Family Mentorship Program-Spring 2016 I had the opportunity to be in the family mentorship program through the University of Mary in spring of 2016. I worked with a mom and her son who has a diagnosis of autism. My partner and I had the chance to go to different events that this child was participating in. One event was a track and field event. The child's mom and I watched from the sideline to see how he did in all of the events and interacted with the other athletes. I had great conversation with his mom during this time to ask any questions I had and learned more about what home life is like for them as I did not have the opportunity to go to their actual home. During a bowling event I went to with them, I had the opportunity to get to know the child more. He loved the music that was playing at the bowling ally and we would celebrate every time he hit pins down. This experience gave me great joy!
Block I Practicum In my block I practicum I was at Lincoln Elementary with Mrs. Karch's third grade class. This was a unique experience for me not only because it was my first practicum, but the class itself was unique. It was a class of about 21 students. Almost every student lived in a one parent household or had another unique family situation. This was something I have never experienced before. One take away I took from this was how important communication is with the students and their families. My teacher was aware of what was going on in the households and it showed me how much she cared and how much I want to show my students I am there for them.
Diversity class and Practicum I was in the Diversity class and practicum at the University of Mary. During my time, I had the opportunity to do a group project about Chairman David Archambault who is the tribal Chairman of the Standing Rock Indian Reservation in North Dakota (picture below). During this, we learned a lot about what he believes in and what he has been a part of. He had interesting stories to tell, one of them being meeting President Obama. During this time Chairman Archambault had President Obama visit with the Standing Rock youth. For my diversity practicum I used my block II classroom as a time to observe the diversity within that classroom. I was in a classroom of 25 first graders, so there was a variety of different students. This practicum has shown me how important it is for us teachers to know about the diversity and how we should balance all of the different backgrounds the kids come from.