Bland Elementary School

By Chyanne London

Working at Bland Elementary School was a great experience. I was initially surprised that when we first entered the school, no one checked our IDs; they just handed us all nametags. This is very different from Maryland Public Schools because they would never let you in without checking your ID first. I worked with Ms. Barrett’s 4^th grade reading class, and I absolutely loved the children. I began by grading some of the assignments and handing them back to the students once I was finished. Every student said, “Thank you ma’am,” and showed Ms. Barrett a lot of respect. I individually read with a group of two students to give them one-on-one attention and to work on their reading skills. Even though these students were considered further behind the other students, they were very bright and took my suggestions on ways to read better and more fluently.

Next, I handed out iPads to all of the students to begin taking practice tests on the vocabulary they were learning for this section in their book. We did a quick game where the students challenged themselves to beat me in a game of Scatter. They really enjoyed having a nice competition and felt a sense of accomplishment even when they didn’t beat me in the game. It was nice to see the students interact with one another and help one another with their reading assignments. I also found it interesting that when the students did something bad, Ms. Barrett would give them a “conduct cut” where the students had a silent lunch for the day and knew they had to work on their behavior in the classroom. A few students in my class got in trouble with their music teacher, and Ms. Barrett’s rule was that if you got in trouble with another teacher you received two conduct cuts. I thought it was great that Ms. Barrett and the other teachers worked well together and taught the students that it was important to trust every teacher in the school which transferred in the respectful way that the students treated me while I was in the classroom with them. I thoroughly enjoyed my time at Bland Elementary School and hope to be back in Ms. Barrett’s class next time we volunteer with the school.