October 12, 2017
Oh how great it is to feel like you are making a difference! I am on my way to becoming an elementary teacher and today at my internship (in a 5th grade class) I finally saw and heard a difference with my students!
I was working with the 'lower' ( who we shall refer to a R & J) students practicing multiplying decimals. The teacher suggested that I go over problems such as, 1.2 x .4 so that's where I started. We walked through the first problem, and they seemed to understand and got the first one right so then we did another and it too was right. I had a feeling that they had only been working with one decimal place and so I game them a problem like 3.593 x .3 to see if they actually understood what to do with the decimal. As I thought they recorded their answers with only 2 decimal places instead of 4. I showed them my answer worked out and they looked puzzled. J asked why I have so many numbers after my decimal and with that one question it was clear they didn't actually understand the method they were using. We went through it slowly and I showed them that they have to see how many decimal places the entire problem had. We then worked through some more problems and they started to get the hang of it and thought it was fun. They commented that they didn't think that the 'smartest kid in the class' knew how work with that many numbers after the decimal.
We continued to practice when another student joined us who had been struggling in a 'higher' group. We welcomed him in and continued working with our large number of decimal places. The first number we wrote down he looked astounded. He immediately was shocked and said he was dumb and could not do it. I reassured him he was not dumb and told him to give it a try. J got this problem right and R was close but some of the math tripped him up, but our new student (D) was way off. He looked at R and J and again said he was dumb and couldn't do it. J quickly responded with, "We didn't know how to do it either, but Ms. Duggins taught us, you can do it too!"
That alone was so wonderful to hear. These students seem to be put on the back burner and deemed 'low' but truly they were getting it, they just needed the concepts broken down individually. The music to my ears didn't stop there. When the students were prepping for the end of the day D went up to the classroom teacher (CT) and said something along the lines of "Can I work with Ms. Duggins from now on, I didn't understand but now I'm starting to!" He was so excited.
Hearing those words made my day! I was making a difference. I was helping them and they were legitimately wanting to learn, they just weren't as fast as everyone else so they continuously were discouraged. When the methods clicked and their eyes lit up it just reminded me why I wanted to teach. It is about making a difference in the lives of students. We may never know what they are going through but making school a safe and fun place to be is key. I can't wait to have a classroom of my own, to inspire that light to shine daily in at least one student if not many!
Oh how great it is to feel like you are making a difference! I am on my way to becoming an elementary teacher and today at my internship (in a 5th grade class) I finally saw and heard a difference with my students!
I was working with the 'lower' ( who we shall refer to a R & J) students practicing multiplying decimals. The teacher suggested that I go over problems such as, 1.2 x .4 so that's where I started. We walked through the first problem, and they seemed to understand and got the first one right so then we did another and it too was right. I had a feeling that they had only been working with one decimal place and so I game them a problem like 3.593 x .3 to see if they actually understood what to do with the decimal. As I thought they recorded their answers with only 2 decimal places instead of 4. I showed them my answer worked out and they looked puzzled. J asked why I have so many numbers after my decimal and with that one question it was clear they didn't actually understand the method they were using. We went through it slowly and I showed them that they have to see how many decimal places the entire problem had. We then worked through some more problems and they started to get the hang of it and thought it was fun. They commented that they didn't think that the 'smartest kid in the class' knew how work with that many numbers after the decimal.
We continued to practice when another student joined us who had been struggling in a 'higher' group. We welcomed him in and continued working with our large number of decimal places. The first number we wrote down he looked astounded. He immediately was shocked and said he was dumb and could not do it. I reassured him he was not dumb and told him to give it a try. J got this problem right and R was close but some of the math tripped him up, but our new student (D) was way off. He looked at R and J and again said he was dumb and couldn't do it. J quickly responded with, "We didn't know how to do it either, but Ms. Duggins taught us, you can do it too!"
That alone was so wonderful to hear. These students seem to be put on the back burner and deemed 'low' but truly they were getting it, they just needed the concepts broken down individually. The music to my ears didn't stop there. When the students were prepping for the end of the day D went up to the classroom teacher (CT) and said something along the lines of "Can I work with Ms. Duggins from now on, I didn't understand but now I'm starting to!" He was so excited.
Hearing those words made my day! I was making a difference. I was helping them and they were legitimately wanting to learn, they just weren't as fast as everyone else so they continuously were discouraged. When the methods clicked and their eyes lit up it just reminded me why I wanted to teach. It is about making a difference in the lives of students. We may never know what they are going through but making school a safe and fun place to be is key. I can't wait to have a classroom of my own, to inspire that light to shine daily in at least one student if not many!
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