[Note, names have been changed and details have been left out to protect student privacy. For my last log see this link.]
This will be my final log for the class. I don't know yet if I will go back to the elementary school to do a few more tutoring sessions. I'd like to tutor one or two more times before the school year is out, just to see how the year ends up for Juan and the other STAR students. However, life gets busy and it could be that other priorities will take priority. I guess we'll see how it goes.
I've enjoyed the experience of working with elementary school kids - both my observations in the fifth grade classroom and my tutoring of Juan and the other STAR students. It has been a nice interlude before my future middle and high school teaching starts in earnest. I'm a little disappointed it took me so long to get situated with my final EL student (only 8 of my 10 sessions were with Juan), but I guess I can chalk that up to lessons learned in dealing with school organizations.
My final observations will have to be hand written at the end of this log, because I will be going to my last tutoring session just before going to class to turn my logs in. In any case, I think I can say that it has been hard work, but pretty rewarding, and I still don't feel like much of an expert on educating elementary school students in general, but I do feel like I learned quite a bit about the challenges faced by EL students and about how those challenges aren't immediately apparent just from listening to their surface verbal skills.
Adios, Amigos!