Weeks 3 & 4

Weeks 3 && 4 of my Turner Fellowship at Fannie Battle were the most relaxed weeks I have had since I started, mainly because at the beginning of week 3 I had officially settled in and I started to have a routine. That being said, these weeks were still nonetheless crazy and fun– like every week so far. All of that to say, I decided that I would like to dedicate the majority of my time to the school age classroom because the school age kids are always full of surprises and always wanting to chat. However, since the little kids are the sweetest and always a treat to be with, I try to spend a lot of time with them as well.

Week 3 was spent solely in school age with the exclusion of Wednesday morning. I have found out that if I spend the morning with the little kids and leave at my lunch time (while the kids are sleeping), I can easily join school age for the rest of the day which is truly the best of both worlds. All of that to say, during this week of school age, I not only made new friends but my relationships with those I formerly met grew as well. Wednesday was a very interesting day. In the morning I was in the preschool classroom, Fernando Frogs, again to see some of my favorite kids. Not only did I see my favorites, I made new favorites especially one kid named Zorey. Zorey is the sweetest little boy and he always wanted to sit in my lap. Soon after joining this classroom I helped out some staff members in staining new wooden toys for the playground. This was a very cool experience because I had never done anything like this before and because in completing this task I knew that in addition to leaving an emotional impact (I hope) on FBDH, I would also leave a tangible impact.

Week 4 was a shorter week for me because I left Thursday morning for a quick trip to Florida. While it was shorter, there is no doubt this week was not as wild as the others given that I spent my 3 days in school age. Monday I learned how to use a stamp machine (stamp machine is definitely not the proper name but I do not know the real name) which instantly prints stamps onto envelopes within two seconds. This was definitely a strange and enlightening experience but these machines are very handy so I am glad I got the opportunity to use one. On Tuesday I went with a group of school agers to Owl Hill. We saw a few owls, learned about feathers, and listened to bird calls. Needless to say, even though I am older than the kids, there is still a lot more that I can learn about a lot of things– especially birds :).

From my time at FBDH, especially with school age, I have learned many very important lessons. The most important being to “stay in my own lane” if you will. I realized that I began to take it upon myself to act as a teacher in some events, which it turns out is not fun for me or the kids. While yes, it is my job to be the responsible one and be in control of every situation I am involved in with the kids, but in a mentor sense. Trying to fit into a teacher role and be more strict results in less fun and more stress. So, being a mentor and leading the children in the right direction which is away from disputes and wrongdoings suits me better than being a teacher. That being said, I have A LOT of respect for the teachers because their jobs are extremely hard.