On my first day teaching, fresh out of my undergraduate
program, I met the faces of twenty-five kindergartners. One of those faces
belongs to a kindergartner that I will never forget. On this first day of
school, he spoke only Spanish to me (I understand zero Spanish), ran around my
room throwing manipulative and chairs, and later stood on the one and only
adult chair in the classroom and proceeded to take down the flag and wave it
around in the air. It took this little guy quite some time to understand how
school works but he did and ended up on grade level and much better behavior by
the end of kindergarten. He was so happy
when he started to understand the English language and was able to talk to the
other students in the class and I was ecstatic that he finally began to
understand what I was asking of him! This little boy is one that I will never
forget and I now look back to that first day of school and smile because he was
just having his idea of fun!
Thanks for sharing your experience as a first-time teacher! I am a huge fan of kindergarten, though I know it can be trying for teachers, as the kids are experiencing their first foray into institutionalized learning. It's hard to suddenly have to stick to schedules and follow classroom rules! It sounds like you are quite patient, so I am glad you have taken on the challenging job of teaching.
ReplyDeleteI worked as a full-inclusion assistant for many years, and encountered a similar situation with a client who was unable to speak (because of Cerebral Palsy, he had very poor strength in his mouth, so it was difficult to form sounds). He also was a second-language learner, so it was initially difficult to communicate directives to him. After being in his kindergarten class for a week, I came to realize that his acting-out behaviors were a result of his frustration at not being able to communicate with others. I taught him some basic sign language (colors, "water",
"ball", "play", and "help") and once he had them down, his behaviors completely dissipated! Given a way to connect with others, my client finally felt capable and happy. It sounds like you encountered the same scenario. Bless you for giving him ways to connect!