I've been working as a Teaching Assistant for my 5th grade class for a few months now. When I first applied for the job, I had no idea what grade they were going to place me in, so I was ready to work anywhere from preschool to 6th grade. Now looking back, I'm really happy I got placed in the 5th grade. The kids are still silly and energetic at times (ok still most of the time), but are also mature enough to sit down and talk. I also shouldn't generalize the 5th grader though, because the students in my class are anything but uniform. There is such a wide variety of personality and maturity in this class, like each kid is their own separate character.
I've never worked with the same group of kids for so long and for so much time. I've worked with kids a lot before, but Unicamp is only a week long. Because I'm with them so much, I'm really starting to get to know them each on a really personal level, discovering their interests, personal history, quirks, habits, problems.. They are all so interesting in their own way, and I'm glad I'm going to get to keep working with them for the year.
On the flip side, they are also getting to know me pretty well. Surprisingly well in fact. They've noticed that I only shave once a week (with some of the girls demanding that I shave more), that most of my clothes are comprised of UCLA and Unicamp gear ("You need to lay off the Woodsey clothes, mister!"), and that I smile a lot (one of them calls me Mr. Smiley). Everyone in the class calls me Mr. Mendoza, though some of them pronounce it "Mr. Mandoza," and a few of them, deeming Mr. Mandoza too long to say, shortened my name to simply "Mr. Man." Eh, close enough. A couple of them saw my BruinCard from when I was a first-year, with the picture looking like I just came out of the military, and they laughed at me. Also, for some reason, it's a huge deal when a kid finds out your first name. One time one of the teachers let it slip in front of the class, and they were like.. *GASP*. Your real name is Andrew?! Like Mr. Mendoza is a fake name. :P
