Final Days of Student Teaching

As I slowly count down the days until my trip to South Africa, I approach many bitter-sweet rises and falls in my life. The first being my student teaching internship. I have been teaching full time in an ESE  K-2^nd grade Intensive Academics classroom since August, and now I only have 2 ½ weeks left. I have grown so attached to my students and cooperating teacher that I cannot believe it is almost time to part. I still have so much more teaching to do, and so many ideas for the students; activities, books, games, experiments… I have seen my students develop so much from the first day and I have gotten a glimpse of their true potential.

The students I will never forget…

My student who came to class not knowing how to hold a crayon and not knowing if she was right handed or left handed, would cry every morning as she was dropped off to school for the first few weeks. She learned how to trace lines and shapes, and finally has begun tracing letters and writing letters on her own… “Look, I can do it!” she screamed when she made the discovery that it’s not so hard once her hand got used to it.

My student who quietly came into the classroom for his second try at kindergarten, with his red hoody and broken backpack. He made a breakthrough in reading that sent him out of our classroom, fulltime, just last week to be with a general kindergarten classroom with his peers. “Ms. Layton, whose birthday is that?” He whispered as he pointed to the October calendar with his name and a birthday cake on a date. “That’s yours buddy!” his mom and aunt threw him a huge surprise as they came to the classroom with cupcakes. He couldn’t stop giggling.

My student who has lots to tell me but I never understand a word of it. The morning he came in and said, “Me daddy hit mommy hard, he in jail.”- I heard it clearer than a bell. Still, everyday, he acts as a goofball and finds a way to trick us and keep life fun.. “Me didn’t get treasure box today..” He says, returning from speech and language, with a frown. “That’s so sad, I’m sorry.” –“Me just kidding!” He yells as he waves his new toy in the air. “You little stinker!”

My student who came to class knowing every letter of the alphabet, but who could not seem to put two letter sounds together to make a word. “aaaaammmmm…. Rat?” she’d sound it out and make a guess. Now she is reading short words in class and at home to show her parents how smart she is. I will never forget her artistic ability when it came to coloring- The colors were always dark, she blended them neatly, and never went outside of the lines. She also had the clearest singing voice when it came sing-along time. My cooperating teacher and I would stop singing just to hear it and watch in amazement.

My kindergartener with the advanced sense of humor… “School Rocks!” he’d say making rock and roll signs with his hands after strumming the air guitar. I would count backward to silence the room as a discipline strategy, and just as I began to enjoy the quiet I’d hear him say in his deep voice, “Awwwkwaaard.”

The boy who was told he couldn’t. Finding out he had leukemia and meningitis and that he tested to have an IQ of 35. “Ms. Layton, I like your shoes.” “Why, thank you!” I laugh because he always has something to share with a huge grin. “What’s your favorite game to play?” I ask for our monthly writing prompt. “Guitar!” he screams while pointing to the guitar on his shirt. “I’m impressed that a boy at your age is able to play such an instrument!” I proceed to write his words down on the writing prompt and allow him to draw his picture of a guitar. That boy is learning each day.

The boy who talks a million words a second. “Do I get a loppi-pop?”
“Can you say lolli?” I respond.
“LOLLI”
“Great! Can you say POP?”
“POP”
“Fantastic! Now can we put them together? Watch me- LOLLI (one hand up) POP (other hand up) LOLLIPOP (clap hands)”
He repeats “LOLLI, POP…. Loppipop” ---He’s too darn cute to correct!
“I wanna hear the song about blutterflies!” -----Here we go again…..

The mini teacher. From day one this girl was on a roll. She would pick up her peers from their inclusion classrooms to make sure they weren’t late to class, she’d help them log into their computer assignments and show them what to do. She always spoke in a kind little voice. I learned that she had been on a feeding tube and saw the hole on her stomach when she lifted her shirt one day to scratch an itch. It’s amazing how she went from pre-mature to too mature, and her mom was just 12 when she was born….

The boy that came to 1st grade reading night. I have 3 first graders in our class and 1^st grade reading night had approached in October. I figured I’d stay after school and hope to run into one while I volunteered, despite the slim chance of my students coming. Low and behold, 30 minutes late, he arrives with his baby sister and mom who spoke little English. I don’t think he understood how happy I was that he could make it and that his mom thought it was important enough to take the time for. He acted like such a grown up with his peers, I was proud.

The little trouble maker. This boy always seemed to want to push my buttons. He would shout out answers that had nothing to do with what we were talking about, he would jump out of his seat mid lesson to go to the water fountain or bathroom, would laugh when other people spoke…. But when he got in trouble he would repeat the rules to me like it was systematic “sit tall, track with your finger, act interested, respect others.” I think it was his way of apologizing and showing that he knew what he was supposed to do. He always seemed to shock me too. When I was showing the older students a globe, they all had acted like they had never seen one before. They couldn’t locate Canada, Mexico, or USA when asked, but just as I was about to move on and put it away this boy pointed straight to DC and yelled “Obama’s house!” Coincidence? Who knows!

The girl that came late. Seriously, she never came to school on time and would always have a theatrical and goofy “my silly mom” response about it when asked. She is going to be the ultimate valley girl, but a sweet one. Nothing ever bothered her and she rarely tattled on anyone if they said something mean to her or did something bad. One time, she asked for help with the computer program we were using. I said I would be right there after helping someone else. Well, I forgot, and by the end of that center period, I came around to check everyone’s work and she was still sitting there quietly looking at the computer with nothing on it. What a silly, yet very patient, girl!

My 2^nd grade boys. All of them cracked me up together. They were all best friends, and would remind you that when you tried to separate them. They would all compete with each other and then turn around and say “You’re doing great, awesome job!” I had them together in a reading group (no girls) and it gave me insight on what goes on in little boys’ heads…

One was Mr. Perfectionist. He would sit 10 extra minutes just to make sure his handwriting was perfect and that he checked all of his answers. “Dad said if I get an A or a B I will pass 2^nd grade.” Kids don’t need to think like that! I asked him what he wants to be when he grows up, he said, “After I get good grades in college, I want to put peoples food in bags at Publix.” …Ok, that’s an interesting start

One was Mr. Cartoon-man. He acted like a cartoon character when he was really into the lesson. He would do the over exaggerated GULP when he was asked a tough question, he would freeze and come back to life on command, he would act like a light bulb went off over his head when he figured something out on his paper (I could practically see the light bulb). Sometimes he would take the voices of different characters as if there was an episode going on in his head. That’s when it got odd. But he was happy!

And finally there was Mr. Teacher’s Pet. He unintentionally claimed this name because on most days I felt like he was the only one who gave a hoot about what I was teaching. When other students were staring at the wall, had their heads down, were picking their noses, he was always looking directly at me with his fingers laced. He was always excited to hear a new story and participate, he couldn’t wait to answer my questions and he even remembered stories he read last year in this class. Before answering any question he would say “Oh yea!” or “I know, I know!” and take a big, excited, deep breath. His brother is also in the class and you can tell they are little shining stars with their positive attitudes and strong desire to learn although it may be difficult.

Then there was the girl who could make me laugh as hard as my best friends do. This girl would get red in the face and laugh so hard you thought she would pee her pants and I had to hold back from laughing as hard as her because I am supposed to be the adult. She would find something to be hilarious and although we don’t speak the same language, I would always see where she was getting the humor from. When we were observing the caterpillars in the butterfly garden she looked really close with the magnifying glass. She had a strange look when she saw it, hanging upside down on a leaf, releasing its droppings up. She said, “Ms. Layton, it eats its poo.” I smirk a little because I can see how it would look like that, and she busts out laughing to the point that I wouldn’t be surprised if she cramped up.

Lastly, was the boy who only came during reading time. He was a handsome blonde boy, star of his football team, placed in our room because he was significantly below in reading. When he first came to our classroom, as a 2^nd grader, he was placed in my reading group of a 1^st grader and a kindergartener. He participated excitedly, but when he found out that the other students were younger, he shut down. From that moment on he worked extra hard and was reading 100 words a minute during timed reading. I suggested to my cooperating teacher that he be placed with the other 2^nd grade boys, and like that, he was moving up. “I can’t do it.” he said out of habit when asked to read the new words of the day. But, with the competition of being with his peers he would practice reading in his head before his timed readings and was beginning to get it. He blurted out, “You’re a good teacher!” and quickly covered his mouth and went back to his work. I still don’t know where that came from. “When do I get to be in here all day?” he asked. “This class helps you a lot if you have a hard time.” Another second grader responded. In my head I was happy that he enjoyed our class, but thought, “Isn’t the point for you to try to get out of this room?” His mother told his general education teacher that his reading skyrocketed in the past few weeks (since he had been in our classroom) and she even took two jobs over summer to send him to Sylvan with nowhere near the results.

Ok….. well, you got me, I wrote about all of my students. But that’s what good teaching is about. I have seen good in each and every one of them and would do whatever I could to make sure they have the best experience in school possible.

“Were going to have fun, but it won’t be as fun after November 18^th.”- That’s my last day of my internship.

All of my students are going different places and I can’t wait to see where they go. I hope I can keep in touch with them, maybe through a pen pal writing activity. I hope I have had as much of an impact on them as they have had on me and I hope they never forget me. Just last week I walked the last student, a second grader, to his bus. “Ms. Layton, I’m gonna miss you.”

Students' caterpillar chia pets- The grass grew so long we had to spend center just giving them hair cuts!