Wednesday, October 2, 2013

My first day (Kozol style journal entry)

     My first day went about as well as I could have asked for. Not expecting perfection I suppose really made things easier I guess, but nevertheless I gathered my things from home and set off for my first experience in my service learning program. I'd be lying if I said that finding the school was as easy as anticipated. I don't spend much time in Providence so getting to the school was in a sense difficult considering the road work in the area and all the detours I had to take. When I finally did get there I noticed that the elementary school itself was very large, much more so than my elementary school I attended in Johnston years ago. I was buzzed in after a few minutes of waiting and when I walked into the office it seemed very busy. In fact it was so busy that I had to speak up slightly just so I could get noticed. I signed in and waited for my assignment, I knew who I was looking for but not necessarily where they would be. After some more waiting my contact came to meet me and instructed me to go to a room down the hall to help out in a kindergarten class.
       Talk about surprise, I went into the day thinking I would be helping out in a third grade class and to hear that I would be going to a kindergarten class really threw me off. Not in a bad way of course but it changed how I was going to act for sure, while both age groups are children kindergarten are the youngest of the bunch. I walked down the hall and the teacher seemed really surprised to see me. She explained to me that no one had told her she would be getting a tutor in class so she really hadn't set up a specific group for me to work with to start off with. It was fine to me because I had gotten to really get a good look at my surroundings and try to learn names as quickly as possible. When she had decided who I was going to work with I went to their table and began to work with the children on some art project they were working on.
      I was actually really surprised with how friendly the children in the class were. I suppose I really didn't know what to expect because after all this was my first time being in a school in this capacity. They asked questions on which school I went to and if I was a student like them. It truly surprised me how quickly they grasped the idea that even though I was much bigger than them and an adult, was a student like them.
      To be able to connect with these kids on the first day was important for me because I wanted them to understand that I was going to be there a while and that I was there to help them. Sure enough they all knew me as Mr. Wentworth immediately and I was actually somewhat embarrassed when I didn't know some of their names. But if I am to take anything away from this first day it would be that the feeling of how gracious and kind these students were, even at such a young age, is the reason why I am doing all this. I want to get into this profession to help students at a young age and to see their gratitude even at this stage validates those feeling and ambitions.

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