February 13, 2008: Last day of Kindergarten

I am going to miss these children so much. I feel so comfortable in the classroom. And the more that I get to actually teach them, as opposed to being a helper in the room, the more I realize this fact. Today I was able to lead the 120 minutes of reading and writing time in the morning. I read a story about Valentine's Day, and had them journal as well as other activities. It is amazing to see how creative their minds are and how imaginative they are. I love being around the kindergarten students with their enthusiasm, but I do not know if I could teach kindergarten by myself all day every day. I definitely enjoy being around them, especially these specific children, but I do not know if Kindergarten is the grade that is calling me.

Something that I have thought a lot about especially after talking to other students teaching, is the experience as a whole. I do not know why but I feel as if I am missing something from "the experience." I have learned a lot from my cooperating teacher and from my students. However, I was never hit with an, 'ahh they live a different life from me', or 'wow, I am culturally diverse from them.' There are two reasons that I can think of for this. One, is that for whatever reason, I feel more comfortable around those who are culturally diverse from me. I enjoy learning about them and learning from them. I don't think of them as Different from me, just different. It isn't that they are so different from me that there is this huge divide between us. But rather, that we are different. Just as I am different from my brother, the person who lives across the hall, or the cashier at the grocery store. These children are just different in a different way. I don't realize that I am so different from them until I sit to think about it. The other reason for my lack of 'ahh-hhhhaa' is that they are kindergarteners. We did not have a lot of personal one-on-one conversations about their lives. While they do talk a lot and often about whatever is on their mind, which often includes family members, they did not tell me details of their life. They don't realize the details and the difference of my life to theirs for they are too young to realize any of the things that we discuss. I am not saying that it doesn't affect them or that in five years they wont recognize the differences but that five and six year olds are only aware of what they have lived through. They have not been shown that I am so different from them so they do not feel the need to tell me or point out to me these differences. Either way, or for a reason I do not see, I feel comfortable around these children and I have a huge amount of respect and love for them.

This week as made me wonder if maybe I should be an ELL teacher instead of a regular teacher with a Spanish major on the side.