Teaching Journal 1

November 5, 2025- (BTS Internship Week 6)

Today was a hard day at King Elementary. I felt empowered and excited by how well my lesson went last week at Sunburst Elementary, so I was confident that today would go well, too. It wasn’t that bad, but it was humbling. I observed while my mentor taught a fourth grade class, and then I sat down at a table and began drawing a self portrait alongside a student who I noticed hadn’t gotten started on his. He began using a colored pencil, and I reminded him that we weren’t using color in this part of the project, only pencil. He said, “Shut up.” I learned in my Classroom Management class last spring not to ignore disrespect from a student, so I responded, “Did you tell me to shut up?” I think he was embarrassed, because he said “No.” Eventually I did leave his table, but as I passed by again while walking through the aisle, he called me, “Bro” I smiled and said, “I’m not bro,” and he responded, “I don’t care.” After class, I mentioned all of this to my mentor, and she told me that he is learning English as a second language, and that he probably isn’t very comfortable using it, so he says mean things instead. 

Next, I taught a sixth grade class about agamographs, and we began a Thanksgiving agamograph project. I felt that the class was very rowdy. I learned that I need to include reference photos in my presentations, because many of them needed reminders of what a cornucopia is, and what a turkey looks like. I also learned that maybe I shouldn’t link to videos that are on my personal Youtube account, because some students yelled out that they were writing down my username, and when they got home they were going to go find me on Youtube. During the project, many students were yelling across the room, and being way louder than necessary. My mentor had mentioned before that this was a difficult class, but I thought that perhaps with a guest teacher, my mentor, and their homeroom teacher being in the room with them, maybe they would behave differently.  Despite the rowdiness, the students strongly grasped the idea of an agamograph and had fun. They will finish next week.

In the moment, I came to the conclusion that I cannot work at a Title I school. Now, as I reflect on a very positive experience I had at Riverdale Elementary last spring, I believe discipline and respect in the classroom has less to do with socioeconomics, and more to do with expectations and school culture. For my visual metaphor, a spanish newspaper symbolically represents students in my classes who are English Language Learners, turkey feathers represent our Thanksgiving agamographs, and a clacked mirror reveals the fact that I didn’t think my feelings could be hurt my children I hardly know, but it turns out, they can!