On my last day of going to Classic City High, I ended working with Mr. Jones. The class assignment was to read a short story, write a paragraph answering a prompt, and then re-write the story from the other character's perspective. I worked with a girl who I had never seen in class before. Apparently she had been absent for awhile, because Mr. Jones asked where she had been, and she replied the hospital, though she did not say why.
We only were able to finish writing the prompt essay which focused on analyzing the characters' relationship. Even though I had the instructions for the assignment, I don't know exactly what the teacher wants, so it's hard to know exactly how to help the student, and I always worry I'm leading them in the wrong direction. First, I let her go through the story and highlight any evidence she thought was important. Then, I asked her to explain why and then she wrote the most important textual evidence. After, Mr. Jones said she did really well, which made me feel better. By now, class was almost over. Mr. Jones thanked me for my time and said I could always come back.
Classic City High challenged and changed how I view alternative schools. Before, I thought they were full of "bad" kids who got kicked out of "normal" school. However, there are many reasons why these kids are here. The main one I found was attendance. Many of these kids have to help support their family, so they work. This school gives them an education and a way to work. This school is also full of extremely smart students. When they focused on the assignment, most students finished quickly and with little help. The biggest challenge I think these teachers face are getting them to care and focus on school. Hopefully, moving on, I'll learn how to best reach these students.
Wednesday, May 3, 2017
My Eleventh Day
April 24th was the last day for most of my mentor classmates, but I wanted to come one more day after this. Since it is nearing the end of the school year, the EOC's are approaching. Ms. Johns wanted to establish what areas of the test each student needed help with. So, they spent the class doing a practice test. During this time, the other mentor and I walked around, making sure there were no phones, but they could listen to music, and seeing if anyone needed help understanding a question. It was pretty uneventful and most students did not need help.
While they took the test, Ms. Johns told us about how the previous school she worked at handled the EOC. Since she was near Atlanta, she said schools took it to the extreme to prevent any cheating. However, what she had to do sounded ridiculous. She could literally only say what the test booklet told her to say. She had to be walking around the entire test time, but could not look at the test. Each teacher had a bucket with the testing materials, and it had to go everywhere with her, even the bathroom. There was a teacher assigned to her hall in case she needed assistance or to go the bathroom, but as soon as the test started, Ms. Johns said they left. Surprisingly, the test is now on computers. And of course, the technology did not work. Ms. Johns had to help students without looking, and without any talking or behavior that could be seen as suspicious. Her stories made me hate standardized tests even more. I really am not looking forward to that. You have to learn how to take the test to do well, not know the material, and the writing format does not resemble the kind of writing students actually do. I'm worried about finding a way to teach material and teaching the test material. Students need to do well on the standardized tests, but they actually need to learn.
While they took the test, Ms. Johns told us about how the previous school she worked at handled the EOC. Since she was near Atlanta, she said schools took it to the extreme to prevent any cheating. However, what she had to do sounded ridiculous. She could literally only say what the test booklet told her to say. She had to be walking around the entire test time, but could not look at the test. Each teacher had a bucket with the testing materials, and it had to go everywhere with her, even the bathroom. There was a teacher assigned to her hall in case she needed assistance or to go the bathroom, but as soon as the test started, Ms. Johns said they left. Surprisingly, the test is now on computers. And of course, the technology did not work. Ms. Johns had to help students without looking, and without any talking or behavior that could be seen as suspicious. Her stories made me hate standardized tests even more. I really am not looking forward to that. You have to learn how to take the test to do well, not know the material, and the writing format does not resemble the kind of writing students actually do. I'm worried about finding a way to teach material and teaching the test material. Students need to do well on the standardized tests, but they actually need to learn.
My Tenth Day
On April 19th, I was expecting to work with Mr. Jones. Most of the days I arrived, he would not have anything for me, and I would go to Ms. Johns. However, he assured me he had specific students and assignments for me this day. But, many students were missing, and they all were the ones he had in mind. So, I went back to Ms. Johns. Anna was there as well.
The class had been working with Edgar Allen Poe's "The Raven." Today, they had a worksheet with different vocabulary words. There was a poetry term section and a literature term section. they had to find an example from the poem. I worked with one student, and it was a struggle. He was on his phone the whole time. Whenever I asked questions prompting him to work, he would just look for a second and say, "I don't know" until I basically gave him the answer. I tried to lead him to the answer, but I still haven't figured out a way to elegantly do that. Since he didn't know most of the terms, you would think he would pay attention when Ms. Johns went other the answers. He did not. This really frustrated me because it showed he just didn't care. I was mainly bothered because he was also always on his phone instead of listening, and I consider that really rude. Coming to terms with how much phone use there is has been difficult. I understand that students will use phones when they're supposed to be working, but he was texting while I was talking or Ms. Johns was. However, I could be misjudging the situation. There might be something going on with work or family, and he was dealing with it. I try not to assume, but it's difficult.
The class had been working with Edgar Allen Poe's "The Raven." Today, they had a worksheet with different vocabulary words. There was a poetry term section and a literature term section. they had to find an example from the poem. I worked with one student, and it was a struggle. He was on his phone the whole time. Whenever I asked questions prompting him to work, he would just look for a second and say, "I don't know" until I basically gave him the answer. I tried to lead him to the answer, but I still haven't figured out a way to elegantly do that. Since he didn't know most of the terms, you would think he would pay attention when Ms. Johns went other the answers. He did not. This really frustrated me because it showed he just didn't care. I was mainly bothered because he was also always on his phone instead of listening, and I consider that really rude. Coming to terms with how much phone use there is has been difficult. I understand that students will use phones when they're supposed to be working, but he was texting while I was talking or Ms. Johns was. However, I could be misjudging the situation. There might be something going on with work or family, and he was dealing with it. I try not to assume, but it's difficult.
My Ninth Day
On March 29th, I was in Ms. Johns's class, and the day took a different turn. I felt proud of myself for helping a student, but it wasn't help with writing. It was math, the Pythagorean Theory to be exact. Ms. John's is a fairly new teacher at Classic City. She told us she wanted to incorporate other subjects into her class, so she went to other teachers and asked what areas students needed help on. Apparently for math, it's explanatory writing. In one of the standardized tests, students had to explain in writing how they solved a math problem.
At the beginning of class, students had a journal writing. They had to write a paragraph about what they do when they come across a math problem they do not understand. For this assignment, I was paired with a girl whose first language was not English. Ms. Johns was struggling to get anything words or writing from her, so I worked with her while Ms. Johns helped others. Even though Ms. Johns started each sentence for them, I still couldn't get her to finish with her answer. She would just say "I don't know." So, I had her pretend she was in a math class, or any class. I would say, "Okay, you're in class and you don't understand the problem. What would you do next?" And she finally started responding. "I guess I would raise my hand." I continued to ask her what she would do next until she "solved" the math problem and finished the journal. Every time she answered, I made sure to be encouraging. A lot of these kids, and probably most students, really struggle with writing because they think they're terrible at it. So, whenever I work with a student and their writing, I give lots of compliments and encouragement.
The next part of class was the explanatory writing. They first did a worksheet individually to refresh how to solve the problems. Most of the students already knew. After, Ms. Johns took one of the problems and the class started to solve it step-by-step. I was looking around, and I noticed the girl I worked with on the journal was not writing and was looking around with that confused "What do I do?" look. So, I sat by her, and we quietly worked through the problem together. The majority of the class already knew how to do the math, so I think that's why Ms. Johns went a little too quickly. After she finished the problem, she just copied down what Ms. Johns wrote for the class's explanation.
Even though my main focus of the day was not writing, I still felt like I accomplished something. Mainly because this was math I could actually remember how to do, so I felt a little smarter than usual.
At the beginning of class, students had a journal writing. They had to write a paragraph about what they do when they come across a math problem they do not understand. For this assignment, I was paired with a girl whose first language was not English. Ms. Johns was struggling to get anything words or writing from her, so I worked with her while Ms. Johns helped others. Even though Ms. Johns started each sentence for them, I still couldn't get her to finish with her answer. She would just say "I don't know." So, I had her pretend she was in a math class, or any class. I would say, "Okay, you're in class and you don't understand the problem. What would you do next?" And she finally started responding. "I guess I would raise my hand." I continued to ask her what she would do next until she "solved" the math problem and finished the journal. Every time she answered, I made sure to be encouraging. A lot of these kids, and probably most students, really struggle with writing because they think they're terrible at it. So, whenever I work with a student and their writing, I give lots of compliments and encouragement.
The next part of class was the explanatory writing. They first did a worksheet individually to refresh how to solve the problems. Most of the students already knew. After, Ms. Johns took one of the problems and the class started to solve it step-by-step. I was looking around, and I noticed the girl I worked with on the journal was not writing and was looking around with that confused "What do I do?" look. So, I sat by her, and we quietly worked through the problem together. The majority of the class already knew how to do the math, so I think that's why Ms. Johns went a little too quickly. After she finished the problem, she just copied down what Ms. Johns wrote for the class's explanation.
Even though my main focus of the day was not writing, I still felt like I accomplished something. Mainly because this was math I could actually remember how to do, so I felt a little smarter than usual.
My Eighth Day
On March 24th, I was in Ms. Johns's class once again. At first, I thought I liked going to Mr. Jones's class more, but it seems like I'm mostly just looking over their shoulders to make sure they're doing their work. That happens in Ms. Johns's class, but I feel like I help more.
The class started with an online quiz. They were allowed to review as much as they wanted before they took the quiz. I went on Friday instead of Wednesday this week, so there were two other UGA mentors, all from my service learning class. We made sure no one had their phones out while they were taking the quiz. After they finished, they started a worksheet. She didn't put us with particular students, so we went around the class checking progress and asking if anyone needed help. It was kind of frustrating, because no one needed help. But, I used it to get a kid on task. If I saw them on their phone or just not doing the work, I would come over and ask if they were okay or needed help. They would say no and immediately get back to work.
One of the biggest challenges I think I faced so far is not getting frustrated at students who just do not care. Every student in the class, and Mr. Jones's class, is capable of doing well on the assignments, it's just getting them to do the assignment is the struggle. When either the other mentors, Ms. Johns, or I would get a student back on task, they would breeze through the assignment with little to no help. As a future teacher of teenagers who think doing well in school is uncool, I want to make my students excited to learn. I don't want to be that teacher with a million projects or lots of creative projects, but it seems like that's the main way to make learning less boring for students who dislike reading and writing.
The class started with an online quiz. They were allowed to review as much as they wanted before they took the quiz. I went on Friday instead of Wednesday this week, so there were two other UGA mentors, all from my service learning class. We made sure no one had their phones out while they were taking the quiz. After they finished, they started a worksheet. She didn't put us with particular students, so we went around the class checking progress and asking if anyone needed help. It was kind of frustrating, because no one needed help. But, I used it to get a kid on task. If I saw them on their phone or just not doing the work, I would come over and ask if they were okay or needed help. They would say no and immediately get back to work.
One of the biggest challenges I think I faced so far is not getting frustrated at students who just do not care. Every student in the class, and Mr. Jones's class, is capable of doing well on the assignments, it's just getting them to do the assignment is the struggle. When either the other mentors, Ms. Johns, or I would get a student back on task, they would breeze through the assignment with little to no help. As a future teacher of teenagers who think doing well in school is uncool, I want to make my students excited to learn. I don't want to be that teacher with a million projects or lots of creative projects, but it seems like that's the main way to make learning less boring for students who dislike reading and writing.
Monday, April 17, 2017
My Seventh Day
On March 15th, I was back in Ms. Johns's classroom. When I first arrived to Mr. Jones's class, he informed me they were trying out a new online system, so there wasn't much I could do. In Ms. Johns's class, they were working on an Ancient Greek handout. The handout was based on a website they had to navigate. Instead of helping one student, I walked around the classroom and checked on students' progress. Eventually, Ms. Johns put me with a student who was spending most of the time on his phone. To help him stay focused, I did the worksheet with him and helped him find the answers. It was actually pretty hard because the website was confusing and there were lots of different pages.
I think doing "scavenger hunts" on websites is a cool idea, but if the website is too confusing, and the questions aren't in order of how they appear, it can take longer. However, the students do have to read more carefully. For some questions, the student I worked with had to reread a page up to three times before he found the answer. In this time period, I think technology should play a big part in the classroom. While students aren't in school to be entertained, lessons should still be engaging, especially because many don't want to be there in the first place.
My Sixth Day
On March 1st, I was in Mr. Jones's class. Most students were working on a podcast assignment. They had to summarize the first six episodes, and then look up and define vocabulary words. He kept repeating he wanted students to do the assignment in that order: summarize and then vocabulary.
I worked with two students that day. For the first student, Mr. Jones told me he had a hard time staying on task, so I needed to monitor him while he worked on the assignment. As soon as I sat down, he got to work, but started the vocabulary section. I reminded him what the instructions were, but he wanted to go ahead and do the vocabulary since it was faster. In previous posts, I mentioned it felt weird being an authority, but I knew I had to this time. I explained that Mr. Jones said he wanted it done in a particular order multiple times and explain why that might be. By first listening to the podcast, then filling out the vocabulary, you could hear the words being used and understand the context. He did it in the correct order after I explained this, and finished pretty quickly.
The second student I worked with also had a hard time completing the assignment. He seemed mad about having to do it, so I asked what the podcast was about and got him chatting to lighten the mood. While he reread each episode's summary, he commented about what he thought about different characters and plots. He didn't need any help with the assignment itself. Like the first student, he just needed a little extra motivation.
After he finished, Mr. Jones tried to find someone else I could help, but no one did. Instead of waiting around, he let me leave.
This visit was pretty laid back. I mainly just made sure students were on task. I've noticed many assignments are easy to do, it's just hard to motivate the students to do them.
I worked with two students that day. For the first student, Mr. Jones told me he had a hard time staying on task, so I needed to monitor him while he worked on the assignment. As soon as I sat down, he got to work, but started the vocabulary section. I reminded him what the instructions were, but he wanted to go ahead and do the vocabulary since it was faster. In previous posts, I mentioned it felt weird being an authority, but I knew I had to this time. I explained that Mr. Jones said he wanted it done in a particular order multiple times and explain why that might be. By first listening to the podcast, then filling out the vocabulary, you could hear the words being used and understand the context. He did it in the correct order after I explained this, and finished pretty quickly.
The second student I worked with also had a hard time completing the assignment. He seemed mad about having to do it, so I asked what the podcast was about and got him chatting to lighten the mood. While he reread each episode's summary, he commented about what he thought about different characters and plots. He didn't need any help with the assignment itself. Like the first student, he just needed a little extra motivation.
After he finished, Mr. Jones tried to find someone else I could help, but no one did. Instead of waiting around, he let me leave.
This visit was pretty laid back. I mainly just made sure students were on task. I've noticed many assignments are easy to do, it's just hard to motivate the students to do them.
Tuesday, March 14, 2017
My Fifth Day
On February 22, I was in Mr. Jones's class again. At first, Anna and I decided we would switch between classes, but I wanted to stay in Mr. Jones's class. I like the upper grades better, and it was more writing help than grammar. The week's schedule was modified, so classes stopped after one. In order to be able to fill my normal hour and fifteen minute time, I stayed for first and second period.
In first period, I helped a student with an essay. The assignment was to write about a moment in her life when she showed courage. At the bottom of her essay, Mr. Jones wrote where there needed to be improvements. The comments applied to the entire class, so after reading them, I focused on the ones specific to her essay. I enjoyed her essay a lot, and was surprised on how well she wrote. A majority of the language was informal and slang, but since it was a personal narrative, I think it reflected her voice and personality well. However, the organization was pretty confusing. Her story just begins without an introduction, and has a lot of background information. There were also many moments of courage in her story, instead of just one. However, her conclusion only mentioned one moment.
With Mr. Jones's comments in mind, we spent the class working on an introduction and revising her conclusion. First, I asked her to say what her main point was. What did she want her reader to take away from reading her story? Then, I told her what I took away from it based on her writing. I explained why the beginning and ending was a little confusing. So, she worked on introducing her essay and stating her main point. She would just type and I would help when she was stuck on expressing her ideas.
For her conclusion, I explained why she needed to revise it. What her story, and what she told me, was conveying did not match up with her conclusion. She told me her point was that she made it through each hardship, and that was courage. However, her conclusion only mentioned one moment. I had her explain why each moment was important, and how does that contribute to her definition of courage.
In second period, I helped on the same assignment with another student. While I focused on helping the previous student to write an introduction and conclusion paragraph, this student needed multiple improvements. Mr. Jones required the page length to be around three to four pages. Total, this student had about one and a half pages. Her main problem was her language was too broad. In order to increase her page count, I asked her to explain certain statements and go into detail about specific moments of courage. We also worked on developing an introduction paragraph. By the time class ended, she still did not have enough, but there was a huge difference with what she had before.
I really enjoyed working with both students. The writing level was high compared to the ninth grade class I was in. I think that is why I enjoy working with older students. At a ninth grade level, their writing is not going to be great, but that's okay. It's really hard for me to accept that. At eleventh grade level, there still some issues, but I can work with it more and help. I know I have to learn how to have reasonable expectations for writing. Ninth graders aren't going to write as well as me or an older student.
In first period, I helped a student with an essay. The assignment was to write about a moment in her life when she showed courage. At the bottom of her essay, Mr. Jones wrote where there needed to be improvements. The comments applied to the entire class, so after reading them, I focused on the ones specific to her essay. I enjoyed her essay a lot, and was surprised on how well she wrote. A majority of the language was informal and slang, but since it was a personal narrative, I think it reflected her voice and personality well. However, the organization was pretty confusing. Her story just begins without an introduction, and has a lot of background information. There were also many moments of courage in her story, instead of just one. However, her conclusion only mentioned one moment.
With Mr. Jones's comments in mind, we spent the class working on an introduction and revising her conclusion. First, I asked her to say what her main point was. What did she want her reader to take away from reading her story? Then, I told her what I took away from it based on her writing. I explained why the beginning and ending was a little confusing. So, she worked on introducing her essay and stating her main point. She would just type and I would help when she was stuck on expressing her ideas.
For her conclusion, I explained why she needed to revise it. What her story, and what she told me, was conveying did not match up with her conclusion. She told me her point was that she made it through each hardship, and that was courage. However, her conclusion only mentioned one moment. I had her explain why each moment was important, and how does that contribute to her definition of courage.
In second period, I helped on the same assignment with another student. While I focused on helping the previous student to write an introduction and conclusion paragraph, this student needed multiple improvements. Mr. Jones required the page length to be around three to four pages. Total, this student had about one and a half pages. Her main problem was her language was too broad. In order to increase her page count, I asked her to explain certain statements and go into detail about specific moments of courage. We also worked on developing an introduction paragraph. By the time class ended, she still did not have enough, but there was a huge difference with what she had before.
I really enjoyed working with both students. The writing level was high compared to the ninth grade class I was in. I think that is why I enjoy working with older students. At a ninth grade level, their writing is not going to be great, but that's okay. It's really hard for me to accept that. At eleventh grade level, there still some issues, but I can work with it more and help. I know I have to learn how to have reasonable expectations for writing. Ninth graders aren't going to write as well as me or an older student.
My Fourth Day
On Wednesday, February 15th, I had a change in placement. After Anna and I arrived in Ms. Johns's class, she informed us another teacher, Mr. Jones, needed one of us in an 11th grade class. At first, I did not want to leave, since I had gotten more familiar with the students and Ms. Johns, but I decided I wanted to experience a different grade level.
In Mr. Jones's class, there were a lot more students, and they were older. I was kind of nervous, but Mr. Jones was super nice and outgoing. He set me up with a student, Lexie. In his class, students mainly work on assignments on their own on class laptops. Lexie was finishing an assignment where she had to write a summary of a short story. Mr. Jones had a step-by-step process that had to be filled out. Mainly, they had to state important parts of the story and explain them.
This assignment was a struggle for me. I had a clear idea of what I thought the answers should be, but Lexie did not always do what I thought was right, but I did not know how to lead her in the direction I thought she should go without outright telling her what I thought. I think it's important for teachers to not just tell a student the right answer when they're wrong. They should help lead them to the right answer. I wasn't sure how to do that with Lexie. Furthermore, maybe I wasn't right in the first place. Picking out important parts of a story is a matter of opinion. While I would've chosen different moments than Lexie, her reasoning for her choices made sense, and who was I to tell her she was wrong? Because of my age and inexperience, I still have a hard time feeling like an authority on a subject. I know no teacher knows everything, but I still lack a lot of confidence. That's something I'm really going to work on during my next visits. I need to be more confident and authoritative.
In Mr. Jones's class, there were a lot more students, and they were older. I was kind of nervous, but Mr. Jones was super nice and outgoing. He set me up with a student, Lexie. In his class, students mainly work on assignments on their own on class laptops. Lexie was finishing an assignment where she had to write a summary of a short story. Mr. Jones had a step-by-step process that had to be filled out. Mainly, they had to state important parts of the story and explain them.
This assignment was a struggle for me. I had a clear idea of what I thought the answers should be, but Lexie did not always do what I thought was right, but I did not know how to lead her in the direction I thought she should go without outright telling her what I thought. I think it's important for teachers to not just tell a student the right answer when they're wrong. They should help lead them to the right answer. I wasn't sure how to do that with Lexie. Furthermore, maybe I wasn't right in the first place. Picking out important parts of a story is a matter of opinion. While I would've chosen different moments than Lexie, her reasoning for her choices made sense, and who was I to tell her she was wrong? Because of my age and inexperience, I still have a hard time feeling like an authority on a subject. I know no teacher knows everything, but I still lack a lot of confidence. That's something I'm really going to work on during my next visits. I need to be more confident and authoritative.
My Third Day
My third day was on February 8th. Once again, I was in Ms. Johns's class with Anna. Instead of grammar, the class was going over the Progressive Era. At first, I could not remember this time period, but it was basically the same as the "Roaring Twenties."
After she went over the basics of the period, the class broke into groups and were assigned a section of the reading. Each group had to underline importance sentences, phrases, or words they did not understand. I was assigned to work with a group of three boys. I had them volunteer to read their section out loud, and was happy that everyone did so willingly. Usually, you have to pick a student to read out loud. They did the assignment perfectly, but it was hard for them to single out important sentences. To them, most of the sentences were important. I could identify with their problem. It's hard for me to pick apart things, because even the supporting sentences contribute to the big picture.
Ms. Johns then had each group talk about what they thought was important, and any words they did not understand. She wrote all the words each group said on a large paper for future reference. This portion of class took the longest, and went till the end of class. When Anna and I were preparing to leave, Ms. Johns asked us how everything went. She also informed me that she wanted me with the group of three boys, because of her relationship with one. They were all bright students, but one of the boys just did not like her, and would not work if she was present. I was surprised; each student was very nice and did the assignment without need for any prompting or keeping on task. She did not tell me which boy it was, and I kind of glad she didn't. In my group's presentation about Girl, Interrupted, we discussed how knowing about a person's mental illness might cause us to prescribe behaviors to him or her before we know the individual. Now, this situation has nothing to do with mental illness, but I liked not knowing which student had the issue with Ms. Johns because I did not want to unconsciously label them and view them any different than the other students.
Overall, I enjoyed the review of the twenties and seeing a group of students eagerly do an assignment and learn new vocabulary.
After she went over the basics of the period, the class broke into groups and were assigned a section of the reading. Each group had to underline importance sentences, phrases, or words they did not understand. I was assigned to work with a group of three boys. I had them volunteer to read their section out loud, and was happy that everyone did so willingly. Usually, you have to pick a student to read out loud. They did the assignment perfectly, but it was hard for them to single out important sentences. To them, most of the sentences were important. I could identify with their problem. It's hard for me to pick apart things, because even the supporting sentences contribute to the big picture.
Ms. Johns then had each group talk about what they thought was important, and any words they did not understand. She wrote all the words each group said on a large paper for future reference. This portion of class took the longest, and went till the end of class. When Anna and I were preparing to leave, Ms. Johns asked us how everything went. She also informed me that she wanted me with the group of three boys, because of her relationship with one. They were all bright students, but one of the boys just did not like her, and would not work if she was present. I was surprised; each student was very nice and did the assignment without need for any prompting or keeping on task. She did not tell me which boy it was, and I kind of glad she didn't. In my group's presentation about Girl, Interrupted, we discussed how knowing about a person's mental illness might cause us to prescribe behaviors to him or her before we know the individual. Now, this situation has nothing to do with mental illness, but I liked not knowing which student had the issue with Ms. Johns because I did not want to unconsciously label them and view them any different than the other students.
Overall, I enjoyed the review of the twenties and seeing a group of students eagerly do an assignment and learn new vocabulary.
Sunday, February 19, 2017
My Second Day
The second time I went to Classic City High was February 1st. Since I had trouble remembering grammar concepts the first visit, I made sure to review before my second visit. Once again, I was in Ms. Johns class with Anna. However, Claire was back to her normal day, Friday.
Once we arrived, Ms. Johns informed us they veered from their normal curriculum to work on an essay that would be submitted to a competition. The students had to write about a time they witnessed or experienced bullying. It had to include their definition of bullying, the situation, and if an adult intervened. Some students did not know a real event to write about, so they had to write a short narrative of a bullying situation and how it was resolved. I worked with two students on their narratives: Nikki and Xavier. I had worked with Xavier the first visit. Each student barely had anything written, so it sounded like Ms. Johns's main concern was to have something written. However, I wish she had clarified what she wanted me to do. She never explicitly said, and I wasn't sure if should focus on teaching them to construct better sentences or just help them to come up with the story and type it out.
Since it was a draft, I focused on getting them to write out their ideas. Nikki was more talkative than Xavier, so I was able to connect with her more. She told me she was a bad writer and could not write fiction or poetry. I told her it was really hard for me too. Sometimes I felt like a bad writer, but writing is a process, and no one is good at writing at first. It's a skill. I think this made her feel better, because afterwards she wrote more. Sometimes I had to prompt her if I could tell she didn't know what to do.
Xavier would be on his phone, eating, or just laying his head down. I let him take small breaks, but I tried to keep him on track. Ms. Johns would occasionally help prompt him. Since she knew the assignment better than me, she would type out questions for him about his story.
In the class after this week's visit, one group's presentation focused on bullying. In high school, the main form was cyber bullying. I could see this being a problem at Classic City, because every student is on his or her phone most of the time. However, both students I worked with were writing fictional stories, so I do not know if this is a big problem at the school.
Saturday, January 28, 2017
My First Day
Wednesday, January 25th, was my first volunteer day at Classic City High. My plan for the semester is to go every Wednesday for first period, which runs from 9:15 to 10:30. Other than getting slightly lost, locating the school was easy, which was my main concern for the day. Two of my classmates, Anna Warnell and Claire Sanders, were here for the same period as well. Claire had already started volunteering, so she was able to direct us and show us what to do at each arrival.
The three of us were placed in Ms. Johns' class. The class consisted of eight boys. The day's subject was different types of clauses and identifying their uses. We were each assigned to help two students when the class broke up to do worksheets. Every English or English Education major student understands how to use grammar correctly. We don't really think about terms or the mechanics of it anymore. I'm slightly embarrassed to admit I had to ask for help because I could not remember what a noun clause was and could not help my students. I also learned that just because you know the right answer, it does not mean you know how to coherently explain why it is the right answer. It made me appreciate all the years of flawless, easy to understand explanations teachers gave me in the past.
The biggest behavior difference I noticed between the high school I attended and Classic City High was cell phone use. Every student had his cell phone out, and most also had headphones in. Ms. Johns only required the students to have one ear free. It was painful to watch them on their phones while she taught, but I have to remember what Ms. Mimi told us the first day of class. You pick your battles. For whatever reason, these students are struggling, and even if they have their cell phones out, at least they're here and participating. If there was a particular point Ms. Johns wanted to emphasize, she made sure every student looked up and thanked them.
As a result of my first day, I have two goals for improvement. One, be refreshed and understand grammar terms and mechanics. Two, be able to explain answers without struggling for words or slightly rambling.
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