My 9th Visit

Today was my ninth visit to the school and I was excited to go back because of the break the elementary schools had last week. When I entered the tutors room I was greeted by Ms. Pretty, she told us that most likely we weren't going to be meeting with our regular students but that we would be working with any students that the teacher in the classroom assigned us. I was saddened by this because I had grown close to my studnets, I also hadn't been able to give them a proper goodbye. But I feel like I will come across them again before I am finished with the program so that I can wish them luck and say goodbye to them.

When I went into the classroom that I am usually in, all the students were sitting on the carpet and the teacher was sitting in front of them. I was surprised by this because everytime I went into the classroom the students were usually doing their own thing. Some students would be using the computer some students would be playing on the carpet and some studetns would be reading or drawing at different tables. This was the first time that I happened upon the classroom and everyone was in one place, it was surprising and kind of nice at the same time.

The teacher was holding votes for "May Breakfast" which is something that came to my understanding that she did annually. She would bring different ingredients to the school and the children would help her prepare a breakfast that they would all eat. There were many different food options written on the board and the teacher was asking each child what their preference was. The item with the most votes would be the food that they would all prepare. She had different options for like : chocolate chip pancakes or blueberry, apple juice or orange juice, bacon or sausage, scrambbled eggs or sunny side up, and different kinds of muffins.

The voting process fascinated me and I even made a connection to Delpit's culture of power. The teacher was enforcing the rules about voting and priviledge. She said that everyone who was quiet and didn't should out and waited for their turns would be able to have a say in what they were going to eat (they would get a vote). But those students who didn't cooperate were sent to the corner of the room where they didnt' get a chance to vote and had to sit quietly while the rest of the students decided what they wanted to eat. I thought of Delpit because of rule number 4 which states: If you are not already a participant in the culture of power, being told explicitly the rules of that culture makes acquiring power easier. This is most definately true because those students who listened to the rules acquired the "power" by getting a chance to vote. Those students who didn't listen were sent to the corner and were denied the right to vote.

After the voting was done, the teacher gave me three students who already knew all of the sight words. My job was to play "candy land" with them. It had the same rules as the candy land game I mentioned in my previous posts. The children all sat down at a table where I then explained the rules of the game. These children were so much fun to have, they never fought, they took turns, and they all had a great time. Although I missed my old students, I was glad to have a change. We played the game only once because the voting took up a significant amount of our time and then they were sent back to do a different activity.

The voting took about 20 minutes and then I played the candy land game with them for about another 20 minutes before I realized I had to go. I think that it is a joy to realize you are having such a good time that you stay over your alloted time. I am glad that I got a chance to work with different students in the classroom and I look forward to who I will be working with next week.