Week 1.0 - Awakenings and Reminders

March 9 – Monday, Monday!

I did not start this blog until the beginning of Week 2, so I am playing “catch up” on this blogging idea. I am doing my internship in Special Education at the Carolina Springs Elementary school. It was no surprise that my Principal and Mentor Teacher are outstanding. I have received an encouraging welcome.

The hardest part of the first day, I must confess, was getting started early. Though I claim to be a morning person, arriving at school before 7:00 am seemed unreasonable. Daylight savings time had just sprung forward, and it is dark at 7:00 am! There is just something wrong about going to school in the dark! But my whining ceased when I pulled up to the school at 6:50 am and saw three school buses sitting in the bus lane. The day of an elementary student begins very, very early. When did these children wake up and get dressed? Did they get enough sleep? Did they eat breakfast? What time did the bus come? The answer: before 6:50, since these poor souls cannot get off the bus until 7:00 am! No wonder more than half the school arrives by car, who wants to get up that early?

Now I certainly know that electronics are standard tools in today’s classroom, but I was overwhelmed with the volume! This is not my first public school teaching experience. I first taught in 1977, fifth grade. The sum of electronics that were available to me was a cassette player, and a record player. In the library were filmstrip and movie projectors that had to be shared by all classes. In my small special education resource room we have three computers, printers, scanner, phones, voicemail, email, internet, a SMART board (appropriately named, for at this point this white board is smarter than I am), listening centers, and an ELMO projector (I always thought Elmo was a fun red puppet from Sesame Street, but apparently he made good on his investments!). Wow, what a ton of resources! Our class must be really special, and then I got the building tour…Every classroom had the same equipment and more computers! I wonder what would happen to teaching when the power fails, I did not see any chalk….

The first days are days of observation. Just follow the teacher, watch and ask questions later. Working with a resource teacher is busy. Our schedule changes every 30 to 40 minutes, with a different set of children, with different needs, teaching a different subject. This week I tried to learn the schedule and the names of our students. Some have learning disabilities, some mild mental disabilities, and many have behavior issues. I’ll figure those out as I get to know the children better. I saw diverse classes, the brightest and the saddest of faces. I can’t wait to learn their stories.

Some Applications: One of my personal goals is to learn about the daily lives of the elementary children we attempt to minister to at church each week. Here are my first thoughts:
The school day begins very early. How does church programming contribute to a good school week?
The children live and learn in a very electronic age. What is the role of electronics at church? Is there a place for a computer in the Sunday School class?
Every child is a story. Every child is shaped by family and outside forces. How well do we know our children at church? How well do we know their families? Are we working hard enough to build the kind of friendship and relationship that gives us natural opportunities to share our faith?

Thanks for reading. I can’t wait to see how God is going to use these next ten weeks.

For the Children,

AL