The Making of ‘Cow Anatomy’-- Written July 2018

In May of 2015 I completed my first hands-on English teaching project. At twenty years old, still new to the world of adulthood, this was both a source of pride and an unrecognized accomplishment.

I was working as a paraprofessional at a school in Perry, Utah. This was my first year in a teaching capacity and I found I had a propensity for it, as well as gleaning great satisfaction from the work.

I was working under a teacher whose philosophy was that of steeping the children: withholding nothing, with the expectation that anything beyond their understanding would be picked up later on when their mental growth allowed it. She applied this philosophy not only to the children, but to me; her young, open-minded sponge of an apprentice. That was who I was-- not an aide, not an extra pair of hands for paper-slicing, but an apprentice, learning the trade. She treated me as she treated the children, giving me as much responsibility as she wished and helping to pick up the pieces I missed. It was this hands-on, jumping in with both feet approach that provided me with the opportunities and growth that I experienced those first three years of my educational journey.

It was also this approach that led to the creation of this project. We ran a mixed-age classroom, comprising of both first and second graders, and we needed an English project whose lessons could reach children of incredibly varied levels of English understanding. The project was born of this necessity: a book, written by the children, in which each child chose a part of the cow (our subject of study at the time,) to research, study, and write a report on.

As I was the adult in the room with an interest in the science of words and writing, I was given the task of leading the project. I was left, as my mentor’s philosophy dictated, to compile lessons in research, English, and essay structure, and to guide said lessons.

The following url link leads to a preview of the project. It was a project that took intense focus and growth for both myself and the kids and one that we all took great pride in. Enjoy!

http://www.blurb.com/b/6183189-cow-anatomy