I have recently started observing at the closest thing Abilene has to a pure inner city school. In Texas, they are called Title 1 schools. I am not sure about elsewhere. My first day was Thursday and I was at Lee Elementary from 8-1. It was a very interesting experience for me. I was put in Mrs. Anderson's 2nd grade classroom. Not only was I an a title 1 elementary, a place where I had never been, but I was in an inclusion class. An inclusion class is where they try to mainstream kids with special needs. Not extreme needs, but more of the stuff like: autism, and extreme ADHD, etc. Jaggar is a precious boy in this class. A precious boy, who on the first day sent my mind spinning. He has a bad case of some kind of autism, and must me standing, walking around, or talking at all times. Then quiet Jacob was across the room and looked like he was only 5 years old. He is so sweet and all he wants to do is carry on a conversation with somebody.
There were kids all of colors, sizes, and abilities. I jumped right in and sat next to kids, helped them, and just got to know a little bit about their lives. A lot of these kids have emotional needs that need to be met while at school, and I tried my best for the five hours I was there, to give them a little squeeze on the shoulder and to talk to each individual one so that no one felt left out. It was amazing. I want to be a teacher more now than ever. And I still definitely want an inner city school.
I get to go back as much a I want and I am pretty positive I will every Thursday.

That sounds great, Sarah - I'm glad you had a good, varied experience.