UI Day 2

I really enjoyed my second day at San Miguel. I walked in feeling like I belonged there. I wasn't nervous and felt welcomed by everyone. I really enjoy the small school setting. There are only four classes of students and each class is under 20 students. It is great to see how everyone knows each other so well and gets along. Ms.Gergen actually helped found this school so I have found out a lot of information. One cool thing is that although it is a private school, none of the students pay tuition. They only have to pay a book fee and for their uniforms. It is a great opportunity for them to get such a good education even though their parents have such a low income.

All of the students in my classroom speak Spanish at home but one (she is Native American). They speak Spanish constantly. They are only supposed to speak it at lunch but Ms.Gergen does not mind. I think it actually helps because sometimes one student does not understand the directions and another will explain it in Spanish. They are very good at translating. They all speak English very well but need a lot of work in writing and grammar.

Today I worked with students on posessive nouns again, we edited poems, studied the U.S-Mexican war (which I knew nothing about, but they knew EVERYTHING about). It was this war that took away half of Mexico's land, giving us the west part of our country. I worked on some math problems with students who were on three different levels.

I really admire how Ms.Gergen manages the classroom. There are hardly any problems at all. All of the students behave and when one gets out of line, Ms. Gergen handles it so well. She did tell me that she is very lucky because this is probably the best-behaved class she has ever had. I know that I do like working in middle school now because of the way that Ms.Gergen and her students get along. One of the major benefits about working with middle schoolers is that you can almost treat them like adults. We are able to joke around and talk seriously with them and them with us. I am definitely ready to go back and spend more time with this class.