Abby - Epworth - Blog 3

Today was a rough day for my classroom. Since there are a few new students, the group dynamics have yet to be figured out and there were several arguments and disruptions today. We reviewed the class rules as a group and worked with the new students to figure out what grade level they were at in reading and math. One student taught me how to rap and we wrote lyrics about school subjects and appropriate behavior in the classroom, which really made my day. This was just one element of the cultures I experience at Epworth. Working with students of a very different culture turned out to be a lot easier than I had assumed. I also learned another way to engage the students in their learning and culture during art therapy. The therapist let everyone make inkblot images and interpret the pictures from different angles. She then related this to the perspectives different people hold on the same subject, and how these differences in perspectives often lead to fights. The lesson was phenomenal and had a positive influence on the student’s behavior the rest of the day. I also met a regular volunteer today who had a lot of praise for Epworth’s involvement in the community. He had been at Epworth over a year and was very positive about his experience despite the struggles he had trying to win over the student’s trust. The many events of the day left me exhausted, and I felt a lot of respect towards the teachers who had the energy to run the classroom. After school, our group spent several hours talking about the lessons we have learned so far this break. What seemed to stick out was that even though the students had severe behavior outburst, fights and mishaps they were always able to walk away from a situation and later return without holding a grudge, which we couldn’t say about ourselves. It was also clear that many students had behavioral problems, mostly ADHD and Autism that made them vulnerable to the disruptive behaviors that sent them to Epworth, which made it difficult for them to improve without support at their home. Although it was clear Epworth dramatically improved the behavior of the students, it seemed difficult to teach in a classroom where each student was at a different cognitive and academic level of ability. Despite the flaws of Epworth, we were very satisfied with the work we’d done so far.