My Official Buddy Arrived!
Hi! It's Jessalyn and welcome to my third blog post! Today's post is actually about Monday, October 14. You may be wondering why my second session is over a week after my first session, so let me clear things up a little. I was told that I don't need to attend last Wednesday's session because my buddy hasn't showed up yet, and the following Monday was Thanksgiving. Now, here I am after my "first" session with my official buddy. Before I head to my journal though, here's a recap on the challenges I experienced last time with Kristy:
Problems: ❗❓
Technical difficulties:
- couldn't find the page I should screen share although I had it opened
buddy couldn't hear me (perhaps due to my earphone?)
She couldn't understand my instructions
- Long pauses when she doesn't know how to answer and peers at her dad nervously
- when that happened we didn't know what to do other than smile
- Felt helpless and admired how much better Kate is at communicating with children
Felt really bad after the session, wondered if I'll be able to help...
I promised that I would find solutions to the above issues and I wouldn't let them affect me the next time. Therefore, I prepared HARD for today😤! Below are the changes I made to ensure this session goes a lot more smoothly compared to last time:
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| In case you can't imagine how much I wanted the second session to go well... Here you go, that was me right there. |
Solutions: ✅
Knowing that I will eventually be doing the assessment again with my own buddy, I didn't want to make the same mistakes
I practiced explaining all the activities to myself in front of a mirror
Avoided reading the given sample instructions
Reviewed my instructions to ensure I'm using simple language and simple vocabulary so he'll definitely understand
Entered the meeting early to open all the documents AS WELL AS make it so that the tabs don't overlap, shrink it so they are small and all visible
Switched to using my macbook without earphones rather than windows with earphones
Spoke louder
Smiled brightly/naturally before the buddy came in although I was really anxious (fake it till u make it)
Made gestures like thumbs up?👍, Clap 👏 to feel more approachable
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Journal #3- Oct, 14 2020
I met my buddy for the first time today! His name is Karl (this is a fake name as well due to privacy reasons), and he's a Japanese boy in grade 5. After lots of practice in explaining and effort in preparation, the session went fairly well!
PHEW! 💦
This was where things got a bit out of control though. I didn’t expect him to finish the assessment today, so I didn't prepare books to read with him...
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| Oh. No.🙀 |
In fact, I technically can’t get him a book beforehand because his reading level was still to be determined, but I was so flustered that I completely forgot the rules for determining the reading level or letter according to his results. As I panicked while choosing a book (the process was especially hard because I'm indecisive), Josh, my executive coordinator jumped in.
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| Aren't there too many choices...? |
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| I should have read this book first before answering her questions!😅 |
Ignoring what happened near the end, the session overall had been a good one. I was so proud that I improved in articulating and managed to deal with a young boy for 45 minutes straight, but I felt down about what happened at the end. I quickly restored my mindset though by realizing that I'm learning and what's important is that I have room for improvement next time!
📊 -----ANALYSIS----- 📊
Problems: ❗❓
- He went really fast, so I had trouble keeping up and marking his answers for every question
Afraid to tell him to slow down
He did more than enough for the San Diego Quick Assessment, but I didn't know how to stop him
Wasn't prepared for the next step of the program
Now that's all for today! See you guys soon!!
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