How is this experence shaping my teacher idenity? It helped to understand the classroom setting a bit better. What it would be like to stand in front of a class of students and be able to teach. I was in school at one time but that is a totally different experience from tutoring because you are seeing the classroom from a different side. This experience has opened my eyes to differences within our society, how things could be so vastly different somewhere not too far from where I went to school.
My personal experiences with these students have shaped my teacher identity as well. That girl that did nothing in class, I actually talked to her the other day! I saw her with another student I knew and they were talking. I tried interrupting to try to get into the conversation. She didn't look like she minded me talking so her. I was glad I got her to at least talk to me. From there I tried getting her to do some of her work. Soon she was doing bookwork. It wasn't much but it was a start and I was proud of her. I'm not sure if she completely changed her ways but seeing her do work made me wonder if I was her teacher she would have never had that problem in the first place. I want to motivate the children as best as possible and I don't want to give up on them.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Sensitivity
Sensitivity is important to keep in mind when talking to a child. A child is going to be different that you and have different experiences. Without talking to a child carefully, you could insult the child when you don't mean to. My teacher wasn't very responsive to differences. He was very straightforward and did not really react carefully to the students. I was often told by students that they didn't like him because he was mean. However, I would always ask if they were learning and they students would always tell me they were learning a lot. You will not always be liked by all you students but I think I would be less mean than my teacher was. He sort of picked on the kids to try to motivate them but it didn't really work.
All of my students that I tutored could speak English just fine. I really didn't need to be sensitive around their language barriers because non of them had any. =) However, if I did have a student with trouble with English, I would get a pocket translator for him/her and myself. I would want the student to still try to communicate with me even if they were shy or afraid to mess up. I would also try to understand that it is harder for them to participate so I wouldn't grade them as hard.
As for sociocultural differences, I will encounter those much more often. The students in my school live very different lives that what I grew up in. We are going to have fundamental differences in our lives that are not necessarily bad. Although sensitivity is needed to make sure that you are not offending the child. I would often avoid talking about holidays with the children. I celebrate christian holidays and I did not want to discuss that with the children. I would call them vacations if I had to talk about a day they got off from school. If they were other religions, I did not want to offend them or make them feel uncomfortable.
There was a group of girls in one of my classes and they began to ask me questions about myself. I had told them I go to college and where I go and they seemed interested. I asked them if they all wanted to go to college. Most of them said yes but one girl said she wouldn't. I wanted to know why and she really couldn't give me an answer. I told her she should really consider it. College wasn't really talked about much among the students because I don't think that the school really emphasized it. They were more concerned about making grades higher. I understand this but I believe we need to motivate these kids to look at the future. I told her that she can go to college no matter what and she should try. She smiled after. =) I believe this was an example of responding to differences. My teachers always drilled it into our heads that college is important but college is on the back burner for most of these kids. That needs to change.
All of my students that I tutored could speak English just fine. I really didn't need to be sensitive around their language barriers because non of them had any. =) However, if I did have a student with trouble with English, I would get a pocket translator for him/her and myself. I would want the student to still try to communicate with me even if they were shy or afraid to mess up. I would also try to understand that it is harder for them to participate so I wouldn't grade them as hard.
As for sociocultural differences, I will encounter those much more often. The students in my school live very different lives that what I grew up in. We are going to have fundamental differences in our lives that are not necessarily bad. Although sensitivity is needed to make sure that you are not offending the child. I would often avoid talking about holidays with the children. I celebrate christian holidays and I did not want to discuss that with the children. I would call them vacations if I had to talk about a day they got off from school. If they were other religions, I did not want to offend them or make them feel uncomfortable.
There was a group of girls in one of my classes and they began to ask me questions about myself. I had told them I go to college and where I go and they seemed interested. I asked them if they all wanted to go to college. Most of them said yes but one girl said she wouldn't. I wanted to know why and she really couldn't give me an answer. I told her she should really consider it. College wasn't really talked about much among the students because I don't think that the school really emphasized it. They were more concerned about making grades higher. I understand this but I believe we need to motivate these kids to look at the future. I told her that she can go to college no matter what and she should try. She smiled after. =) I believe this was an example of responding to differences. My teachers always drilled it into our heads that college is important but college is on the back burner for most of these kids. That needs to change.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Parents of Students
This blog addresses prompt five. I can see many challenges arising when dealing with children's parents. Every parent will react differently with teachers. I know in my class I'm tutoring there is a little boy whoes mom begged and pleaded with my teacher saying that her boy was a genus and he needed to move up to more advanced classes. I understand that she only wanted the best for her son but he really wasn't ready for the more advanced classes. He didn't even talk in class! The mother went home very mad. I'm sure at times I might have to deal with parents who think that their child is absolutely gifted. I will just have to be sensitive not to hurt anyone's feelings. I don't want to tell her that her child can't do it, I just want to let her know that it is very hard and his grades do not reflect the kind of effort needed. It is a hard subject but it must be done.
Another day, in my teacher's class, some older boys visited and stole a girl's cell phone. I guess the phone cost $300 and the mother was furious. She blamed everything on my teacher when it wasn't his fault. My teacher knew the boys that took the phone and he eventually got it back with some trickery. =) However, it must have been really frustrating to deal with the mother who was screaming at him. I don't know how I would react to that. I would obviously need to keep calm but it would be hard. I would tell her that her child shouldn't even have had the cell phone in the first place but we will try to get it back. I'm not sure what my teacher ended up doing.
These are just problems that arose during the time I was there but there would be other times where I would have to meet with all parents face to face. I am talking about parent teacher conferences. These can be a problem if parents don't come or can not speak very good English. I would try to get everyone's parents' email so I could email them if they did not come to the parent teacher conferences. It is important to tell parents if their child isn't doing as good as they can do. It is also important to tell parents when their child is doing outstanding. If their was a language barrier I would want to know in advance. I would ask my students if they could talk to me privately if their parents could not come because of something cultural or linguistic. If there was a problem then I would try to get a translator (someone I know personally) or have to email them something so they can translate it at their own pace. I understand that parents only want the best for their children and I am absolutely willing to work with them to get them all the help they need so they know how the most important part of their child's life is going.
Another day, in my teacher's class, some older boys visited and stole a girl's cell phone. I guess the phone cost $300 and the mother was furious. She blamed everything on my teacher when it wasn't his fault. My teacher knew the boys that took the phone and he eventually got it back with some trickery. =) However, it must have been really frustrating to deal with the mother who was screaming at him. I don't know how I would react to that. I would obviously need to keep calm but it would be hard. I would tell her that her child shouldn't even have had the cell phone in the first place but we will try to get it back. I'm not sure what my teacher ended up doing.
These are just problems that arose during the time I was there but there would be other times where I would have to meet with all parents face to face. I am talking about parent teacher conferences. These can be a problem if parents don't come or can not speak very good English. I would try to get everyone's parents' email so I could email them if they did not come to the parent teacher conferences. It is important to tell parents if their child isn't doing as good as they can do. It is also important to tell parents when their child is doing outstanding. If their was a language barrier I would want to know in advance. I would ask my students if they could talk to me privately if their parents could not come because of something cultural or linguistic. If there was a problem then I would try to get a translator (someone I know personally) or have to email them something so they can translate it at their own pace. I understand that parents only want the best for their children and I am absolutely willing to work with them to get them all the help they need so they know how the most important part of their child's life is going.
My History vs. Student's History
Today I am responding to prompt four. My personal history might intersect with that of my students. I grew up in a small town. Our high school was all white and most people in the town were wealthy. My school experience was vastly different than of what the students in my school are experiencing. My school could afford books and my school may have been old, it was well kept. This school is run down and in desperate need of new supplies. When I become a teacher, I might teach in a district similar to this and I will understand that these students will not be experiencing what I did. I also had a very good home life. My parents are still together and I grew up well. My family might not have been the richest family in the neighborhood but I lived comfortably. These students might not have that luxury. Some of them come from working class families and they might not get to see their parents as much. Money might be a scarcity. Some of these students could come from a broken home. I'm not familiar with all of them enough to know how it is at home. I know one little boy he smelled really really bad one day. I wondered why his family let him out of the house smelling like that! It was in the morning too so it was clear he had not taken a shower in a couple days. The teacher would make fun of him which I didn't think was appropriate but I didn't say anything. The kid did not want to be made fun of but he really really need a shower. Where is his family? I wondered this all day.
I feel like my biggest advantaged as a teacher would be that I had a not bad experience in school. There were tons of things I just absolutely hated about my high school but knowing these things will help me make the students I teach a little better off because I can avoid the bad. Another advantage would be that I have taught children of all different ages and backgrounds throughout my life. I tutored 1st grade when I was in high school, I just tutored 6th grade for my service learning project, and I taught all levels of swim lessons when I worked for a YMCA. I taught inner city and small town settings. The children I tutored were very diverse and I feel like this makes me a stronger person and teacher because I truly believe that these children helped me open my mind. I learned (and still are learning) about different cultures and behaviors and I feel like this knowledge helps me teach better.
My biggest challenge would be that I have become authority to these children. I want to be in that position of power, however I also want my students to trust me. Sometimes teachers can be a bit intimidating and a child won't ask for academic help (or otherwise) if they really need it because they believe that the teacher just doesn't care. I will have to push the idea that the children can come to me if they need anything. I also might not understand everything they are going through because every one's experiences are different. This can be a big problem because I might not see something as a problem for a student but they might think it is horrible. I hope that more experience in the classroom will make me even more culturally knowledgeable and comfortable and help to ease the challenges.
As for misconceptions about cultural groups I have encountered, I'm not sure what to say. It is obvious that stereotypes are wrong and I can't really say I went to that school thinking a certain way about the children that lived there. I knew it was a poorer neighborhood and since I worked not far from the school at one time I knew who lived around there. So I had an idea of what I was faced with but I didn't think the worst. However, I did know that there was a police officer that did go to the school everyday. This made me think at first that there might be a lot of violence there. I did hear some pretty scary stories. One kid stabbed himself to try to blame it on someone else. One girl beat up another pretty bad a little while before I arrived one day. I was a little worried that I was going to have to see something really dramatic but things couldn't be more wonderful in my classes. All the periods are really well behaved. They tease each other a bit but that is normal for that age. I am really really proud of all of them for how good they behave because I had posted another day about that really horrible class I visited. So I guess you could say that the only misconception I had was that I thought the students might have behaved bad at times. They did get a little more impatient as the day went on but I am still impressed with how they behaved.
I feel like my biggest advantaged as a teacher would be that I had a not bad experience in school. There were tons of things I just absolutely hated about my high school but knowing these things will help me make the students I teach a little better off because I can avoid the bad. Another advantage would be that I have taught children of all different ages and backgrounds throughout my life. I tutored 1st grade when I was in high school, I just tutored 6th grade for my service learning project, and I taught all levels of swim lessons when I worked for a YMCA. I taught inner city and small town settings. The children I tutored were very diverse and I feel like this makes me a stronger person and teacher because I truly believe that these children helped me open my mind. I learned (and still are learning) about different cultures and behaviors and I feel like this knowledge helps me teach better.
My biggest challenge would be that I have become authority to these children. I want to be in that position of power, however I also want my students to trust me. Sometimes teachers can be a bit intimidating and a child won't ask for academic help (or otherwise) if they really need it because they believe that the teacher just doesn't care. I will have to push the idea that the children can come to me if they need anything. I also might not understand everything they are going through because every one's experiences are different. This can be a big problem because I might not see something as a problem for a student but they might think it is horrible. I hope that more experience in the classroom will make me even more culturally knowledgeable and comfortable and help to ease the challenges.
As for misconceptions about cultural groups I have encountered, I'm not sure what to say. It is obvious that stereotypes are wrong and I can't really say I went to that school thinking a certain way about the children that lived there. I knew it was a poorer neighborhood and since I worked not far from the school at one time I knew who lived around there. So I had an idea of what I was faced with but I didn't think the worst. However, I did know that there was a police officer that did go to the school everyday. This made me think at first that there might be a lot of violence there. I did hear some pretty scary stories. One kid stabbed himself to try to blame it on someone else. One girl beat up another pretty bad a little while before I arrived one day. I was a little worried that I was going to have to see something really dramatic but things couldn't be more wonderful in my classes. All the periods are really well behaved. They tease each other a bit but that is normal for that age. I am really really proud of all of them for how good they behave because I had posted another day about that really horrible class I visited. So I guess you could say that the only misconception I had was that I thought the students might have behaved bad at times. They did get a little more impatient as the day went on but I am still impressed with how they behaved.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Sorry About the Blog Gap
First I would like to apologize for the gap in my blogs. I have been going regularly to my school and have actually done 27 hours already. I forgot about my blog and have been extremely busy. My other classes have been piling on the work. I am really sorry again. I will continue to do my blogs.
Today I am going to respond to prompt 3. My teacher has many students of different backgrounds. These students are all very competent in English despite their colorful backgrounds. My teacher is a bit confusing when it comes to assessments. He seems to treat the children all the same when it comes to grading and the amount of work he gives them. He does NOT give anybody special treatment or even assesses them differently based on their linguistic, ethnic, or sociocultural characteristics. He will though, help a student more if they are willing to work hard. He seems to have almost "given up" on the children who refuse to any kind of work. There is a girl in third period who looks like she should be in the 8th grade not the 6th grade. I'm not sure if she stayed back but I wouldn't be surprised. According to my teacher she is very bright but she absolutely refuses to do any kind of classwork or even pay attention. When we were doing book work I had asked her if she had done anything, if I could read it. She was reading a fiction book, looked up at me and gave me a dirty look and went back to reading. I was a little shocked. I really hope the best for that girl. I really wish she will change. My teacher has tried everything to get her to do something but she won't. He told me he doesn't even have anything to grade for her.
If I had students that needed to be assessed different because of linguistic problems I would grade them differently. I would try to explain things to him or her a lot more and correct them when they mispronounce words or use them incorrectly. As for ethnicity as a factor for assessments, I would not do anything. Whatever your ethnicity may be, you will be treated the same as any other child. Linguistics might be a problem but if a child speaks and understands English, there is no reason to treat them any differently. However, if a child has cultural obligations such as they need to take a school day off because of religious holidays, they should NOT be penalized for it. That is a reason to treat a child differently. As a teacher we might even become familiar will some of our students' home situation. If they have problems at home we might be more willing to reach out to them. I would ask that child if he/she needed help with any school work. I would not become too involved because it is none of my business unless that child is being harmed or abused. My teacher does not need to be sensitive to linguistic, ethnic, or sociocultural characteristics of his students but I will most likely need to when I become a teacher.
The last thing I would like to mention is a little problem I am having with one of the students in my teacher's class. She is a very nice girl but I think she feels like she has to act tough to get by. She is very loud and always needs to draw attention to herself. She sometimes looks kind of dirty but has her hair done all the time which kind of confuses me. I wonder how her home life is. Anyway, she was suspended from school because she went up to some 8th grade boys and said some very disturbing, sexual things to them. The boys felt extremely uncomfortable and told the teachers what she had said. I do not know what she said to them but I can only imagine it must have been bad to have a 6th grade girl make three 8th grade boys very uncomfortable. When she returned to school I talked to her a bit about how school was going. She does do most of her work and I even read some of it and it wasn't bad. She started to get off her work though and passed notes between her and the girl that sits next to her. I asked them what they were writing about and they said that they wanted to go to the library after school. Seemed harmless enough but when I asked them why they really couldn't give me a straight answer. She finally told me she was going to confront a boy that was giving her a hard time. I knew the boy from the previous period. He always made fun of her a pushed her around. She said that the boy also told her he had a crush on her too. I could tell the boy picked on her because he liked her but it made her very upset. I told her she should talk to a teacher about it but she absolutely refused saying that she would be a "snitch." She wanted to take care of it herself even if it meant getting into a fight with the boy. She didn't end up doing anything because nobody got in trouble. I kind of scared me thought because I was worried she was going to beat this kid up. She was willing to risk getting beat up herself and getting suspended again just because she didn't want to "snitch." Being a rat or a snitch in these schools must be worse then what she was against. To me this is crazy. She had so much at stake!! I wonder why being labeled a "snitch" is so bad? I can understand if you tattle on someone when you weren't involved, that would get people mad at you but when someone makes you miserable and you tell on them, I don't think that makes you a snitch, i think its just protecting yourself. Can anybody explain this to me? Why do these kids consider being a "snitch" so bad? Anybody else have a similar problem? I would really appreciate some feedback. =)
Today I am going to respond to prompt 3. My teacher has many students of different backgrounds. These students are all very competent in English despite their colorful backgrounds. My teacher is a bit confusing when it comes to assessments. He seems to treat the children all the same when it comes to grading and the amount of work he gives them. He does NOT give anybody special treatment or even assesses them differently based on their linguistic, ethnic, or sociocultural characteristics. He will though, help a student more if they are willing to work hard. He seems to have almost "given up" on the children who refuse to any kind of work. There is a girl in third period who looks like she should be in the 8th grade not the 6th grade. I'm not sure if she stayed back but I wouldn't be surprised. According to my teacher she is very bright but she absolutely refuses to do any kind of classwork or even pay attention. When we were doing book work I had asked her if she had done anything, if I could read it. She was reading a fiction book, looked up at me and gave me a dirty look and went back to reading. I was a little shocked. I really hope the best for that girl. I really wish she will change. My teacher has tried everything to get her to do something but she won't. He told me he doesn't even have anything to grade for her.
If I had students that needed to be assessed different because of linguistic problems I would grade them differently. I would try to explain things to him or her a lot more and correct them when they mispronounce words or use them incorrectly. As for ethnicity as a factor for assessments, I would not do anything. Whatever your ethnicity may be, you will be treated the same as any other child. Linguistics might be a problem but if a child speaks and understands English, there is no reason to treat them any differently. However, if a child has cultural obligations such as they need to take a school day off because of religious holidays, they should NOT be penalized for it. That is a reason to treat a child differently. As a teacher we might even become familiar will some of our students' home situation. If they have problems at home we might be more willing to reach out to them. I would ask that child if he/she needed help with any school work. I would not become too involved because it is none of my business unless that child is being harmed or abused. My teacher does not need to be sensitive to linguistic, ethnic, or sociocultural characteristics of his students but I will most likely need to when I become a teacher.
The last thing I would like to mention is a little problem I am having with one of the students in my teacher's class. She is a very nice girl but I think she feels like she has to act tough to get by. She is very loud and always needs to draw attention to herself. She sometimes looks kind of dirty but has her hair done all the time which kind of confuses me. I wonder how her home life is. Anyway, she was suspended from school because she went up to some 8th grade boys and said some very disturbing, sexual things to them. The boys felt extremely uncomfortable and told the teachers what she had said. I do not know what she said to them but I can only imagine it must have been bad to have a 6th grade girl make three 8th grade boys very uncomfortable. When she returned to school I talked to her a bit about how school was going. She does do most of her work and I even read some of it and it wasn't bad. She started to get off her work though and passed notes between her and the girl that sits next to her. I asked them what they were writing about and they said that they wanted to go to the library after school. Seemed harmless enough but when I asked them why they really couldn't give me a straight answer. She finally told me she was going to confront a boy that was giving her a hard time. I knew the boy from the previous period. He always made fun of her a pushed her around. She said that the boy also told her he had a crush on her too. I could tell the boy picked on her because he liked her but it made her very upset. I told her she should talk to a teacher about it but she absolutely refused saying that she would be a "snitch." She wanted to take care of it herself even if it meant getting into a fight with the boy. She didn't end up doing anything because nobody got in trouble. I kind of scared me thought because I was worried she was going to beat this kid up. She was willing to risk getting beat up herself and getting suspended again just because she didn't want to "snitch." Being a rat or a snitch in these schools must be worse then what she was against. To me this is crazy. She had so much at stake!! I wonder why being labeled a "snitch" is so bad? I can understand if you tattle on someone when you weren't involved, that would get people mad at you but when someone makes you miserable and you tell on them, I don't think that makes you a snitch, i think its just protecting yourself. Can anybody explain this to me? Why do these kids consider being a "snitch" so bad? Anybody else have a similar problem? I would really appreciate some feedback. =)
Friday, March 5, 2010
Sorry, I forgot to tell everyone that I tutor 6th grade. Here are some facts about my school too! Unfortunately during the 2008-2009 school year only 59% of 6th grade was proficient in math and 63% was proficient in reading. I really wish these were higher percentages. Some children have trouble with standardized tests but I don't think this many would do so bad. Many of the children I tutored are very bright but lack confidence in themselves. One boy even continuously calls himself stupid! 74% of the children at the school receive free or reduced lunches, so family income must be low in many households. Half of the children are Hispanic and the other 50% is split between white, African American, and Asian. I observed that this is true, most of the children in my classes are Hispanic. There are no ethnic barriers between the children. They all get along ethnicities or cultures that are not the same as theirs. Most won't tease someone because of their race. I believe that this a lesson that more adults need to learn. I did see one child call a girl a "white bitch" in the hallway though but that was the only time race came up. The open minds of these children will bring a lot to the future. They are a generation that will govern one day. They are a melting pot and are tolerant of differences, a combination that will resolve all of our problems that stem from misunderstandings of cultures. We need more people like these children!
There are absolutely no child receiving English as a second language courses or bilingual education. Now that I think of it, each student I talked to had no problem with English, could comprehend it, and could write it too. These are 6th graders too, if they did need ESL courses, they would be the first to receive it. In the SALT surveys, the school was under average compared to similar schools within the city. What kind of scared me was that there was a higher percentage of children at this school compared to averaged percentage of children in the district who tried tobacco, drugs, or alcohol (less that 20%). These are middle schoolers!! I know when I went to middle school, there was pressure but a lot of kids lie on the surveys so I wonder what is the margin of error. These things were surprising but I'm glad I found them out!
My FNED class thought it would be ok if I put this story up. At first I was concerned to tell it but it is truly a problem that needs to be addressed. My first day of tutoring I met then class. There were many children, each very interesting. I noticed a boy in the front of the room who had a device that he seemed to be typing on. I didn't really understand it but my teacher explained to me that he is very hard of hearing and he is blind. He uses the device along with Braille to do his classwork. I went up to him and asked if he had any questions. He said no but his aid next to him said yes. I asked her what was up. She pointed to a paragraph in the text book and said, "I don't understand this." She needed me to explain something in a 6th grade textbook! I of course explained it to her and did not say anything but it made me really upset. She is suppose to be experienced in education and competent to read and understand any text book she is given. She is suppose to be teaching this handicapped boy but she doesn't even understand it herself! I had confronted my teacher about this after they left first period. He had told me that they had put her with the boy only because they were both Asian but they didn't even speak the same Asian language! Then he showed me some of the boy's work. It didn't make sense at all. He was writing sentences that didn't make sense and his answers came from past tests that had nothing to do with the subject. I know he can do so much more, his potential is outstanding! It is true that he has a handicap but he tries to do things on his own. I think he would do better with a different aid. She is a very nice lady but she is not suited to be this boy's aid. He would do much better with someone who can comprehend the things they are learning. I cannot change this of course but I will try to help this little boy as much as I can because he really needs it. This is his education we are talking about! Its essential!!
The last time I went to the class my teacher had not come in. I herd later that he had to go to a conference and I just didn't know. We had a substitute teacher. She invited my to come in and help the class anyway. However, there was three student teachers in the room too! They had the children separated into three different groups and each student teacher got his own group. I didn't know that this class was going to have student teachers too! I felt like there were too many people helping. I still tried to walk around and talk to the kids but their attention was focused on their student teacher. I asked them to tell me interesting things about what they were studying and they were very enthusiastic. I was proud of them being so interested in school because I know that it doesn't happen often. We were learning Greek gods and each group had 3 gods to focus on. They took notes and cut out pictures. It was very hands-on learning. My teacher prides himself on the use of hands on learning and the kids really seem to enjoy it. The kids were actually paying attention too! It was because they were in small groups. I think that the groups really helped them learn. After the bell rang I talked to the student teachers. They all are from the same college as me. They didn't mind that I helped in their groups. I though each teacher was very good with their group. They stayed focused and were very professional. They were very surprised at how well behaved that class was. Of course you always get a trouble maker of two but overall, these kids are wonderful. I actually had visited another class with my teacher. There was only about 10 kids in the room but you could hear them half way across the school. They were terrible!! The teacher just let them behave like that! After that experience I was even prouder of my class! I can't wait to go back!!
There are absolutely no child receiving English as a second language courses or bilingual education. Now that I think of it, each student I talked to had no problem with English, could comprehend it, and could write it too. These are 6th graders too, if they did need ESL courses, they would be the first to receive it. In the SALT surveys, the school was under average compared to similar schools within the city. What kind of scared me was that there was a higher percentage of children at this school compared to averaged percentage of children in the district who tried tobacco, drugs, or alcohol (less that 20%). These are middle schoolers!! I know when I went to middle school, there was pressure but a lot of kids lie on the surveys so I wonder what is the margin of error. These things were surprising but I'm glad I found them out!
My FNED class thought it would be ok if I put this story up. At first I was concerned to tell it but it is truly a problem that needs to be addressed. My first day of tutoring I met then class. There were many children, each very interesting. I noticed a boy in the front of the room who had a device that he seemed to be typing on. I didn't really understand it but my teacher explained to me that he is very hard of hearing and he is blind. He uses the device along with Braille to do his classwork. I went up to him and asked if he had any questions. He said no but his aid next to him said yes. I asked her what was up. She pointed to a paragraph in the text book and said, "I don't understand this." She needed me to explain something in a 6th grade textbook! I of course explained it to her and did not say anything but it made me really upset. She is suppose to be experienced in education and competent to read and understand any text book she is given. She is suppose to be teaching this handicapped boy but she doesn't even understand it herself! I had confronted my teacher about this after they left first period. He had told me that they had put her with the boy only because they were both Asian but they didn't even speak the same Asian language! Then he showed me some of the boy's work. It didn't make sense at all. He was writing sentences that didn't make sense and his answers came from past tests that had nothing to do with the subject. I know he can do so much more, his potential is outstanding! It is true that he has a handicap but he tries to do things on his own. I think he would do better with a different aid. She is a very nice lady but she is not suited to be this boy's aid. He would do much better with someone who can comprehend the things they are learning. I cannot change this of course but I will try to help this little boy as much as I can because he really needs it. This is his education we are talking about! Its essential!!
The last time I went to the class my teacher had not come in. I herd later that he had to go to a conference and I just didn't know. We had a substitute teacher. She invited my to come in and help the class anyway. However, there was three student teachers in the room too! They had the children separated into three different groups and each student teacher got his own group. I didn't know that this class was going to have student teachers too! I felt like there were too many people helping. I still tried to walk around and talk to the kids but their attention was focused on their student teacher. I asked them to tell me interesting things about what they were studying and they were very enthusiastic. I was proud of them being so interested in school because I know that it doesn't happen often. We were learning Greek gods and each group had 3 gods to focus on. They took notes and cut out pictures. It was very hands-on learning. My teacher prides himself on the use of hands on learning and the kids really seem to enjoy it. The kids were actually paying attention too! It was because they were in small groups. I think that the groups really helped them learn. After the bell rang I talked to the student teachers. They all are from the same college as me. They didn't mind that I helped in their groups. I though each teacher was very good with their group. They stayed focused and were very professional. They were very surprised at how well behaved that class was. Of course you always get a trouble maker of two but overall, these kids are wonderful. I actually had visited another class with my teacher. There was only about 10 kids in the room but you could hear them half way across the school. They were terrible!! The teacher just let them behave like that! After that experience I was even prouder of my class! I can't wait to go back!!
Thursday, February 11, 2010
My First Visit
I've went twice to the school now. I really, really like it. The students are wonderful and welcomed me right into the classroom. I use to work near the school so I'm familiar with the neighborhood. I've never been inside the school though until the other day. The school seems very old. Paint is peeling from the ceilings and they don't seem like they have a lot of money. The school is dark and the hallways are cold. The classrooms are different though. There is lots of windows and it is warmer. There are lots of student art lining the walls and hanging from the ceilings. There are 6 rows of desks and every desk is full. Each student has a different background. They only meet for about 50 minutes then another period comes in. Each class is different. Some students seem really motivated to work, others don't care as much. I hope I can inspire some of the students. Their teacher seems to really inspire the students. He is very nice but tough. He told me he won't give the students an inch. I think that is good because his students are very well behaved. They get a little mad at him from time to time but they get over it quickly. Hard work and true comprehension seem to be valued. My teacher had to go somewhere second period and I went to an eighth grade class and this seems to be important here too. Overall, my first experience was great. I can't wait to go back!
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