Lafayette Academy, day 2

Friday, I spent some more time in the Reading Room at at Lafayette Academy. When I pulled Kevin from class he immediately said, "I thought you were coming Thursday!" It made me realize that the time I spend in that Reading Room is more than just a fulfillment of Tulane's public service requirement.

I didn't get much time in this week; class, work, and other appointments kept me away until Friday. On Friday, I had 2 hours available but could only stay for one hour because the kids had to go to lunch. I'm sorry that I didn't get to spend time with Johnny this week. I did ask Ms. Loewy if I could go to the Reading Room more than just once a week because I'm concerned about earning all 20 hours. Spring is a strange time in public schools with standardized testing and multiple breaks. She said that was fine. So, Tuesday I plan to read with Johnny first. I hate to imagine him being disappointed that I failed to hang out with him this week.

Friday was sort of a "fun day" in the Reading Room. First, Johnny and I read a Magic School Bus book. He told me he likes these books because he has seen many of the movies. His favorite part is when the bus spins around really fast. Kevin very much enjoys reading. He doesn't look upon it as a chore. He even likes to look through a book before we start and say, "you read this page and this one and this one, and I'll read these two and this page..." It's really pretty adorable. After we finished the book, Kevin was eager to play Sorry. Most days the kids may only play educational board games after reading. Occasionally, though, the shelf of other board games (like Sorry, Guess Who, Monopoly..) is open. We played with another student and his Reading Buddy. The two boys were competitive, and once there were tears in Kevin's eyes because the other little boy had sent Kevin's piece back to Start. However, neither of the two raised their voices or said mean things to the other. A big part of my job at Banneker is peace-keeping. I was relieved that Kevin and his friend could play this game civilly.

This is the reading room. You don't see any students because they had all gone to lunch at this point. I asked for permission to take photos of the room and of the kids. Ms. Loewy told me that most students' parents had granted permission for them to be filmed and photographed and that as long as I was not planning on selling the photographs it would be alright to snap pictures.

Walking through the halls of Lafayette Academy, I notice that the students are much more talented at walking in lines without making much noise than students at Banneker. The teachers at Laffayette do not raise their voices as often as teachers at Banneker. I have not spent nearly as much time in Laffayette Academy as I have Banneker, so I cannot make a true comparison. On the surface, though, Laffayette's students seem much more well behaved. During a short conversation with Ms. Loewy, she told me that Laffayette strives to instill in their students a strong sense of discipline. This enhances the learning environment and the school truly seems a peaceful place to learn and play.