Fourth-grade Classroom, Round Hill Elementary School — Amelia F. ’22

During Wintermission I got the opportunity to assist in a fourth-grade classroom at Round Hill Elementary School where I worked with Ms. DeJong all week. Over the course of the week, I did many different tasks. I typically started my day by stapling and organizing worksheets for that day. In addition to organizing worksheets, I also got to grade papers. While this may not seem like a very important task, Ms. DeJong assured me that I was being helpful in completing these tasks which just would have taken time away from her teaching her students.
Before this week I had completely underestimated how much I learned in fourth grade. The fourth-graders were learning about storms, the difference between hail and sleet (which I don’t even know), the Virginia government and the three branches, how to do long division, and how to write a compare and contrast essay. In their Virginia government class, the students were in the middle of a project where they got to create their own nation. The children were very excited to tell me all about their nations which they were so thoughtful about creating. As part of the project, they had to come up with branches of government, the roles of the government, and the rights of the people who live in the nation. The children were busy preparing a poster and a presentation for the Mayor and members of the School Board who were coming on Friday to hear about each group’s nation. One nation group even asked to practice presenting for me and it was so cute! They worked so hard on the project which I could tell just by hearing their presentation. 

In addition to the presentation on their nations, the students had to write an essay comparing and contrasting their nation’s government to the government of Virginia. Many students had never written a compare and contrast essay before and it was easier for some kids than others. Round Hill Elementary has quite a few kids where English is not their first language and because of this, they needed a little bit more help with understanding the assignment. I sat at the back table with three or four kids and attempted to help them. It was a learning curve for me as well. At first, I had a difficult time explaining to them what an intro paragraph was in words they could understand. I became frustrated with myself. I had to take a step back and reassess. I jumped back into it the second day and the students were starting to get it. I felt so proud of them at one point I went to use the restroom and said to the three girls who I was working with at the time that they had to have two full sentences by the time I got back. When I got back they each had two sentences! I felt so proud of them and myself. 

In public school, teachers have to teach to a test that is made by the district, and they have a specific window when they must give the test so that means they also have a very strict timeline of when to teach the material. I learned about this timeline when I was allowed to sit in on a meeting with all the fourth-grade teachers led by the math and science coaches. Until then I did not realize that the learning process was so regulated. I learned so much about what it takes to be a teacher and all the behind the scenes things that students don’t always see. I always have had a great appreciation for teachers and this only deepened that appreciation.
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