Students, teachers and student teachers enjoy a field trip to the US Capitol in fall of 2017.
I’m on my way to getting a Masters in Elementary Education this May (hooray!) and last fall I student taught at Langley Elementary School. For the first eight weeks of the school year, Ms. Maduako and her 3rd graders made me a part of their classroom family.
Right before the holidays, I went back for a visit. I’d missed those kids so much! There were hugs, there was laughing, and more hugs, and more laughing. We had such a good time! I joined them for their morning meeting, I read them a math picture book called “Even Steven and Odd Todd,” and then we talked about who would rather be an even number and who would rather be an odd number and why. The third-graders asked me great questions about the school I’d student taught at for the second eight weeks of the fall, and why I wanted to be a teacher in the first place and I got to ask them all about what they’d learned since I’d last been with them (yay for the distributive property of division!).
Right before the holidays, I went back for a visit. I’d missed those kids so much! There were hugs, there was laughing, and more hugs, and more laughing. We had such a good time! I joined them for their morning meeting, I read them a math picture book called “Even Steven and Odd Todd,” and then we talked about who would rather be an even number and who would rather be an odd number and why. The third-graders asked me great questions about the school I’d student taught at for the second eight weeks of the fall, and why I wanted to be a teacher in the first place and I got to ask them all about what they’d learned since I’d last been with them (yay for the distributive property of division!).
My visit reminded me that Langley truly is a family. When I, and two other students from my program, student taught at Langley, we were welcomed, supported, challenged, and trusted. The spring before, when I was lucky enough to volunteer in Ms. Barbee’s Kindergarten class, I also felt SO welcome (and I learned so much from watching her, such a talented new teacher, work!) And when I came back to visit this winter, I saw so many familiar and warm faces.
My visit also showed me just how much of a difference Langley is making in its students’ lives. Many of Ms. Maduako’s third-graders were so much more mature in how they handled their feelings than they had been just 16 weeks earlier (thank you, Conscious Discipline!). And they had learned so much!
My program, the George Washington University’s M.Ed in Elementary Education, is lucky to have Langley as a partner school. I live just across Rhode Island Avenue in Edgewood and believe that our community is lucky to have Langley as our neighborhood school. And our city is lucky to have Langley as an example of how to innovate and grow. When I graduate, I hope to teach at a school just like Langley. Hey, maybe it’ll be Langley!
By Monique Sullivan
My visit also showed me just how much of a difference Langley is making in its students’ lives. Many of Ms. Maduako’s third-graders were so much more mature in how they handled their feelings than they had been just 16 weeks earlier (thank you, Conscious Discipline!). And they had learned so much!
My program, the George Washington University’s M.Ed in Elementary Education, is lucky to have Langley as a partner school. I live just across Rhode Island Avenue in Edgewood and believe that our community is lucky to have Langley as our neighborhood school. And our city is lucky to have Langley as an example of how to innovate and grow. When I graduate, I hope to teach at a school just like Langley. Hey, maybe it’ll be Langley!
By Monique Sullivan
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