Pride: Brendon is a football player for Pomeroy High. He shows pride for our school by attending regular practices and playing in games. He also partakes in spirit week activities, homecoming activities and attending athletic events.
Independence: I have observed Brendon showing independence during our HS/kindergarten winter cooking making activity. He realized when things needed to be refilled, students needed help or a question needed answered and took care of it appropriately. I was so pleased and grateful that he was capable of doing this when so much activity was going on. I’ve also noticed what a good big brother his is to his younger sister and brother. Parents are so busy these days; I am one of them. It has been nice seeing him pick up and drop off his siblings as well as helping them with what they need. I’m sure his parents and his siblings appreciate him very much. I hope my own daughter will take care of her younger sister like Brendon does his.
Respect: I have noticed when I interact with Brendon that he always looks you in the eye when he is talking to you, does not interrupt and always listens intently when you are responding. When talking with teenagers, this isn’t always the case. There is a difference in hearing and listening, and when I have had conversations with Brendon, I feel that he really listens. He encouraged kindergarten students to do their work by guiding them with their work instead of telling them what to do or give up on them and move to another student. When my kindergarten class was working with his Health and Consumer Science class, I noticed that Brendon would get down to students’ level in order to genuinely hear what they were saying to him and to help them. It can be easy for older students and adults to just look past littler children’s stories or answer their questions, but Brendon was quite the opposite. It is difficult working with children, in fact some people are very uncomfortable with it. I enjoyed watching Brendon take the time and courtesy to engage with my students.
Attitude: Having a positive and enthusiastic attitude is essential when working with kindergarten students. Learning needs to be fun or children get bored and or distracted with other things very quickly Brendon has a very strong voice an one that can be heard. The enthusiasm in his voice and his interest in the task at hand made him so pleasant to be around and it showed in my students faces. They all wanted to work with him.
Trustworthy: Trustworthiness is an important quality to have when you are working with little students. You have to trust that they will talk appropriately, act appropriately and be a good role model to younger children. Brendon displayed is all of these qualities. I knew I could trust that that he would work appropriately with all of my kindergarten students and guide them with their work instead of doing it for them. I am very protective of my students but was able to trust that when Brendon was working with them that a good job was being done.
Effort: Brendon volunteered to come into my classroom to teach a lesson to kindergarten students. As I mentioned earlier, young children can be intimidating and the fact that he was willing to come in and do a lesson to a group of 5 and six year olds shows how much energy he was going to have. When he was interacting with my students, I could hear him trying to understand their questions and needs, even though it can sometimes be a challenge to understand. I was very impressed.
Show Kindness: Brendon was so kind to all the students in my classroom and to myself and my parapro. He smiled at my students and was giving the kids high-fives when they had done a good job. He uses manners when speaking to me, which is a great example for my young students. You have to be kind to work with young children, or they will not respond to you. All of my students responded positively to Brendon. His kindness is one of the reasons he was liked so well by the students in my room.
I am not sure as to what Brendon’s future endeavors are but I feel very confident that he would make an exceptional teacher.
Submitted by:
Elizabeth Waldher Kindergarten Teacher
and Jim Nelson