Learning the Ropes Evaluation

I chose to evaluate the Learning the Ropes case study. I really enjoyed reading about Mindy's first day of kindergarten, and I believe it gave me a good look into what some of my future teachers may go through on their first days of school ever. It is amazing to me what young students figure out in such a short period of time. It is very important that future educators recognize this and hold them to high expectations in the classroom. We learn a lot about Mindy's different peer relationships, and her revelations of all different kinds of peers she has during this short case study. There are students like Jonathan who are know-it-alls and believe they have all the right answers to everything because they may have experienced something of the sorts in previous times, like going to preschool. Then you have the Tanya's who are good kids that want to be your friend and do good by you. Lastly, theres Mindy - the first timer who is apprehensive and a little nervous because she doesn't know what this whole school thing is all about yet. Mindy is learning a lot about herself here, and is being very observant. She knows she does not want to get the whistle blown at her so she is making sure to be on her best behavior, at least what she thinks is good behavior for certain settings. There are many examples of peer relationships, sense of self, and personality development in this short segment that we will quickly become aware of upon our first year of teaching - especially the younger grades!