Thursday- Chicago- TFA

This week is slowly exhausting me. I love it so much but I don’t know how people can keep up the commute and long days for longer than a week. This morning I hit snooze more than a few times before dragging myself out of bed. I was pleased to find that it was sunny outside, although it was so cold I soon lost feeling in my legs waiting on the metro and bus.

Sometimes I want to cry for the children here. Some teachers are just wonderful and are exactly what they need while others constantly tell them they are worthless disappointments. That is no way to talk to a child. Positive reinforcement does much more than fear tactics. This morning I was in a first grade classroom. The teacher was absent and will be tomorrow too. I was working with the student teacher who was absolutely phenomenal with the kids. They listened and respected her without her having to raise her voice. However when another teacher came in to teach about a topic the children were squirrelly and uncooperative because the woman raised her voice and kept telling them how they were a disappointment. Children that young have lots of energy and it has to be channeled into positive work rather than forcibly subdued. When the teacher left she also got upset that they said goodbye to her instead of quietly waving. Irrational yes? My time here has certainly taught me that there are certain ways to work with children, and there are certain ways to epically fail at working with children. Those people in the latter category should not be with the kids who need the most help at these schools. We worked on some writing journals and then had a little dance break before lunch which was really fun and the kids were into it. It was one of those positive ways to channel their energy and calm them down.

After lunch I was assigned to Mrs. Suffredin’s room again. I graded close to 500 papers while they read books. The teachers kept asking why I was so nice to the children. I feel it is self-explanatory… they are children, and human beings. They like me and hug me because I don’t terrify them daily. It was frigid when we left the school and the bus left us even after Lauren ran for it. Once we were safely on the red line I noticed a young gentleman wearing a Kansas City Royals hat. Naturally I felt inclined to talk to him. The metro ride took a long time today so we talked about a lot of things. He was actually from New York but moved here a few years ago. He was getting ready to start school at DePauw University right near where our church residence is. We talked about philosophy and why he wanted to study it and I told him about Alternative Breaks and what our purpose was. In fact, I tell everyone about KU and Alternative Breaks. I love getting the word out about our cause and representing our university in a positive way. I stopped for some french fries on my way back to the church and to have internet. We are having frozen pizza night with the group tonight before we go to the Chicago Art Institute and Millennium Park tonight. It will be cold but fun. It’s crazy to think we only have one day left to teach!