Week 2 at Agnon

For the past two days I have been in the first grade classroom at Agnon. I have been helping several students read in both English and in Hebrew. I mostly work one on one for thirty minutes each time. And they all range in skill level. One of the girls I worked with yesterday was having a lot of trouble with her Hebrew reading. She was confusing four letters in the alphabet, and they all sounded the same to her. We worked in a workbook and with flashcards for an hour and she improved so much! This was one of the best moments I had so far during project because this student was really struggling and I was able to really help her. This was also a lesson for me because I had to learn how to react and be a good mentor. I had to teach myself to be patient and not get frustrated or anxious. It was hard for me to go over the same letter and pronunciation for fifteen minutes! It was a great learning experience for both of us.

Another thing that I learned in the past two days is that seven year olds have a lot of energy. At Village Prep, the students are already used to a lot of structure and discipline so for the most part they are very well behaved. At Agnon, I feel like I have to work a lot harder to get the children to do their outlined tasks. This is something that I am still working on. But I still can’t wait to go to Agnon tomorrow! I love the enthusiasm that many of the kids have for learning!