Day 1

This wall of projects really struck me because I remember doing the exact same project when I was a 5th grader. It was nice to bring up memories of when I used to be in that classroom.

(Photo will be put up after I know whether or not these kids are cleared to be put up on the Internet)

Here is two students that I got to tutor after lunch had ended. Today, I was teaching them about coordinates and how to plot them on a coordinate plane.

(Photo will be put up after I know whether or not these kids are cleared to be put up on the Internet)

This is my mentor and former 5th grade teacher, Mrs. Simmonds. As you can see, she doesn't wear anything really fancy or dressy when she's teaching. She prefers something more comfortable and resistant to the grubby hands of the kids she teaches.



A lot of my work involves doing little chores that my mentor would normally have to do, taking time out of her teaching schedule. Since I'm around, she can concentrate more on teaching, while I can take care of the little things she needs to do. Here we see another wall of projects that I stapled up for display.

(Photo will be put up after I know whether or not these kids are cleared to be put up on the Internet)

This is the classroom in which I work. It's on the second story of a large complex with multiple classrooms in it. This is where I spend the majority of my day.


Today I also asked a series of questions to my mentor based on the continuing economic recession and how it affects the school. The following are her responses.

Q: How do schools help create awareness of the economic slump?
A: Lack of funding and budgetary cuts are present in every aspect of our school day. Hopefully the community reads the newspapers and listens to the messages sent by our district superintendent and the governor. In the classroom, it's like the "elephant in the room" that we don't really talk about. We don't have custodial services any more so we clean our room. Kids vacuum the room and clean the boards and empty the trash. They know they need to bring supplies from home because we don't even have money for Kleenex. Fundraising events are more important then ever. Teachers make it a practice not let kids feel the pinch, and buy supplies for classrooms on their own. If someone is involved with the school or our Park Village community, it's obvious that teachers and support staff have lost jobs and programs have been cut. There are fewer field trips, assemblies, library hours, supplies, and special programs.

Q: Are students ever taught or told anything about the recession?
A: If we are reading Scholastic News and a current event surfaces regarding the topic, we'll discuss the recession. Otherwise, we won't. It's obvious many families have been affected. Parents have had to move out of the area to find work. One parent may drive to Los Angeles every day to work. Business owners have lost their businesses. Others have lost their homes and move to apartments. Families in our relatively affluent area are suffering.

Q: How does the recession affect the schools budget?
A: We can't begin to do what we did for kids in the past. Fewer teachers, bigger classes, library services cut, reading specialists cut, custodians cut, secretaries cut, administrators cut, computer lab technician cut, and our facilities are looking run down and equipment is in need of repair. But of course, there's no one to fix anything.

Q: Have class sizes been increased due to lack of funding?
A: Yes, and it will be worse next year. Class size reduction will no longer be in place for any grade level. I understand fifth grade classes will be at 38 next year. The district must cut another $12 million from the $20 millions cut last year.


Today was a really great first day of internship. This morning, after I got myself ready, I hopped out the door and rode down to the school on my Ripstick. It takes me maybe 5-10 minutes to get down to the school from my house. So I get there at about 8:50, and class starts at 9. My first task is to hang some projects on the wall. While I'm doing that, BAM! Earthquake drill. I get to be the lucky guy who carries the emergency pack. So after about 20 minutes of waiting on the field, we come back up and I get to grade some tests. Then the class goes down to the computer lab and starts to type up a paper they've been working on. It's was my job to help kids correctly format their papers and help them with any technical problems they might have had. After they had done that, it was just about lunch time. So I headed back up to my house and whipped up a philly cheese steak. I came back to the school and taught three groups of kids how to correctly plot and connect points on a coordinate plane. The rest of the day involved me taking things down off the walls and putting new projects up. All in all, it was a fun day. I'm definitely looking forward to the rest of internship.