Service Learning (January 11, 2019)

The school that I will be attending for my service placement is Freedom Elementary. The school is fairly new and has a kiva and a teacher prep room for every grade. They have TVs throughout the school that showcases announcements. The surrounding neighborhoods are mostly two-story family houses. It is in a residential area. Most of the students attending the school are from high-income families. This leads to great funding and a lot of parent support in all of the classes. I have learned that the students I will be working with are all throughout the school. I will work with kindergarten most of the time in my placement. Teaching Kindergarten age students is about more than just academic learning, behavior is a large focus. I will also get to work with the 6th grade. These students are learning new concepts that can seem overwhelming to understand. I get to assist them mainly in math. Most of them catch on very quickly. The school has seen a problem with their behavior, but from what I have seen they just repeatedly need to be reminded to keep on task. Once reminded they get to work quickly.

I am so excited to start my service learning because I know that it will provide invaluable experience for becoming a teacher. Getting to see many different teaching styles and learning how a teacher deals with academic, emotional, and behavioral issues is so great to get to see. I am also excited to use strategies that I learn in this class in real classrooms to see how students react. I know that this service learning will make me a better and more rounded teacher when I get my degree. It will also help me to know if teaching is what I really want to do.

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