Annastasia+Palmer

__** January **__ So much has been going on. They got me a Christmas gift which was really cute of them. They keep surprising me. I do still notice that John will say what he guesses a word is instead of just trying to figure out what the word is. I hope he can kick that habit as a new year's resolution. Pat is just so happy all the time with his wrestling and it shows in his work. The other day, Pat read 46 of the words in the word ring correctly! I try to get him excited about having more correct words than incorrect words. I haven't worked with Fernando recently, I think I might read with him soon.

__** December **__ I get to learn so much from these kids. They each have their own backgrounds and opinions that I may never have known existed. I see them learning and how they grow. Pat knows more words each time I talk to him. John can read better each time he pulls out his packet. Kathy reads like she's telling me a story and that is a great skill to have. It occurred to me that I'm really going to miss them when I finish high school. Tyler is even growing up in areas where he needs to.

__** November **__ For the Thanksgiving Feast on Tuesday, I got to help out with making potatoes as well as the casserole. I made the casserole with Tyler and Fernando. Tyler and I actually got to talk a bit about things in our lives. Tyler talked about how he really liked Allison and how he thought the system was kind of stupid. I gave him some advice on just letting it go. I thought he had listened really well. I also got to make the potatoes by myself, but it was fun. In the end, the food was great and the company was amazing. Every day that I get to work with these guys is full of new interesting things and information.

10/28/13 - 11/01/13

I worked with Pat again and saw that he's back to doing well.Which is really good. Working with Kathy is always so fun because it is more like she's reading to me instead of just reading because she has to. John is so funny when he's off his meds. I love how he jokes to everyone. I do hope he gets more soon though, I know how harmful getting off and on again can be.

11/04/13 - 11/08/13

It is always fun to work with the students. They make funny jokes and get more words right than wrong. I worked with Pat for a day and I think his word right went down. I can't be sure though.I feel like in the past he got some of the words right but now, isn't. I worked with John twice and I swear, he gets distracted so easily.Not really a bad thing but not really helpful either. I had to keep him on task and i remember that even Mrs. Brown noticed he was off topic. I'll assume that it's due to him not able to take his medication. I worked with Kathy too. She stops to laugh at funny parts of the book which, to me, means she understands the book.

09/02/13 - 09/06/13

For my first week, I started off working with Pat. He did pretty well for the first time of working with someone new and weird. On Wednesday, I worked with Lee and she reads very well. I noticed that she would skip over some words, but she understood the basics and could answer the story questions mostly correct without having to go back and read again. On Thursday, I got to work with Pat once more. As far as I can tell, he is getting better. I did see that he started to assume that some words are others such as; any two lettered word is either "he" or "we". If you spell the word out, he just pays attention to the letters that form words that he knows.

09/09/13 - 09/13/13

On Monday, I worked with Lea and was reading the same as she was before. On Tuesday, I had the chance to work with Kathy and her reading. She is an excellent reader and if she comes across a word that she doesn't know, she tries to sound it out before waiting for the answer. I was thinking that we should try to encourage her to talk first more often. I had no idea that she was thirsty until I thought to ask her if she was. On Wednesday, a long day, everyone but Pat and Lea had gone to work. In the time that they were still in the room, Lea had a really hard time focusing on reading, and I found that she read a few lines twice. When the others had left, she was talkative at first, but then got back to reading with a statement every so often. On Friday, the class went to get their pictures taken so not much work got done at all.

09/16/13 - 09/20/13

This week I was able to work with a little bit of everyone. I'm noticing that since Tyler asked Allison to hang out he has been SUPER outgoing with her. She handles with the attention she gives to everyone. It's weird being a watcher of that. Kathy is a good reader as always and is really attentive. I see how she tries to sound words out before asking for help. That's awesome. Pat still tries to get Allison or I to yawn when he does during his word rings. I have so far been able to resist.

09/23/13 - 09/27/13

I worked with John and I think I did it wrong. I had him read the goosebumps to me instead of the other-way-around. I'll read to him next time. Kathy makes great jokes when reading. I noticed that when she's reading, she's reading TO me not just going through the motions. I learned some new things about the way that their work schedual happens and who goes where/when. Theres no set things yet. I worked with Lea and She's started to want to only read by herself. For example, she will hold the book she's reading farther from me. Am I intruding on her space maybe?

09/30/13 - 10/04/13

Working with Pat is just a whole thing in itself, it's fun! I did see that he's not just guessing words now. Lea is still holding the book away from me but I have to wonder why. She did show me the word she was having trouble with though, so there's that. Wednesday, when things were out of sorts, I worked with John and read goosebumps to him this time. I saw that Tyler was talking to you when you worked with Pat. Was I reading too loud? I kind of want to ask Tyler if I was but I should've that day, not the next week or so.

10/07/13 - 10/11/13

I just have to say this, it gets crazy during the morning after a football game. I meantioned it once and they won't let it go. So I joke with them, but is there a way I can ask them to stop without being a jerk? Should I just let them have their fun? Pat's yawning game is fun to play if you know how to contain the yawns. He laughs when he can't get me to yawn. Who is giving Tyler advice about work? He comes to me during lunches and asks for advice. It's not that I don't want to help him, I just don't know if I'm the best person for that kind of help. Kathy read well and I just love how she will break and laugh at somethings funny with me. Lea has gotten back to letting me look at the story while she's reading but I notice that she's mumbling the words. Did she maybe use the pushed away book as a cover for not knowing the words?