Teach For America : My First Last Day

Today was my last day teaching my first grade class at Piney Point Elementary and the end of Houston Institute. I am definitely going to miss them. I learned and grew immensely from my students and from my co-teachers. I am incredibly proud of our class, as their reading scores grew 236% from the first time we tested them four weeks ago! Every day counts.

In just our last few days, our students went through the five steps of the writing process and made a final draft about their role models. We also had a lesson called the “the rainbow fish,” where we read them the classic story and then had them decorate their own scales and write something nice about someone and give it to them. While teaching my students to read and write takes priority, I find that educating my students about life lessons has been one of the many rewarding aspects of teaching.

Today we conducted “jam sessions” at our school, where our kids could find more information on free student activities throughout the year. We also were able to meet some of the siblings, parents and grandparents of our kids at the jam session. It was wonderful learning more about where our students come from and meeting their families. There was also a basketball player and policeman that volunteered their time to come talk to our students about the importance of college and knowledge in their careers. This led into our lesson of reading one of my favorite books, “Oh The Places You Will Go” by Dr. Seuss. We had them craft hot air balloons and write what they wanted to be when they grow up. Not surprisingly an overwhelming amount said they wanted to be police after hearing him talk about his career today. The best part is, now they know they can do it and they will.

Signing off until my next adventures at KIPP Summer Summit!