Last+Time+At+ACA

Hello Class! On Friday, Feb. 23 I went to my last observation at Asheville Christian Academy. When I got there I was a little confused because there was nobody in uniform, I asked the teacher what that was all about and she said that it was casual Friday or as they called is "Dress Down Day." So as I stepped into my usual fourth grade classroom nobody was there, they were all in music class. So I walked on over and sat in the back. They were to listen to a piece of music and draw what they think it is or what they see the music looking like in drawing. They were listening to Fantasia! I was so excited. I kept noticing the teacher picking on the boys. I was warned before entering that the boys had a little competition on the playground and a little rough housing went on, it delayed all the boys class time. The teacher said that all the drawings had to be done today at the end of the class period and that the boys had to have done extra good job on theirs. One boy came up to the teacher with what he thought was a completed product, he had left the sky white and the teacher looked at him and said that the sky wasn't white and that he has to take this drawing home and color it in or he will recieve an incomplete. After that we walked back over to the main classroom where Mrs. Davis is and they had bible workbook session. They were to silently work in them. One kid was done and she went up to the teacher and asked what she is to do and Mrs. Davis said that she is to sit in the seat and find something else to do while she sat at her computer typing away. One little girl came up to me and showed me a book she was making. She explained to me that everyone was making a story of their family and them on an adventure on the Oregon Trail and that it would get published by a real publishing company and get hard cover bound and everything. The teacher came over and told me how they used to make them themselves by hand binding them but then god gave them a better idea to get a real publishing company to do it for them. Mrs. Davis then assigned a girl, Michelle, to check all the girls bible workbooks and initial who got it right. And she assigned a boy, Lucas, to check all the boys workbooks and initial who got it right. I noticed that these kids got a little ego boost from this and were put in the role of teacher's pet. They told the teacher who got it right, who did it wrong, and who just didn't do it. From bible workbooks they moved on the math lessons. They were learning long division. The teacher put a problem on the board and a student was to come up and solve it. All the kids wiggled in their chairs, raised their hands, and waving them about furiously. A lot of kids claimed that the problems were easy when I knew some of them were having difficulty getting the problem. But it was really nice to see that when someone was having difficulty, it wasn't the teacher that went over to help them it was a student helping them out and explaining to them why it works out that way.

~ Sara Methven