First Year Teaching Placement: Day Ten

       Today is the last day of my placement, and I'm so sad! We started off the day with a field trip review and talked about the issue about Jonah and this other boy getting punched in the face. Man there is a lot of 8 year old drama who would've thunk. So we spent quite a bit of time talking about that situation and trying to resolve it and tying all loose ends together which I thought was great because it brings closure to the situation. Next was home journals where the students write about what they did that week in a Dear So and So format (mostly their parents) and then their parents write back to them and I thought that was adorable and a great way to have memories and see improvement in writing. And one of the topics was I saw that many kids wrote "I'm sad it's Miss. Zhang's last day" and I was like "awww, that makes me sad." And Quentin wrote, "I don't want Miss. Zhang to leave" and that broke my heart. I hope they continue working really hard and that the stuff I taught them actually sticks so they don't keep having to ask Miss. Anderson about everything. It was so interesting to see what the kids wrote to their parents, and it was interesting to see the kids' responses. In one of Quentin's journals it was a short letter but whatever he's just a kid, and his dad's response was something along the lines of "that was short" and he replied "that was mean" aw poor thing. His parents are supposed to be super supportive but it was interesting to see his response to the situation. After that was recess and when they came back we had math and we continued with ordinal numbers and the students got to present their work which was cool. We had several literacy centres and I supported the students with their tasks and I think that it was helpful for them.
        At lunch I was listening to the teachers talk about their drinking social they were going to have after school and I thought that was cool because they were all getting together to have a cool little event. After lunch we had literacy centres and measurement and I noticed how good the students were getting at telling time so I must have done somewhat of a good job to help them achieve that. Then after recess we had a popcorn and movie party, and to my surprise Miss. Anderson planned it as a goodbye party for me and got everyone ice cream sandwiches but I didn't take one because I don't really like them too much. But that was so kind of her to do that and way out of her place, if anything I should have brought something. Then she talked about how good of a help I was and how I supported the kids and everyone said "thank you" and a bunch of kids gave me hugs. And Kate was being especially clingy and she was like "Miss. Zhang are you going to miss me?" and I was like "of course!" and she hugged me. And then she gave me a drawing of a snail which was funny. She's such a character, she always charges at me with her head which is pretty hilarious and stands in front of me so I can't walk and so that she is blocking me. And Quentin hugged me twice, and Drew too which was surprising, and Abby KS was like "do you have to leave? Can't you stay longer?" and I was like "no, my placement was only for 2 weeks" and then he got really angry which was cute. And the most surprising was Noah who was like "bye Miss. Zhang, thanks for giving us a good education." And as I was leaving I saw Jonah, and because he left early he didn't get to say anything, but when he saw me he came running and was like "Miss. Zhang!" and gave me the biggest hug and I told him that I was going to be back soon. Ahh, I miss those nuggets they were so sweet and nice to me, and I love helping people a lot so much that people tend to walk all over me. I'm going to have to go back and visit for their science fair because that would be really cool. This was one of the greatest learning experiences I've ever had.

Until next time!
Suzy Zhang