Conversations with a 4th Grader

In this episode, we hear thoughts from one of our bright scholars in 4th grade on how they maneuver through all kinds of daily encounters

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:15

Welcome to another episode of It's a Kids World Podcast. How you feel?

SPEAKER_00 0:20

I feel good.

SPEAKER_01 0:21

Okay. So this is episode two. Episode two, um, we're going to be focusing on another one of our students here at our school. Um, she's going to be more of the reoccurring people on the podcast, which means you'll hear a lot more for her um as we continue. Uh, this is something new, something we've never tried before, but we want to do just a different style of communication between um administrators, teachers, and then our students. So what do you think? What do you think uh the reason as to why we're doing this?

SPEAKER_00 0:55

Well, I think the reason is why we're doing this is to share our feelings to the world to know how the other people that's in school right now feel.

SPEAKER_01 1:08

Do you think a lot of kids have conversations about stuff that adults don't know about when it comes to school? Like y'all be having y'all own secret little meetings and stuff talking about adults.

SPEAKER_00 1:18

Yes. Tell the truth, you can be honest. Yes, we do. We have our little talks because, you know, some we talk about it because, first of all, they never believe us. So we so we just talk about it and we have our own group that that happened to them, the same thing that happened to them. So then they we we all talk together and we say what happened and what and why did the teacher do that and all that stuff.

SPEAKER_01 1:43

Do so do you feel like because I I heard you say that they don't believe you. Is it like that with just teachers, or do you feel like it's like that at home too? Do you feel like your parents be believing stuff that y'all say? Because sometimes y'all be over-exaggerating.

SPEAKER_00 2:01

No. It's never been my parents, they've always been trustworthy and protective. That's all. No, we just gave it like this.

SPEAKER_01 2:19

I'm just saying, I I thought you had some more to say. I didn't know that was all. But so you f so you feel like teachers don't um trust and believe.

SPEAKER_00 2:28

Yeah, that when we say something, like like if we do something and they say, they say something, they say something, but we never did it. It's just someone else, they say no one's lying, but they are. They're literally lying to your face.

SPEAKER_01 2:46

Oh, dang. You really meant that?

SPEAKER_00 2:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:48

You really meant that your whole facial expression changed.

SPEAKER_00 2:51

I've had I've seen some kids do that before. They've tell the teacher a lie and the other person's telling the truth.

SPEAKER_01 3:00

And then the teacher sometimes believes the person who's lying. Yeah, I know. And then being on the side of being the administrator, I have to hear both sides, right? Like, two kids come into my office, and then like one person is telling everything, and uh the other person is probably telling half of it. Right. So you gotta speak up for yourself though. Some people don't. Like, why do you think that some kids don't speak up for themselves? Is it because of them being afraid of what the adults are going to say, or do you feel like they don't believe that anything's gonna get done?

SPEAKER_00 3:37

I think they're afraid of what the kids are gonna do after. Because some I've seen I've actually I've actually in first place, head to head, seen people who are afraid because they told on somebody. And guess what that the somebody wanna ignore them, the somebody wanna hit them, the somebody wanna push them.

SPEAKER_01 4:01

So it's not so it's not about so the kid don't want to tell the teacher everything because they're afraid of what the other student that got in trouble with them said. Okay. That makes a lot of sense. And I feel like adults be like that too, though. You know that? Some adults scared of other people. I'm not scared of anybody, but I'm just saying, some adults be afraid. But y'all call it snitching, though. I mean, that's what y'all call it.

SPEAKER_00 4:29

Yeah, they cannot keep no more secrets, though.

SPEAKER_01 4:32

It's not keeping the secret, just tell.

SPEAKER_00 4:34

If we tell somebody a secret, if someone tells somebody a secret, they'll blab it out by the next day. Oh, she did this. Oh, her pet did.

SPEAKER_01 4:45

But you but you rather express and tell an adult what's going on than worry about what's gonna happen with the other student. Because if you tell the right adult, then they're not gonna allow anything to happen to you.

SPEAKER_00 4:58

But then if y'all tell somebody who just like, you know, this is not my problem, they'll they'll just do it alone. And then they won't tell nobody children.

SPEAKER_01 5:08

If you tell the right adult, you can't sometimes, even as adults, everyone is not on the same level of thinking. Like, everybody is not going to receive everything the same way. You got some people, and I'm not just talking about teachers or at school, but just in life. You have some people that are just like doers, they're gonna get stuff done. You tell me something happened, like, okay, I got you. I'm gonna look into it. And then you do have some people that are gonna just like brush stuff to the side. Do you feel like you got people that you can go to? Like when stuff happens? I mean, you don't really get in trouble, anything like that, but do you feel like if things do happen, do you have, I guess, safe people at school, like adults that you can go to?

SPEAKER_00 5:51

Yes, I have I have my my my one favorite teacher. I can't say her name, but she's always helped me. She was my third grade teacher, and she's always helped me this year and all the past years. She's she's encouraged me. She's how do you say it?

SPEAKER_01 6:13

She's just been there for you.

SPEAKER_00 6:15

Like she's been someone that you're she's one of my trustworthy teachers. And I can trust her and I can tell her anything.

SPEAKER_01 6:23

Okay. How much can you trust me? Level one to a hundred, be honest. Be honest, one to a hundred, whereas I trust the hundred. I would just say a hundred being the the highest, one being like, I don't trust this man at all.

SPEAKER_00 6:40

At all.

SPEAKER_01 6:41

So between one to a hundred.

SPEAKER_00 6:42

You could have just done 10, 1 to 10.

SPEAKER_01 6:44

I just, I like, I want to do. Okay, one to ten, if that makes if that tickles your fancy.

SPEAKER_00 6:49

Y'all. Because 100's too much. I trust you because you're black, I'm gonna trust you a little more.

SPEAKER_01 6:57

Because I'm black. You better not dress all black people. Some people you can't trust.

SPEAKER_00 7:03

What do you think I bought for cobbler? Okay.

SPEAKER_01 7:06

One to ten.

SPEAKER_00 7:07

I'm gonna say a five.

SPEAKER_01 7:08

You would say a five. Why you why you say five?

SPEAKER_00 7:11

Because it's just the um when I when I first started here, you were scary.

SPEAKER_01 7:18

I was scary.

SPEAKER_00 7:19

Yes, uh. You look like this.

SPEAKER_01 7:22

I guess uh was it what I was what I was scary in my approach? In my approach, I was.

SPEAKER_00 7:28

You look like this.

SPEAKER_01 7:30

Okay. But now over time, you feel like it's different.

SPEAKER_00 7:33

Yeah, I can trust you a little more. So I did that as well.

SPEAKER_01 7:36

You don't, I mean, sometimes you don't trust people when you first meet them. They're strangers. People are strangers until you learn and get to know them.

SPEAKER_00 7:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:42

That's just life. That ain't, I mean, all right.

SPEAKER_00 7:45

You look like somebody who's been in the old household.

SPEAKER_01 7:47

I look like somebody that what?

SPEAKER_00 7:49

You look like somebody, and the first day it was like a face that you look like somebody from a horror movie, like.

SPEAKER_01 7:55

I like somebody from horror movie. Anyway, we're gonna move on because I don't know what you're telling me. All right, so student council. So student council is something new. Um, can you tell people about what student council is and um what you plan on doing with student counsel?

SPEAKER_00 8:11

Well, this is probably gonna be my favorite part, but I'm I feel about what I feel about student counsel is I I wanted to, I started student counsel because I knew that it was gonna help the school because then uh instead of teachers picking everything that we have to do, the students get to pick. That's what I knew because I did it at my old school, and I was the student council president too. And I had, and we were it was an amazing time team, because we all came in at a group and we were all talking about plans we wanted to do.

SPEAKER_01 8:48

Okay. So, so with student council. Are you planning on running for student counselor president?

SPEAKER_00 8:56

Yes, again, because I have some more stuff for Live for Life, because um, I want Live for Life to be the best school, like like our principal always says, Well, the bet be the best of the best. So I'm trying to get our school to raise higher, more fundraisers, more field trips.

SPEAKER_01 9:17

I was I was just about to ask you then, like, so what are your plans if if you become student president? Because you know it's gonna be more than you.

SPEAKER_00 9:26

I know it's gonna be fourth grade and third grade.

SPEAKER_01 9:29

So, and I think I think we're doing it by grade. So, you as student, if you were chosen as student council president for your grade, what would you do?

SPEAKER_00 9:41

Well, for mine, I would ask, I would talk to the I would talk to the students and see what they're thinking and and then fix their problems that they think about the school. And if it really matters, I will fix it. But if if it's just oh, we should work, we should cuss more, that's all on the side. Yeah, some some people will cuss, alright? I'm I'm fine with that because that's their stuff.

SPEAKER_01 10:11

Oh, so you find with y'all cursing in school? You just said I'm fine with it.

SPEAKER_00 10:16

I'm I'm fine when they're at home and they're they that's their choice.

SPEAKER_01 10:20

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 10:21

But then when I'm when I'm student, when I'm president, they're not gonna be able to cuss no more until until they walk out that door into that car or leave the bus.

SPEAKER_01 10:32

Okay. Alright. I just wanted to make sure I had to clear it up. Did you are you clapping for yourself?

SPEAKER_00 10:37

No!

SPEAKER_01 10:38

What did you just start clapping for? But no, that's th um, those are good ideas, though. I feel like student council does allow students to have a voice. It allows you guys to advocate for yourself and to show people that y'all do have some good ideas because I I wasn't able to listen to what you guys talked to on Friday because I was busy. But I remember the previous meeting from the summer. You guys had some good ideas. So it is. It's it's a community. Like our school is a community. We have a voice, but also you guys should be able to make some decisions. Huh?

SPEAKER_00 11:13

Aren't we a community school?

SPEAKER_01 11:15

What?

SPEAKER_00 11:16

Are we a community school?

SPEAKER_01 11:17

Y'all a community. We're a community school.

SPEAKER_00 11:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:20

That's what I said.

SPEAKER_00 11:21

Oh, I thought you said we're in the community.

SPEAKER_01 11:23

I mean, we are in a community too. But what I mean by community, like we're a family. Like our school is, you know, we're whole us, middle school, high school, like all of that. So um, let's talk about the process. So, what's the process of getting ready in the morning for a school day? Like what does uh a morning of a fourth grader look like?

SPEAKER_00 11:54

Well, turns out four skirts is hard. It's in the morning we go to the class, and all we do No, wait, wait, before we get into that, you talked about this morning. Yeah. You talked about getting this. I thought you said at school.

SPEAKER_01 12:11

No, I mean I said the process of the day. Like, you gotta get up, don't you?

unknown 12:14

Shh.

SPEAKER_01 12:15

Please don't give me like a long drawn out.

SPEAKER_00 12:17

Oh my goodness, that's my whole point. I love long drones. I need a long sentence that won't stop until I get to the school part.

SPEAKER_01 12:27

Okay, go ahead.

SPEAKER_00 12:29

All right. So, of course, you always wake up, and then we have to wake up at 5 30 in the morning.

SPEAKER_01 12:36

Too early.

SPEAKER_00 12:37

Right. I don't know why, because if it's the weekend, we'd be able to wake up at some 11 something. And then, of course, you gotta get dressed, and then we have to go downstairs. That's what I do. I go downstairs and I wait for at least an hour or so. An hour. Because sometimes it's I don't I take a while to get dressed, so I take a little longer, and then sometimes I'm late for the bus. So then, you know, we get on the bus and we have we we have four people in the back. It's either me and then my sister, and then her friend, and then my friend, and then we all talk in the back, and we just have a little chatty chat. And because you know, we know what's coming for school. We talk about where do we gotta school today and all that stuff. And then we be like, it's so early. I'm tired.

SPEAKER_01 13:37

Why don't you just like go to sleep on the bus? Y'all don't ever go to sleep on a bus in the morning.

SPEAKER_00 13:43

Now we have what not when we have our chats, no.

SPEAKER_01 13:46

Not when y'all have what?

SPEAKER_00 13:48

I not when we have our chats, we chat all.

SPEAKER_01 13:51

Oh, when y'all chat. I'm not chatting with nobody at six in the morning about nothing. I don't care if it's on the bus. Oh wait, no, I gotta get my mind together before I come here and deal with all of y'all. It's the truth. Ain't cold, it's the truth. You have to meant that's so even as you know a kid, you have to mentally prepare for the day because like school can be overwhelming for you guys too. Like, you gotta come here, do work, listen to people tell y'all what to do all day. How do that make you feel? Do you get tired? Y'all be cussing us out in y'all head, don't it? Y'all be cussing us out in y'all head.

SPEAKER_00 14:32

I don't cuss.

SPEAKER_01 14:32

I didn't say that.

SPEAKER_00 14:33

I said Well, you say y'all.

SPEAKER_01 14:35

Well, you're right. Well, they. I know they be cursing us out in the head, especially if we tell them like to do something.

SPEAKER_00 14:42

They cuss in the classroom.

SPEAKER_01 14:44

I know.

unknown 14:44

All the time.

SPEAKER_00 14:45

And w and when we do our work, it's hard because we're learning about heart and the and then my sisters over here learn about that digestion, my digest digestion system. Why are you laughing?

SPEAKER_01 15:03

No, you you you okay. You okay?

SPEAKER_00 15:06

I can't pronounce it right.

SPEAKER_01 15:08

I know. And then school over evening time. What do that look like for you?

SPEAKER_00 15:15

Oh, school's over. I'm getting my nap in. I'm about to feel like stuff.

SPEAKER_01 15:19

Not a nap.

SPEAKER_00 15:20

Yeah, uh no, because it's a lot of work done. We go. We do work, no, we do work, we go to lunch. We do work, we go do research. So by doing that. We do work, we do work, we do work. And then we got work when we leave school.

SPEAKER_01 15:33

Hey, calm down. So by the time you get home, it's a rap, huh?

SPEAKER_00 15:37

Yeah, but then we got extra work because of homework.

SPEAKER_01 15:40

Okay. How do you feel about homework?

SPEAKER_00 15:43

Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_01 15:44

I feel like Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_00 15:49

What is funny? You keep on making me laugh.

SPEAKER_01 15:52

So, oh my goodness. Homework be that bad?

SPEAKER_00 15:54

Yes, sir. No, so I can't even I can't do this English one. It's so hard. No, I get that we're learning past tense and present tense, but what if people don't know past tense or present tense? We don't even have futures.

SPEAKER_01 16:11

But see, but see, that's the reason why you ask for assistance. Like, if you if you're getting the homework before you take it home, why not ask the teacher, like, hey, can you show me how to do one of these problems that's on the homework before I leave so I can at least understand it? You never think about that?

SPEAKER_00 16:29

No, because I always want to get my homework done, and I don't really like asking for help.

SPEAKER_01 16:36

See, it's okay to ask for help though.

SPEAKER_00 16:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:39

It's okay to ask for help because so a little cheat code, it's a little cheat code. Use it.

SPEAKER_00 16:44

What's the cheat code?

SPEAKER_01 16:45

I'm about to tell you. A little cheat code is when you get your homework, if you have time, ask your teacher, hey, I don't understand this. Can you help me with this one? Teacher will help you with that first problem, no matter if it's math or reading, and it it allows you to better understand it. Because if you get some homework that you don't get or you don't understand, when you get home, you're gonna be lost.

SPEAKER_00 17:13

Well, I do have my um siblings to help me.

SPEAKER_01 17:18

Do they understand or do they know? You got older siblings? Older than you.

SPEAKER_00 17:25

I got one, I got four older siblings. Yeah. Okay. I have two at this school and two one's a one of them are a medical and then one of them are a nurse and one of them trying to do some coding and doing and make sure.

SPEAKER_01 17:45

So you got people to help you then. Yeah. So, okay.

SPEAKER_00 17:48

But sometimes I don't understand it because they say I never learned this in this grade.

SPEAKER_01 17:53

Oh, yeah. Stuff changed. Stuff has changed over time. Well, I feel like we had a good first chat. Um, once again, it's gonna be more episodes like this, and this is something that I think is needed. I think we need to have more conversations with kids to understand like their way of thinking and the things that are going on in their lives because I feel like it's important for them as well. All right. So, um, I wanna say that's it until next time for It's a Kids World Podcast.

unknown 18:30

Thank you.