Shadowing Melodee Strong at Simpson Housing, Thursday 4/14, 4.30 to 6.00pm - 1.5 hours
Nothing very special happened this week, I was of course busy with school, but that's just how my life is. I didn't have any hours at Spectrum this week, because I was doing a shadowing for the first time. I was shadowing a person called Melodee Strong, and I have to say that her name is very fitting; she was oozing authority and knew exactly how to keep the kids in order. I later learned that she teaches at a middle school, so it makes sense that she knew how to deal with kids, considering how rebellious middle schoolers can be...
Before the shadowing, I messaged DJ Yang (another MCAD TA-student) because she was going to shadow Melodee as well, and we walked to Simpson housing together. I'm glad I walked with her, because otherwise I probably wouldn't have found the right place. As we walked DJ had to stop me several times from going to the wrong direction... When we arrived, we helped set up the drawing supplies for all the kids that would soon come in.
Drawing supplies
After setting up the drawing supplies, and covering each desk with a big piece of paper, me and DJ mostly just walked around and waited. Soon the kids, their tutors and Melodee herself came in, and the class started. Everyone was going to work on drawings that would serve as designs for a mural that they would later paint together. Every child had their own desk and also a tutor helping them, so me and DJ couldn't do very much to help besides walking around and giving occasional feedback about the drawings.
Me and DJ at Simpson Housing (and also a photographer guy in the background, whose name I forget...)
Even though there wasn't very much to physically do, just watching Melodee teach and learning from her was a very beneficial experience. I hope I can become such a strong teacher some day too. Luckily at the end we helped with the clean up at least, so we didn't have to feel completely useless.
I'm definitely looking forward to do more of these shadowings, and my next one will actually be next week so I'll be covering that in my next entry. I will also have taught a class at Expo Elementary at that time, so I'll probably be talking a lot about that as well. It will be a very long entry again... Anyways, until then my readers!