First Impresssions

Pulling up to Eli Elementary School*, I observed that this school was definitely different than the school I attended back when I was a child. The school is located off a main road not far from the city. All of the windows are closed and barred, while a chain link fence strategically borders the small cement playing area. To be honest, I was a little nervous upon entering the school by looking at the outward appearance. This feeling was probably attributed to the fact that this was unusual to me, having grown up in a school system with big open windows letting in the fresh air blowing from the large green, grassy playgrounds with swings, slides, basketball courts, and baseball fields.
On the inside, the school feels more typical and inviting. Bright paintings and posters of smiling, multicultural children align the walls, and most of my initial hesitance is lifted away. The classrooms are about the same size as all I had been exposed to, but it seems the school is short on rooms because I noticed some rooms are shared by multiple teachers at different points in the day.
I work with two teachers, one being the school’s reading coach, Ms. Mary*, and the fourth grade classroom teacher, Ms. Leslie*. Ms. Mary is very helpful and organized. Her room is where I go to gather all of the materials and activities I will be using with the children that afternoon. Ms. Leslie’s room is arranged like a typical elementary classroom. There are bright posters scattered across the walls, along with weekly vocabulary words on the board and a chart listing the outspoken and punishable student’s names. The students seemed very excited when I came into the room. One little girl, Anna*, came running right up to me, complimenting me on everything from my hair to my shoes. She then slowly sulked back to her seat when she learned that I was not there to tutor her.
There are two students that I help, each twice a week. Nikko speaks very good English with only a small but noticeable accent. He seems to be on a good track with reading, just a step behind the other students, but he is fun to work with. Maggie, the young girl I tutor seems very quiet and less social than all of the other upbeat girls in the classroom. She seems very uninterested in learning and like many of the other students are toward Ms. Leslie, Maggie has an attitude toward just about everything I ask her to work on.
It seems the school is very set on attempting to get the children to behave and listen. I observed my very first day that Ms. Leslie seemed to be spending more time reprimanding the children and trying to get them to focus and pay attention than she did actually teaching the lessons. She raised her voice several times, however it never had much of a valuable impact on settling the kids down.