Tangled Green Thoughts

The day was not as I expected. It turned out better. The teacher I'm working with was really good with the kids and really nice to me. She's a talker and talkers get along with me just fine because I'm a listener. The principal turned out great too because it was her first day as principal, so she could really relate to my position. The teaching assistant turned out to be only decent, which does not bode well considering she's the freshest she'll ever be this term. However, the fact that we even have a teaching assistant is surprising, a welcomed one. Then I found out that at certain hours we have two assistants and how there are behaviour problem teachers and diagnostic teachers and all sorts of teachers. This leaves the actual classroom teacher totally focused on the lesson at hand and the students' specific needs.

One thing about I learned about was an interesting powerplay between TAs (Teaching aides) and teachers. Mrs. D, my teaching mentor, gave me a sheet that outlined the duties of a TA: set and clean up of areas, assist with questions, help kids use the bathrooms etc.... She then told me a story how she was really irritated one time when a TA sat and drank coffee while she had to clean the area up and attend to other duties. She said don't fall into the trap of doing everything for them. She added, not in these words, that I shouldn't be a dick about it and do help out, but our primary job is to form lessons and perform the lessons.

One way how I'll fail miserably as a jk teacher is the fact that I can't sing. William Hung would turn to me and say, "Joe, you really can't sing man. I can tell you had no professional training." I told my mentor teacher my concerns, and she assured me that I'm not the first, and how there are lots of tapes I can buy that will sing for me. I'll be Nilli Vanilli. But she could hold a tune and I saw how a melody can hold a child's attention and also help them memorize things easier.

The kids are really cool though. They were so well behaved and I think, however, that has to Mrs. D's expertise and experience. Teaching them feels so rewarding because you truly are such an important factor in their lives. You're giving them the fundamentals that many of them don't have. Did I mention cute? OMFG some of them should definitely sign up to act in commercecials or go on Bill Cosby's "Kids say the darndest things." I'm so dead-tired to articulate anything clearly right now but I will definitely write more of my experiences as a j/k assistant teacher and what it involves soon. I have to write daily journals as part of my schooling but I likely won't put those up, because they'll be school-jargon-babble, sucking up, and saying the things a supervisor wants to hear.