This past week at CCW was an overwhelmingly positive experience. I came in not feeling very well phyically: I was coming down with a cold and also had bad cramps, so was having trouble concentrating on anything. Going to my placement, though, actually focused and centered me, and helped me tackle the rest of my day.

From what I remember, this day was a lot different from some of the others. The other times that I went to CCW, I was paired up with one particular artist who I ended up spending a lot of time with and assisting in various ways, but this time I ended up spending a lot of time with around four to five people. The way that I work best, though, is by focusing on one person, so I did spend a little more time with one person than the rest. 

This past week, I went to my placement at Rose only to be reminded that I was visiting class on Earth day. All week, the class had been participating in activities that included building fort out of recycled boxes and talking about the different environments that exist all around the world. When I arrived, the class began an activity involving the earth, a large painted circle with a frowny face and thermometer in its mouth, being sick and having a high temperature. The students all took turns putting bandaids on the earth with potential, “solutions” to getting the earth better written on them. The activity was framed as in a way so that the students kept their solutions very practical and remained on a more individual level.

One week ago, while at my placement, I became very focused on one student in particular. Cody always gets in trouble for speaking too loudly. He is told time and time again that he has to keep his voice down while inside. Sometimes, this has to do with him speaking loudly in small groups, or out of turn, or sometimes feeling the need to scream out in excitement in frustration. However, what first drew my attention to Cody was that, even when he is making productive points or raising his hand, he is sometimes still told to lower the sound of his voice.

Two weeks ago, I focused my attention on the usage of cite words in the Rose Kindergarten classroom. Sight words are a list of words that the teachers have written and posted on the wall of the classroom and that have extra time and emphasis devoted to student’s learning about them. During this placement, I have seen both the obvious benefits of this increased emphasis, but also the pressure, and subsequent dangers and impatience that has sometimes been spurred by this focus. Every Friday, there is special time made in the morning to read a poem of part of a song that students then search for sight words in and circle on their own individual papers.