Service Learning Journal 2

I was excited to get into my second day of service learning after the positive experience I had with the first day. I was starting to get to know the kids better and had a feel for how the classroom ran each day. When I got there Mrs. Berry was in the middle of a lesson and then the students went to recess again. Instead of going outside with the students, we stayed inside and got the classroom ready for their learning workshop later in the day.

Once the students were back inside and done eating their snack, they were to take a spelling test. I had to walk around during the test and make sure everyone was on track and were doing the right thing. Everyone seemed to be fine until I glanced at a table away from the other students and two students were working together on their test. I wondered why Mrs. Berry would do this since both students would most likely be copying each others work since they were sitting right next to each other. Although I wanted to, I did not question why this was happening.

Once the tests were done I was asked to collect each paper from the students. When I walked up to the table with these two and asked for their papers. The boy just kept coloring on the back of his test. I was so confused why he wasn't giving me his test and just figured that he was being stubborn so I figured I would come back. Then the little girl who was sitting next to him came up to me and told me that he does not understand English. Instantly it made sense why he did not listen to me. I was a little shocked to know this and wasn't sure how I could handle this. I asked the girl if she could get his paper for me and she did. I'm sure I could have handled this situation better but that was the first thing that came to my mind.

After their spelling test they had learning workshop. The students were in groups of abotu four and went to different stations such as listening to a story on tape, reading big paged books, working on the computers, writing some more, or reading poetry. I was in charge of reading poetry with that group. We went around the circle and each student would read a poem from their October poem booklet. The first student read it very clear and fast but the next student had a harder time reading hers even tho she chose a shorter poem. I tried to have her sound out the words she did not know but she couldn't even sound the words out. I felt so bad and did not want to just give her the word so I helped her out with sounding out the words. I had to be very patient with her but in the end she got through the poem.

This day in service learning, my patience was tested. Whether it was sounding out the words in a poem with a student or finding a good way to ask a student who did not speak English for their spelling test. I know it is good for me to face these challenges because later on I will be experiencing even more difficult challenges that I need to be ready to handle.