Yesterday I returned to Martinez Elementary! I was very excited to see my students. We began by writing down chords in their journals. Writing down chords is a new skill we have been working on with them so they can make the chords on the guitar themselves using their brains and not teacher assistance! They have improved a lot on third diagram skills and Im so proud of them!!!!!! Some of the kids were having some anxious behavior because they are taking the STARR test the next week. We saw this and talked a lot about stress coping mechanisms that could apply both to playing guitar and to taking tests! I hope that we made them feel better and more confident for next week. Learning outcome 4 was very relevant to this experience. It is show commitment to and perseverance in a fieldwork experience. I feel that my commitment to the growth of these kids is very important to me and all I want is for them to succeed !!!!

Martinez!!!!!!!

Today I went back to Martinez  after winter break and J-Term! I missed getting to go see my students every week! My one concern going back was that they would forget everything from last semester. I went back to Martinez and was welcomed with all of my kids screaming "Ms. sushi, we missed you!" They have nicknamed me ms. sushi because I like sushi and that is 4th grade humor at its finest. I felt like returning to Martinez really aligned with earning Outcome 4: Show commitment to and perseverance in a fieldwork experience.The kids forgot most of what we did last semester, which was kind of a let down, but I toughened up and lead a review for the kids of everything we did last semester. It was difficult making them all focus and work hard, but eventually they did and caught up to where they were at the end of last semester.