Building Bridges

Hi my name is Liz Brown and I am working at Building Bridges in Portland, Oregon.

Week Three started off quite interesting at my Internship. I am working at a Behavioral School for children with various learning and social disabilities. Today was the start of Summer Camp, which meant that their regular school schedule switched around and for some children this is difficult as they do not like change. During Summer Camp I will be a Kindergarten/1st grade classroom teacher for the most part and then I will also be spending some time in the Pre-school classroom. Throughout the summer I will be teaching the children science by doing fun experiments that really getting their minds thinking. I will also be starting teaching Language for Learning, which is a program that helps the children with developing their overall skills of listening to directions. It has been a very exciting learning experience so far, as this is the field that I want to be working when I am done with college. There is so much going on throughout the day that it has been very important for me to be super patient with the children and also help them work on their flexibility. There is one child that has been a struggle the past three weeks, and also was a struggle summer for me. We (my two cooperating teachers and I) have been working with this child on social skills, how to walk appropriately in the classroom, to be conscience of his body space, as well as others personal space, and his confidence in school work. Being in a behavioral intervention classroom is so beneficial for the students that I a working with, there three Autistic students, one student with ADHD and behavioral difficulties, one student with Aspergers, one student that suffers Prenatal Cocaine Exposure. The Summer Camp entails: making friends, cooperative games and activities, sports, role play, outings, team work, science and environmental studies, and math and reading practice. It has been amazing for me to see the growth even in three weeks with the students knowledge and minor improvements in behavior.