My Community Field Experience is at the Eaton Arrowsmith School (EAS) at White Rock, which is a private school for students with learning disabilities. At EAS there are 17 students and 5 staff members. I really enjoyed my first week working with students there.

I especially love the daily morning walk with students and staff. The informal time with students such as the morning walk and play time before lunch gives me an opportunity to know the students better. Even though the students are constantly being challenged by academic tasks and assessment activities, their active engagement keeps the school alive.

There are mainly two subject areas for students to master – cognitive and academic. Cognitive classroom activities involve auditory, memory, word, tracing, visual recognition, speech recognition and thinking exercises. Academics class mainly focusses on English and math. I am presently teaching math to students of four different levels ranging from grade 2 to grade 9 and study skills to grade 6-9 students.

Initially it was a challenge to teach students with learning disabilities, especially elementary level students. Now, I have gained some confidence.  It is both humbling and encouraging to be appreciated for my work by the students. I am learning to teach using games that motivate students to work productively.

I also had an opportunity to wear my ethnic clothes on Friday on the occasion of “dress to impress” day. I really enjoyed dancing and meditation during break times with students. I am surprised to see how time flies at EAS. Students have started asking me, “Will you leave us in two weeks?” I believe, I was able to develop good rapport with students and teachers. I’m so lucky and pleased that I was given the opportunity to teach at EAS, where I also had a chance to learn and to strengthen my skills of relating to students. I am looking forward to enjoying with the lovely kids there in the coming week.

Priskilla Oommen