TAP Was Learning For Life

I feel from TAP I have learned so many different things kids can go through and how I can help them fix it through learning tasks. I feel TAP has not only helped me understand how I’m feeling in the classroom but also how the other kids might be feeling, especially if they have learning disabilities and stuff like that. It can be harder for them to learn and you have to pay really close attention to every kid because you don’t know what could be going on.

An experience in the classroom that TAP has helped me with is when all the kids were really riled up, especially now as we come to the end of the year. I think it’s given me ways to stay calm and not get so stressed out but also make the class calm down in a good way to keep on task, walk places, and just make myself feel more in charge of them, instead of feeling like I am one of them. I think TAP really helped out by showing me ways I can get them to be calmer and showing me why they could be acting the way they are

One good experience I’ve had this year is when I was teaching the kids a prayer and we were sitting in a circle. I would say the line and they would repeat it back. It was reassuring that they all knew how to say it because I was making sure that I put them in groups where they were all at the same level. It was easier for me to teach them the prayer this way, and so they could teach other little kids how to do it. I made sure every single person understood it because I could tell other kids understood it more, but I was really making sure to ask each individual person if they understood. I felt like that helped them a lot and made them comfortable.

I feel like my TAP experience changed a lot about my teaching. Now I know so many things can be going on in kids’ heads and in their surroundings. For example, it can be stressful if there are kids in the class who don’t particularly get along. It’s really hard to make sure those kids feel calm. Third graders tend to speak their minds, so I developed a lot of new good tactics that I can use in all my relationships, not just in the classroom. We also had some great speakers!

We learned not only about kids and disabilities, we also learned about Judaism, which I think is great because that’s what we’re all here for. I loved my TAP experience this year and I hope a lot of other kids get to experience this, too, because it just helps so much no matter where you are and it can help you get jobs in the future if you really like kids!