A World of Learning

This actually happened back in May of this year. I'm just getting caught up. 😊  Not all of my job as a tutor/paraeducator has been about learning lessons for education. Some of it has been unexpected opportunities to interact with students and create memories. On my second day in a row as a sub paraeducator at one of the schools in town, I was on recess monitoring duty. I saw a girl sitting on a bench by herself. I asked her if she was okay, and she said her legs were just tired. I tried to think of something to say to encourage her. I noticed bumblebees flying around and landing on clover blossoms at the edge of the playground area. I asked her if she had ever caught a bumblebee. Surprised, she said no. So I taught her how to crouch down and cup her hands over a bumblebee that had landed on a blossom and hold them there until she could feel the bee tickling her hands, trying to fly away. Then I told her to let it go. She was hesitant at first, but I encouraged her that the bumble...

 I periodically play word (or letter) matching games with the kids using words (or letters☺) that they're learning. It not only helps them in reading, but also tests their ability to remember where the matching cards are. I played it today with a three-year-old who I am teaching letter identification. She won the matches, but I had to help her with identifying most of the letters. She really knows "B" and when she sees a "T" she says "tutor Tia!" But she doesn't know that that letter is called a "T." We're working on it.  I also play math matching with the fourth grader that I tutor, using one card with a multiplication problem on it, and the answer on another. He has to figure out if the math problem goes with the answer.  I just recently played the matching game with a 7-year-old who is really learning her words quickly. She's a lot of fun to work with, and is enthusiastic about learning to read short stories. Here's a video...

 As a substitute paraeducator, I had the chance last week to spend some time with a 10-year-old boy talking about recognizing and controlling our emotions. He was coloring some pictures while I read to him from the age-apropriate book. He was used to having these sessions, but of course not with me. He really opened up, though, and when the book asked a question he would answer it. He told me about a time when he had really strong emotions and what happened because of them. I told him I could relate to his feelings. He seems like a great kid - mature for his age, and accepting of new "teachers" working with him. He asked me my name a few times, wanted to remember it.  As a paraeducator, most of my time is spent monitoring recess or the lunch room. But I really love it when I get to work with the students in a classroom setting! I'm still working on the plans to get my teacher's license, which will potentially require me to take a few more classes before doing student ...

 In addition to being a tutor, I'm also a substitute paraeducator for elementary schools, and I've done it eight times now! I really enjoy it! The only thing that's difficult is navigating my way around the myriad of hallways. I've been a recess overseer, a lunch room overseer, and watched the kids while they were in line waiting for the buses to arrive. But the best part is when I get to work in the classrooms! For one teacher, I got the cardboard dividers off the shelf and set one on each desk, then made sure each desk had a sheet of notebook paper and a sheet of graphing paper and a pencil. This was all before the kids arrived. I've also done timed reading with different classes, one method being to see how many words a kindergartener can read in one minute, marking the words they read wrong, and another method where the kids in 1st grade had to read a one-page story and time them to see how long it took them, marking any words they mispronounced. I've done m...

 One of the boys that I tutor is on a little league baseball team, and I was able to go to one of his games! I enjoy support the kids that I tutor in this way, and it shows that I care about more than just what I can teach them, but I care about them personally as well.  At the baseball game, I took a photo of the team lined up before the game started, and I can mostly see their jersey numbers. Bryson is #34. Then I thought, how can I use this in a math problem? I decided to see what numbers he can figure out to multiply to get 34. Then I thought I could do that with the other teammates' numbers as well. I'll have to do more than just what I got in the picture, but that's a start! Oh, and they only lost the game by one point. So close!

 I have two students who are learning to identify the letters of the alphabet by sight. Elliot is really good at knowing what letters to use, and what they are called. I'm working with him now on writing "My name is Elliot."  I also have Ruby, who is only three years old, but knows the ABC song. She just can't say the letters of the alphabet in order. So we play "Alphabet Bean Bag Toss" where I say a letter and toss her the bean bag, then if she doesn't know the next letter, I tell her what to say as she tosses the bean bag back to me.  Her name is only four letters long, so I have her practice using plastic letters looking at her name spelled out. I have her say the letters along with me several times, then I mix up the letters to see if she can put them in the correct order. She can't really do that yet, but for some reason the letter B is easy for her to identify. We're still working on it, but she's so young that when she does get the han...