Smiles

My student teacher has been working with the kids on my caseload. They asked her why she was working with them and I was just watching. She explained to them that she is learning how to be a speech therapist and that I am her teacher, just like they all have teachers. They really like her so they want to make sure she does well and I give her good grades. One of the best examples of their concern was when the student teacher pointed to the word DOG and asked a group: “Can you tell me this word?” One of the student’s whispered, while glancing my way “Ya’know your supposed to know this stuff!" ..... In a public school we have to be very conscientious of parents belief systems and it can get challenging when the beliefs of different cultures impact what we are used to doing. For instance, there are several students that do not celebrate birthdays or holidays. My student teacher asked if she could give one of these students a shamrock sticker at the end of the session. (Stickers are a hot commodity in kindergarten and first grade)
I explained that she could give the child a shamrock sticker but not on St. Patrick’s Day. The parents had told me at a previous meeting that they saw every day as equal… so they did not want any more importance placed on any one day, but they did not have a problem with the individual items. (An example this parent gave was that they can have cake… just not as a celebration of their birthday) Pepper walked into the room as I was giving another example of what the parents had told me. Me: “They said they always dress up in their nicest clothes because they never know when they will meet their maker.” Pepper: “My maker can see me and can wait until I’m wearing something he thinks is nice before he decides to take me.” :) ....... Student to nurse (wincing and rubbing his arm): “I think I stretched a bone.” ....... Teacher: When you get home tell your families what we did in school today. Student: This is school? Teacher: Yes, what did you think it was? Student: Huh, I thought this was daycare. …….. Dill had a special science program at school the other day. He was holding lots of critters... like corn snakes and iguana's and tree frogs. He really wanted us to see him holding this tarantula. He told us that the day before it had pooped on him. His teacher told him he got the "Winnie the Pooh Award" that day. He thought that was great.... I thought it was just gross! ……