Day 4

Everyday I'm using academic skills I've acquired to help further the learning of the children in the classroom. Whether this be through tutoring, or such as today, helping the substitute get her bearings and learn the intricacies of my mentor's classroom.

Speaking of which, today was a real test of my abilities and skills. My mentor was gone today and had a substitute instead. I took it upon myself to help her direct the class, and make sure everything was going smoothly. Today was PE day, so instead of having her figure out what she wanted to do with the kids, I rallied them all together and took them to the field for a game of soccer. While it may not seem like much, this substitute had no idea what she needed to do for PE day. So my knowledge and experience really helped her out.

I'm collaborating with my mentor now to see what form of organizational system we can come up with for her once I leave. Let's face it, even if I clean up and organize everything, she'll just go back to being messy and unorganized if she doesn't have a system in place to continue the organization. It's in it's early stages right now, so by the end of the week I should have something that works.

I'm planning on taking before and after pictures for all the places I clean up and organize. Not only that, but I plan on showcasing the things I've put in place to help keep the organizational system in place.

If I manage to get the entire place organized, and put a system in place to keep it organized, it will help boost the efficiency of the classroom by leaps and bounds. My mentor won't have to cut time out of her day to look for things to continue the lesson, it will be easily accessible. Not only that, but maybe the other teachers will look to my mentor's classroom as an example for their own classrooms, and create their own organizational systems. Thereby increasing the efficiency of their classrooms. My project could possibly spread across the entire school. It's wishful thinking, but hey, I can dream can't I?