May Project week 2

This week has been something. Monday we taught at Cuivre Park Elementary school in Troy, Missouri. It was an hour drive away but I had music so it went by a little faster. When I arrived, the teachers were waiting outside with a speaker playing kids bop for the kids. I cringed and went into the main office to wait for our other boss and the other volunteers to arrive. Our 5th grade tour guide, Mckenze, then led us to her classroom. The teacher was very nice and helpful; she had snacks laid out for us and bottles of water. I immediately tried to figure out who the problem child would be. Then he presented himself, his name was James. He did not do any work but he participated in the activities at least. There was a nice little girl with glasses who kept asking me for help. She was very eager to learn and then she told me why she kept asking me for help. She told me that she was Autistic and she thought all the other kids in the class hated her because of it. I tried to reassure her, but none of the other kids would work with her during the group activities. There were also 2 other kids with Autism in the class, Dominick and Matthew. Most of the kids were open and played with them in the activities. Towards the end of our second day in the classroom, the kids were having a lot of fun and seemed to learn valuable life skills in the process. The teacher was very pleased with how we did in her classroom and bragged about Sandeep and I to our boss. She was moving to an administrative role in another school in the district and boasted that she will make sure Junior Achievement is there. Wednesday, we were back in the office doing the usual. We realized that we were working stupidly and at the rate we were going it would take forever just to recycle our first kit. After we sorted everything the first time from the kits, we then needed to separate 3 groups of cards into their individual sets. Think of separating 3 decks of playing cards into number and color. This took a very long time and we did not finish. Thursday we taught in a kindergarten classroom. The school was Westridge Elementary School. It was nice because in the waiting area they put aside for us, they had breakfast made. Our classroom escorts were timid and speed walked away from Sandeep and I when they led us to their classroom. When we arrived the kids were all timid at first but then they all opened up and were excited when we got into the lessons. I had a panic attack when the teacher started speaking into a microphone around her neck because her voice was over the classroom pa system and it was very loud. I thought I was going deaf, but then Sandeep pointed the microphone out to me. Other than that “Bruh” moment, teaching kindergarten was smooth sailing. To me teaching kindergarten was easier. Friday was full of uneventful office work.