It seems like I just barely started working with the kids at Apache and now it is almost over. I have had a great experience with the kids there. I wish this semester could last a few more months.

1.  Four major strands of work

          Communication – I was happy with the level of communication that we enjoyed last semester. It seems that this semester communication has improved. The little agenda slips, were very helpful in establishing a direction for the day, and I liked being able to write our questions out for you periodically. The e-mails are always timely and effective. I feel that I have been efficient in communicating my questions and concerns as well as in coordinating my portion of the bookmarks and publishing work. As always, I believe that the channels of communication in this class are always open. I think that I have had ample opportunity to communicate with my kids, peers, and instructor.

          Research  - After a lot of brain racking and thought I did finally come up with an idea for my story that I am really excited about. I had to talk to my Mom and Dad about it to verify lots of little details in it and find a creative way to capture the spirit of what I wanted to achieve but I am proud of my effort. This was the most excited I have been about homework in years! I found the text, especially chapter 18 to be a very timely and thought provoking set of ideas that aided my writing and made me a more effective coach for my kids. I also enjoyed the short story collections. It was a welcome break to be able to laugh with some of those stories.

          Technology – I had fun making the web page last semester and am happy that I can continue to use it for this semester. I enjoy being able to submit work to a web page. It is fast and earth friendly! I wish more instructors would do this.

          Collaboration  - I have enjoyed being able to collaborate in several different ways this semester. I loved collaborating with the kids developing their stories. Sometimes the collaboration felt one sided, but then they would always come back and take control of their story and do some really good work. It was a nice give and take throughout the process. I also had a good experience collaborating with Heather. We worked together as a team coaching the kids and I really believe that we got better results and more interesting work because we had twice the experience and ideas to work with together. Having your collaboration with our kids on Thursdays was also very effective because it was like seeing the work through a fresh set of eyes when we got back on Mondays and got your notes. And finally collaborating on the publishing project has been a good experience to. This is how I usually work. Divide up the tasks and conquer! I always prefer to work on my own with a set task and deadline, but I have enjoyed and see the value in a more personal, immediate collaboration process as well.

2.  Five dimensions of learning

          Confidence and independence – I started out feeling very confident going to Apache. I had previous classroom experience and really enjoy the kids. I did find that I am sometimes a little timid when it comes to making the kids do something. If they come right out and say I don’t want to do that, I never feel good about making them. I think that because I am not an education major that this is a minor quibble, but I think that I never really felt like I had the authority to “lay down the law” with the kids. I think that because Heather and I were alone on Mondays it strengthened our abilities to work independently. After all, we didn’t have anyone to ask about what we were doing and had to come up with solutions on our own and immediately. It was a good experience. I feel that we had a positive impact on our kids.

          Knowledge content – I gained a lot of needed knowledge in teaching the writing process from the book. I feel that because of that knowledge I was able to be a more effective writing coach. I also think that my knowledge in multicultural psychology and education psychology provided a great base and support for this class. I love it when the things you learn start to interconnect! It makes me believe that there is just one real truth in the universe. But I digress… I feel like I learned what I needed from this class and was able to use that knowledge effectively. I am where I should be with my knowledge in this class.

          Skills and Strategies – Heather and I went into each session with the Apache kids with a clear goal and plan. We had strategies for prewriting, writing, revising and publishing all mapped out before we started each day. For prewriting we used the bubble method of collecting many thoughts rapidly without any care for spelling, or connection to other ideas. For the drafting process we followed the 4 square strategy, we weren’t present for the peer review, but learned the method so we would understand what the kids had done. We used leading questions to pull out greater detail from the kids and revise their work. Another important skill that I used was time management. I had to make sure that my goals could be accomplished in the time allotted and also complete my assignments outside of the classroom.  

          Use of prior and emerging experience – I have had previous writing experience and experience working with kids. I also was able to learn how my kids would react and what kind of strategies they would respond to. For example, Tyler is a very vocal child and likes to show his work. He doesn’t need as much support as other kids so I was able to use that to my advantage when Tristin was behind. I new Tyler was capable of working independently while I devoted some time to Tristin. By managing my time and playing to Tyler’s strengths, we were able to get Tristin caught up in one day. I also learned to “feel” when the kids were done with a particular task and to switch gears and keep them interested in the project as a whole.  

          Critical Reflection – This has always been a strong point for me and I feel that I am very capable of being able to step back and see a situation from an analytical point of view. After every class at Apache, I have sat down and wrote about what we did. This allowed me to process what happened and what needed to be completed still. It also allowed me to think about what went well, and what didn’t work out like I had hoped. As part of this, I was pleased with the feedback that I got from our peer review of our stories. It helped me see things from a listener’s perspective and improve my story.  I enjoy being challenged and finding ways to make things better. I think that my reflection on the kid’s stories has also helped make them better. I would have liked to have been able to work in the class with all the others so that I could have gotten more feedback about how I teach and interact with the kids. 

Final Evaluation

Reflection on semester’s learning experience – I think that the most valuable learning I did this semester was working with the kids. I think that it has a lasting positive impact. It gave the children a chance to see something they created go all the way to being published. It lets them know that they are important and valued for their ideas and perspectives. I also liked the class discussions throughout the semester and the short story anthology. I enjoyed writing my own story and liked having something that was meaningful to me be included in the course work.

Suggestions for class activities or for the professor to better support learning – I was disappointed that we didn’t get to the short story books. I really enjoyed mine and would have liked to discuss it with the class and to hear what they were reading. Other than that, I feel like I had a great learning experience and received all the support and tools that I required taking advantage of it.