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Reflection Piece: This experience has provided me with so much useful information that will assist me in my future career of teaching. In our classes we hear about the benefits of differentiating instruction and how helpful it really can be. I hadn’t really had a reason to differentiate instruction up until this point but after conducting the pre-assessments on these children, I really got an idea of the types of things I should be instructing them on, and the manner in which to go about it. It’s amazing how you can instantly tell whether you are instructing on the proper level or not. During Dr. Watkins visit to my first site, I was working with this little girl, Miyona who initially tested very high for her age, and could read quite well. We were playing a game that required her to look at a picture (a picture of an apple, for example) and decide which letter of the alphabet the name of the picture began with. I thought this would be a fun, age appropriate game to play with her. As Dr. Watkins pointed out, Miyona was definitely engaged in the activity, but I immediately could tell it was too simple for her. This child is reading at a second grade level and I was playing a game of letters with her- doesn’t quite match up. Reflection is such a huge part of our jobs and even though I feel like this game was not the right choice for Miyona, I gained a better understanding of what to work on her with the following week. When you look at it in the grand scheme of things, if I were Miyona’s teacher, I would have "wasted" 20 minutes playing this game with her, but would have gained the knowledge of where to direct my instruction over the next 180 school days. I realize now how vital assessment truly is in informing a path of instruction.

I also learned something very interesting about myself through this experience. I always thought that I would be the cool, laid back, type of teacher- well I was wrong. I actually think I will require a medium to high level of structure in my classroom. The camps I worked at had little to no structure, and the children came to me wound up, disinterested, ready to play around, or even fight in some instances. I could not blame the students for this behavior as they were given no ground rules to follow while at the camp and thus I could not expect them to act much differently with me. I felt a little defeated at times, finding myself getting very frustrated when the kids would play around, not pay attention, and ask to be excused from our sessions. The directors made it explicitly clear that I was not to claim the role of disciplinarian; I was simply a volunteer. I was not permitted to create rules for our sessions, thus there were no consequences for misbehaviors. I now feel like a school year should definitely be started out highly structured, and only when the students are capable of handling their responsibilities without any major issues, will the classroom become more relaxed.

﻿ Analogy: My first week felt like a day﻿ at the beach- fun, exciting, and really hot!

My Summer Tutoring Schedule:  Boys and Girls Club:North Greenwood (Clearwater)- Mondays@ 9:00am Boys and Girls Club: Lifeforce Academy (Clearwater)- Wednesdays @ 9:00am