waved at all of the children. "Ok, line up in the hall way", Ms. (teacher) ordered. One by one the children walked by me and out the door of the music classroom, and one by one they smiled at me and said "hello" or "hi'". I walked out the room with the last remaining boy. He looked at me and asked softly,"Who are you?" "Hi, I'm Wynee! Who are you?" I said as I reached out my hand. "I'm Dylan. Nice to meet you." My eyes opened wide as he shook my hand. "Dylan, nice to meet you, too."
We then all walked back to the classroom and they all sat down at their desks. "Ms. (teacher, Dylan got into trouble four times in music class!" Some children shouted out. A girl sitting close by me told me, "Yea, Dylan always gets into trouble!" I could already see that nobody in this class gets along with Dylan. "Ok, class. This is Ms. . . ." she looked at me, "Wynee", I said. "Ms. Wynee is going to come to our class on October 1st to do a program called Junior Achievement with us." I could see some girls clapping their hands silently and smiling at me. "The reason Ms. Wynee came today is to show me the really fun activities that she has planned for us! It involves donuts . . ." "Donuts?" asked a little boy. "Yes, donuts. It also involves money . . . " "Money?" asked another boy. "Yes, money", said the teacher. I added, "Don't forget stickers!" Ms. (teacher) exclaimed, "Yes! And stickers!" All the children smiled at me and stomped their feet impatiently waiting for October 1st to come. "Remember, you all have to be on your best behavior on October 1st because Ms. Wynee is going to school to learn how to become a teacher, so we all have to show her how second grade children should behave." "Yes, Ms. (teacher)", the children responded in unison.
"If you want to stay, you may do so. I usually read them a chapter of a book for 15 minutes before they go to lunch." I asked the children, "Do you want me to stay?" Everyone shouted, "Yea!" So I stayed with the class for another 15 minutes and listened to a story about a little girl named Emily who is the size of a fingernail.
At 12:15, the teacher lined the children up again outside the hallway in alphabetical order and walked them to lunch. I followed them. Dylan came up to me again and asked me curiously, "Are you an adult?" "Yes, Dylan." I answered. "Oh, I thought you were a teenager." I thought it was very cute that he would ask me that. Another boy held my hand and asked me, "Will you sit next to me during lunch?" I wanted to eat lunch with them, but I did not have time since I have to drive an hour and a half to Ormond Beach to work. "I'm so sorry. I wish I could eat lunch with you, but I don't have time because I have to go to work. I will eat lunch with you all when I come next time." The boy seemed sad, but since I promised him I will eat lunch with him next time, he felt better.
After the children got their lunch, they all sat down at their designated table. I noticed that nobody sat next to Dylan. I followed the teacher as she checked that all her students received food. When we came behind Dylan, the teacher pointed at him and told me, "As you can see, nobody even wants to sit next to him because he always makes such a big mess." I was extremely shocked to hear the teacher say this. First of all, Dylan definitely heard her say that. Second of all, a good teacher will never put his/her students down.
During my drive to work, I thought about the series of events that happened. The reason why I wanted to become a teacher in the first place was because the teaching methods used back in my country were very ineffective. For example, teachers will degrade a student in front of everyone. Teachers in China would physically punish a student in front of the class. Basically, getting embarrassed and degraded in front of everyone is normal for Chinese students. Even though Ms. (teacher) did not physically punish Dylan, she definitely embarrassed and degraded him in front of everybody. I thought this would only happen in China, but I was wrong. This Pre-program visit motivated me more to become a better, understanding and loving teacher. I believe that all students should be treated equally and with respect. Educating our nation's youth is a major responsibility for all teachers and future educators. An educator with a negative attitude will create a major impact on a child's life, possibly leading the child to failure with low self-esteem and poor social skills.
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