The End of One Journey Leads to the Beginning of Another

          The ending of GO Project Summer 2014 is bittersweet. There has been much growth from the students and the teachers in my opinion. Although there is still so much room for growth, the relationships built and the lessons learned have been valuable. I see the children helping one another. I see the children learning games and routines. I see the children responding faster. This also means that we as teachers have to provide more to stimulate their minds.

            The teachers of KC created a small yearbook for the children so they can remember their first summer at the GO Project. We had them all dictate messages to their friends and we all got sentimental over our time together. One student mentioned that her favorite thing about GO was Harambee. Another mentioned how much she loved her new teachers. The creation of this book has helped us all reflect on the past five weeks in a positive way. It has been a great experience for both the students and the teachers, which is evident in the works and comments we have shared with one another.

During my pre-student teaching seminars, I had heard the GO Project brought up in discussions. “Go Project is tough.” “The kids have problems.” “There are a lot of IEP students.” Despite the opinions of my fellow classmates and teachers, I did not have any strong impressions upon starting the student teaching experience at GO Summer. My entire teaching career has been at a school for low-income families. Many of the students in my school are bilingual and/or have IEPs. I was not concerned with teaching children who are “difficult”.

            As the summer progressed, I was pleasantly surprised that some of the children that we were warned about were not exhibiting the behaviors noted of them. I will say that the children do get rowdy, but they are children. Learning should be exciting and engaging. I do not blame them for getting loud. Although learning is supposed to be serious, a controlled amount of exuberance and enthusiasm is so welcoming to see from the children.

            I try not to have biases towards the children. It actually helped that I did not begin to look at any of the children’s personal files, which included their IEPs until the third day of GO Summer. I was able to make unbiased observations and then use their files to support some of the behaviors that I observed. After I got to know the children, then I began to learn more about them and their academic needs, it helped me put the pieces together. I was able to think about ways to work with the children, or when the child had reached his or her limit of desk time.

            GO Summer has provided me with the experience to build a classroom from the start of a term to the end. Previously, I had made observations in classrooms that already had routines in place. It was hard for me to make observations and learn how the teachers implemented their routines and adjusted the to the individual needs of their classroom. For KC, we revised the line spots for the children and were able to quickly pinpoint different strategies to motivate each child.

            The month at GO Summer has impacted me greatly. As a new teacher, this is the first time that I have taught in a co-teaching environment where we work together well despite our different personalities. In fact, this is the first time that I have been in a teaching team that has been as smooth as it has been. We do have our “hustle time” where we rush to complete things for the children and minor miscommunications (such as cutting out templates meant for the kids to cut independently), but we all worked through them and did not let that be a point of resentment or frustration. We also were very in sync with each other as to what needed to be done each day and allowing each other the flexibility to do our parts. This means that if I needed to type up some letters and worksheets, the remaining teachers had the classroom learning and management under control while I completed my task. This also meant that if another teacher was occupied with another task such as math goals that needed to be submitted immediately, the others were able to step in and lead.    

            There was a lot of support and solidarity amongst the teachers in KC. We supported each other in classroom management and had the children clarify their understanding to all teachers present. Also, if one was busy with a task, we all stayed in during lunch (which happened often) to pitch in a hand. This was not a classroom environment where one person was left to do much of the work, while the others did not assist or also take responsibility to help. I believe that this teamwork demonstrated to the children that we were all on the same page in terms of goals and expected behaviors.

            Although there have been many great moments this summer, it was a great feeling when the child that we had been dealing with his emotional outbursts had a fantastic week. On Tuesday, he even smiled and told Ms. K that the “good Joey* was here.” (*Name changed for the privacy of child.) He has had an excellent week and even made the recognition portion of Harambee twice this week. He came in late for class on Wednesday because he has therapy.  When we told him that he was called out to Harambee for a great job, he was sad. So as a class, we spontaneously reenacted Harambee for him. This made him so happy that he pumped his fists in the air and said, “all right!” This was a great moment, because as skeptical as many are about Harambee, it means a lot to our Kindergarteners. I hope it continues to be a positive symbol as they grow within the GO Project. This also show that despite the rough moments a child may have, the positive ones still make a strong impact on him/her.

            As I grow as a teacher, I would like to collect the things that I have learned from all the teachers I have met along the way and incorporate my favorite strategies, ideas and songs into my own teaching. I would also take some of the strategies that I disagree with and address them as I teach. If I disagreed with the gendering of children, I would make it a point to say to my classes that colors are for everyone. Pink can be for boys and blue can be for girls. I already have plans to incorporate some of the morning meeting songs into the new school year.

            In the long run, I would ideally be teaching in a diverse classroom setting. I also strive to teach in a cooperative setting where the teachers and children have responsibilities and have the confidence to be active within the classroom. I plan to begin this long-term goal by having my summer volunteers and teacher’s aide to lead read-alouds with the whole class upon my return to my classroom next week. When the children and teachers have purpose, learning is actively occurring. I am not a believer of passive learning. Through the gained independence of all parties within the classroom, I hope to gain more time to incorporate more assessments and utilization of the assessments to inform my instruction. However, this must all come from more careful planning and organization this year. I will make it happen!