Fifth grade day 1

I have had the opportunity to go to Brown Street academy twice since my last post. I visited with the fifth grade class on Feb 24th and this was a very eye-opening experience for me. So for starters fifth graders are older than the children I took care of originally in the first grade. With this older age comes a lot more verbal opinions, comments and complaining. Upon entering the classroom i introduced myself to the class and the class calls you Mr/Ms followed by your last name. I immediately got to work passing out Venn Diagrams to compare and contrast Earth to the Moon. I have noticed as with my sons class, this classroom is equipped with a Smartchart system. It allows the teachers to use the internet on a projector and a ton of other cool things. Teachers are able to use YouTube to get the kids involved in learning that stimulates them. I can't lie I was bobbing to this hip-hop version of the solar system being taught from YouTube. These teachers have to do a balancing act of engaging the kids and teaching them. Oh My, this is more challenging then it seems. Some children caught on quick, I witnessed two little boys in the front of the room who were self motivated and very smart. I watched a little boy very smart for he had diarrhea of the mouth and constantly talked out of turn. I had three girls in the back of the room who were in their own world of applying lotion and lip glass. It was amazing to see the contrast of the three girls. Girl 1, sassy but smart did all of her work quickly, Girl 2, quiet, also smart and allowed me to share her book, and Girl 3, quiet, did not work and was not interested in it , no shape or form. Girl 3 intrigued me and I made it a personal project to get through to her during my visits. Also intermingled into the room are sleeping, chatting students,two students from other classes and a few with behavior issues. I was amazed at the workload that these two teachers had to bear for a classroom of i believe 24. I also got to journey to the library and Art class with this bunch of children and was amazed to see how some children open up. I was also saddened to see how most of these children have no idea of their potential and the effect they have on making change in the world. I left this class tired and overwhelmed but with the belief that we have to change these kids lives and perceptions early. When I looked around the class and see so many disheveled faces I can't help but wonder what their households are like. Im so grateful for this experience but the situation seems almost dire.