Second TOUCHH Trip

*May 21, 2009 Trip

First off, let me say that I absolutely love these kids! They are great and I love opportunities like this that allow me to interact with people out of my own peer group who are not adults yet either! This time, I worked with the G.A.T.E. after school class again. G.A.T.E. stands for the "gifted and talented education" class. When I walked in, all the kids turned toward the door and began shouting, "I know you!" and "I remember you!" I love working with kids because you almost always get this reaction. They think it is so cool to have a teenager in their classroom that is not a teacher or solid authority figure. I got to be a lot more involved with the class this time. First, I read to them about mummies around the world and actually taught them a bit about what I know about mummies and went over some new vocabulary words in the stories. I felt like a teacher, but most of all, like I was contributing something important to the class. After this, the kids had silent reading time. During this time, I helped with some of their online reading quizzes that they took through a computer program on the I-Mac they had in the front of the classroom. I was impressed at how well the younger ones (4th and 5th graders) knew how to work the computer and fix it if something "went wrong." Following their silent reading was recess! This was always my favorite time of the school day, and the girls kept asking me if I would be there when they came back from recess and I assured them that I would be waiting. They seemed so excited and it made me happy to know that they liked me! When they got in from recess, the teacher told me she had some papers to grade and other things to do, so I could read to the class again. This time, the boys brought me scary stories and I chose a couple to read. The kids were so funny always saying, "That wasn't scary enough...choose another!" So I read about three of four before our TOUCHH group had to leave for the day. I asked the teacher to take a picture of me with the class and the kids were so happy and ran to where I was standing to pose. It was such a great experience and I hope someday I have the chance to go back.