Expo Elementary- Day 1

As we pulled up in the parking lot behind Expo Elementary, I was incredibly nervous but extremely excited. I knew that once I was in the classroom and had met the teacher I would be with that I would be fine. Turns out as we walk away from the car I hear someone say, "Is one of your names Allison?" It was my teacher! I turn around to find a cute little Korean lady with a leopard print coat, leopard print gloves, leopard print bag and purse and a leopard print hat. It was amazing. I immediately responded yes and she responded with an, "I knew it you kids look so young and fresh!" This pretty much sums up my day with ChanSoon Olson! I love her. Everytime she introduced me it was, "this is All-ee-son (pronounced that way, in a cute Korean accent)...she is our wonderful, fabulous, intelligent, beautiful student teacher!" It was quite a lot but fun too. Throughout the day she kept telling me how happy she was that I was in her classroom all week. She insisted we become great friends.

The morning started off with the morning meeting. Mrs. Olson was playing mozart as they were drawing pictures about the Chinese New Year. They then proceded to move into math and it all related to subtraction of the different years during the Chinese New Year. The classroom was really open and free. I definately say the humanist side of things. The children are surprisingly very smart and fairly well behaved. Mrs. Olson has a way of dealing with these children. She has this tiny bell that she rings and they are instantly quiet. If they disrespect the teacher talking in front of the class they appologize to her heart, because it hurts her that they don't care. She has a stop sign that she holds up when side conversations need to stop. She told me that the reason they listen so well is because she sets the standards in the beginning of the year. They make up all the rules and write down what they mean. This way they understand everything they are writing.

After this we ate a very quick lunch and then we went on the field trip. The kids were really well behaved and it was cool to see Mrs. Olson complimenting the children throughout the day. She respects them and sets incredibly high standards for them. One the bus Mrs. Olson turned to me and said, "I know you will be a great teacher, you have it in your eyes, I can just tell." Ismiled at her and then she continued. " I have little antennas (holding her pointer fingers on her head like an ant) I can sense it through them." This made me so happy!

After the field trip we came back and had quiet reading time and gym. During gym I had the opportunity to tutor a young girl named Ana. She was adopted from Russia and has just recently been put on medication for attention problems. It took her 2 hours to work on this worksheet. She was running around the room and couldn't calm herself down. Mrs. Olson kept on saying," Ana, you need to sit down and do your school work or you will not be able to go home." Ana would then respond with a loud vibrant," God made my feet for running so that is what I have to do!" Mrs. Olson said this is what she says over and over again on a typical day. After awhile of working with her, I finally found something that worked for both of us. Ana was to read a few paragraphs and answer some questions. She wouldn't stop watching all the children in the room. I finally had her close and cover her eyes and I asked her the questions. She had to picture in her mind what the answer was from the story and write it down. We did it until the end of the day.

Well i believe that is enough for tonight... it was an amazing day, can't wait for tomorrow!