For my last trip I worked with the same student that I worked with my last time, Sarah. This time I was able to find out a little more about her. I found out that she was supposed to be graduating this May, but fell behind in her classes when she was expelled from her high school her senior year. She said that they did not let her go back to school for a few months so that put her behind.
Unlike many of the other students that I have worked with who are eager to get back to the regular classroom, Sarah says she likes going to school at the PLC better. She said that she likes it because she does not have to wait on the teacher to give her the tests and that she can go ahead and do it on her own. I think that this shows how Sarah is a little more self motivated than some of the previous students I have worked with. She also only has two more units left in her course work for her English class. That is super impressive considering she just started at the PLC about a month ago. She told me that she takes notes and does well on the pre-tests so that she does not have to sit through all of the other parts of the unit and slow her down. Sarah said that sometimes other students ask if they can borrow her notes and she tells them no. She thinks that they should take their own notes and do their own work. When I asked her what she wanted to do after school, Sarah said that she wanted to attend cosmetology school.
I think that it is important for the student's to have plans for after school. I know that Adrian also said that she wanted to be a crime scene investigator. Derrick told me that he wanted to work with computers. Whenever students have something that they aspire to do after they finish high school, it gives them something to look forward to. I love it when the students ask me questions about college. I like it when they ask me about my classes and what college is like. It excites me to know that they are interested in getting to where I am in the academic setting.
One thing that I can safely say that I have gained from this class is a better idea of what goes on in the classroom. The different issues that we have covered in our book clubs has made me realize that there are many aspects to teaching in today's classrooms. The skills that I learned while giving our book presentations have also been helpful to me. Last week I had to give a presentation in my English class. When I was preparing my presentation I knew that I was going to have the class interact with me. Once it was my turn to do my part of the presentation I started out with a funny, relative article to my topic and grabbed the class's attention and then asked them their opinions on certain parts of it. I was more than thrilled when the class responded to my questions and it was not just dominated by one student, but many of the students in the class were involved. When I was finished I was very proud of myself because I felt like I had accomplished something that was relative to my future job.
Sometimes I wonder why I chose to go into education and then I think about all of the things that I like about it. It gives me a chance to work with something that I love everyday which is books. It also gives me a chance to be around people and I thrive on interaction with others. My favorite part of teaching is that it gives me the chance to go and make a difference in the world. I can share my knowledge with the next generation and hopefully inspire them to learn to love learning the way that I do.
I have taken away very many things from this class and it all helps me ascertain that I am heading in the right direction with my career choice. I think that teaching is more than a job though. I think that teaching is a lifestyle. As a teacher I want to always be thinking of new ways to introduce material to my students. I want to be innovative and have a fun classroom where learning does not seem like such a chore. Because of this class I think that I will have the tools needed to have the type of classroom that is beneficial for my students. I know that I will have the knowledge to find the answers to any difficulties that I have in my class and I will always continue to learn more about the teaching profession. I thoroughly enjoyed my time in this class and everything that I learned from it and my time spent with all of my different students at the PLC.
Monday, April 25, 2011
Monday, April 18, 2011
4-18
So today, the class that I am normally in for tutoring had a substitute teacher. The students acted just like how other students did when I was in high school. Very many of the students chose to skip. I know this because I saw at least two of the girls who were supposed to be in the class out of the building. There was literally only three students that showed up and there were three more random students who were staying in the classroom for that period. My usual student did not show up and neither did any of the other students that I generally work with so I went to a different classroom. I worked with a student along with a fellow tutor.
This student, Sarah, was working on 12th grade literature. She said that she had entered the program a month ago and was actually ahead of where she needed to be in the course. The way she was able to do this is similar to the way Adrian's program is set up.She only has to take the pre-tests and if she passes them then she gets to skip the lecture and homework parts of the course. This really bothers me about the way the online classes are set up. Sarah said that her teacher generally summarizes the stories for her, so that she does not even have to read them. I feel like this completely defeats the purpose of the point of the program. The students is not really learning anything in my opinion. Sarah stated several times that she did not like being in the classroom that she was in while doing her work, and that she was ready to be done with the course so she did not have to get up early anymore. I understand that a majority of the students that are enrolled at the PLC are not the average students, but I feel that they should be held to a higher standard than it appears many of them are being held to.Sarah said that there was another girl who was almost completely done with the program at this point. She said she was able to do that because she worked with a tutor for every period and was able to take the pre-tests and skip the lectures and extra stuff that goes along with the lessons. Sarah said that was why she wanted to work with a tutor as much as possible so that she can get done with everything. She said that she never understood why people would turn down the chance to work with a tutor. This actually made me feel a little appreciated for being there. I have felt appreciated other times, like I have been making a little difference in the school work of the students I have worked with when they do well on their tests.
One of the things that this course has made me realize is that classrooms work better when they are not as one sided with the teacher dominating the classroom. Granted, high school is a bit different than college classrooms, I think that students would appreciate being in charge of what they are learning to some extent. I remember my favorite English teacher in high school only gave us one exam. The rest of our grades came from group projects and different interactive activities within the classroom. We would have girls verses boys competitions by creating plays similar to ones that we had been reading in class. That was the best class I had in high school. I never felt like I was really having to do a ton of work, yet I was learning way more than I realized. I feel like I would want to conduct my classroom in a similar way that this class from high school was conducted and like this one. I think by having something like book clubs, the students would learn more and interact with the literature in a different way than they would probably be used to doing. There are so many different ways that teacher could get students more involved in the classrooms, and after going to the PLC I think it is very important to try to reach out to your students and connect with them. I mean we do expect them to learn what we are discussing in class, but maybe it would help if the teacher could learn more about what her students liked and incorporate that into the lesson in some way. I think that it would be cool to find out the students favorite shows or movies and introduce it into a lesson in some way to help them better understand what is being taught and to capture their attention. There are ways other than the traditional ones that would help a class reach its full potential. I think there would be nothing more satisfying than know that my students understood something because I could relate it to their lives. When I begin teaching one of my main goals will be to connect with my students. Sometimes all a person needs is that one person in their life to encourage them and push them to reach their full potential and I would be more than happy to help my students do that.
This student, Sarah, was working on 12th grade literature. She said that she had entered the program a month ago and was actually ahead of where she needed to be in the course. The way she was able to do this is similar to the way Adrian's program is set up.She only has to take the pre-tests and if she passes them then she gets to skip the lecture and homework parts of the course. This really bothers me about the way the online classes are set up. Sarah said that her teacher generally summarizes the stories for her, so that she does not even have to read them. I feel like this completely defeats the purpose of the point of the program. The students is not really learning anything in my opinion. Sarah stated several times that she did not like being in the classroom that she was in while doing her work, and that she was ready to be done with the course so she did not have to get up early anymore. I understand that a majority of the students that are enrolled at the PLC are not the average students, but I feel that they should be held to a higher standard than it appears many of them are being held to.Sarah said that there was another girl who was almost completely done with the program at this point. She said she was able to do that because she worked with a tutor for every period and was able to take the pre-tests and skip the lectures and extra stuff that goes along with the lessons. Sarah said that was why she wanted to work with a tutor as much as possible so that she can get done with everything. She said that she never understood why people would turn down the chance to work with a tutor. This actually made me feel a little appreciated for being there. I have felt appreciated other times, like I have been making a little difference in the school work of the students I have worked with when they do well on their tests.
One of the things that this course has made me realize is that classrooms work better when they are not as one sided with the teacher dominating the classroom. Granted, high school is a bit different than college classrooms, I think that students would appreciate being in charge of what they are learning to some extent. I remember my favorite English teacher in high school only gave us one exam. The rest of our grades came from group projects and different interactive activities within the classroom. We would have girls verses boys competitions by creating plays similar to ones that we had been reading in class. That was the best class I had in high school. I never felt like I was really having to do a ton of work, yet I was learning way more than I realized. I feel like I would want to conduct my classroom in a similar way that this class from high school was conducted and like this one. I think by having something like book clubs, the students would learn more and interact with the literature in a different way than they would probably be used to doing. There are so many different ways that teacher could get students more involved in the classrooms, and after going to the PLC I think it is very important to try to reach out to your students and connect with them. I mean we do expect them to learn what we are discussing in class, but maybe it would help if the teacher could learn more about what her students liked and incorporate that into the lesson in some way. I think that it would be cool to find out the students favorite shows or movies and introduce it into a lesson in some way to help them better understand what is being taught and to capture their attention. There are ways other than the traditional ones that would help a class reach its full potential. I think there would be nothing more satisfying than know that my students understood something because I could relate it to their lives. When I begin teaching one of my main goals will be to connect with my students. Sometimes all a person needs is that one person in their life to encourage them and push them to reach their full potential and I would be more than happy to help my students do that.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Last 2 Trips
Since I last wrote I have visited the PLC twice. Each time I worked with a different student. The first of these two visits I worked with a guy named Clarke.
I had never worked with Clarke before, but I had noticed him in the classroom because he is a vocal student. He generally talks once he comes into the room, but gets quickly to work. While I was working with him, I noticed that he would do his work online the way I probably would have if I had been a student at the PLC. He would read the questions at the end of the stories to find out what he was supposed to be looking for in the story. By doing this, he sometimes prevented himself from having to read the whole story. I used to use this strategy while I was taking tests in high school such as the EOCT or the SAT. Clarke had developed a system that worked for him while he was doing his work online. If there was questions he did not know he would simply search for the answer on the internet. I think that that is one of the negative factors about this alternative school. Sometimes I think that the students do not truly have to learn any of the information. I also think that it must be hard to sit at a computer for classes and almost basically teach yourself. I personally would be bored out of my mind if I had to do that, but I know that many of these students like this program versus the traditional high school.
I also find that many of the students there are there to catch up with their work. For example, Clarke should be graduating this year, but he is behind in some of his classes. I attempted to ask him a little about what schools he had went to when he was in the traditional high school, and he told me basically all of the ones in his county. His mom works for the school system and when he would get into trouble she would make sure that he got moved to a different school where he could continue his education. Unfortunately, Clarke missed a good bit of school because of time he spent in rehab for drug abuse. This is something that I never would imagine a person younger than me having to experience. I see it on the television everyday where celebrities are in and out of rehab, but I have never personally known someone who struggled with something like that. Clarke said that he now has his priorities in order though and is planning to graduate. He also is a frontman to a jam band he has with a few of his friends. I think that it is very interesting to learn about each of these students hobbies and some of their stories.
I have never realized how different people's outlooks on school in general can be. I loved every minute of my middle and high school years. I didn't think it could get any better than that until I came to college. It just blows my mind to think that some people have no plans to go to college at all. Spending time at this school has really helped to open my eyes up to the different types of students that are out there.
The most recent time when I went to I worked with Adrian again. She is still behind in her English program a pretty good bit. She is taking two other classes, History and Government, both on the eleventh grade level, but her English class is 9th grade. She told me that she failed her 9th grade class at her traditional high school, but that the counselors messed up her schedule so she was able to take her 10th grade literature. Adrian is 17 and has a one year old child. She said that she is at the PLC to catch up on her classes and that she does not want to have to graduate from there. She wants to go back to her old high school for her last semester. Adrian said that she just doesn't like being at the PLC and that it's boring to her. She also said that if she went back to her regular high school she would probably fall behind so that's why she is going to wait until her last semester to go back.
Adrian has her program on E-2020 set so that if she passes the pre-tests then she does not have to sit through the lectures or do the homework to hopefully help her catch up. When the pre-tests ask her questions about stories she has not read yet because she has not gotten to them, she will find the story on the internet and read it. She also answers the questions similar to the way that I answer questions that I am not sure about. I would like to think that I am a good test taker and I generally make the grades to prove it. When I do not know the answer to questions I eliminate the ones I know are not right and then choose the best one and that is the same strategy that Adrian would use when I was working with her. I enjoyed working with her because she would ask me questions when she was not sure about something instead of just trying to look up the information on the internet. She seemed like she really was wanting to learn.
I really enjoy the time that I get to spend with the students at the PLC because I think it is important for me to get out of my comfort zone and experience other classroom settings. I think that I am not only helping these students accomplish the work that they work on, but also helping myself become a better teacher. These kids are almost my age, but we are so different. I think that is one of the things that I enjoy the most about the idea of teaching. I cannot stand monotony and with a classroom full of children with all kinds of backgrounds and personal experiences I don't think that I will ever encounter that. The challenges will be the best part of the job though, I believe. Trying to figure out how to capture the attention of 30 students that are so diverse will be a challenge, and I would like to think that I will be able to overcome this challenge to help make a difference in the children's education.
I had never worked with Clarke before, but I had noticed him in the classroom because he is a vocal student. He generally talks once he comes into the room, but gets quickly to work. While I was working with him, I noticed that he would do his work online the way I probably would have if I had been a student at the PLC. He would read the questions at the end of the stories to find out what he was supposed to be looking for in the story. By doing this, he sometimes prevented himself from having to read the whole story. I used to use this strategy while I was taking tests in high school such as the EOCT or the SAT. Clarke had developed a system that worked for him while he was doing his work online. If there was questions he did not know he would simply search for the answer on the internet. I think that that is one of the negative factors about this alternative school. Sometimes I think that the students do not truly have to learn any of the information. I also think that it must be hard to sit at a computer for classes and almost basically teach yourself. I personally would be bored out of my mind if I had to do that, but I know that many of these students like this program versus the traditional high school.
I also find that many of the students there are there to catch up with their work. For example, Clarke should be graduating this year, but he is behind in some of his classes. I attempted to ask him a little about what schools he had went to when he was in the traditional high school, and he told me basically all of the ones in his county. His mom works for the school system and when he would get into trouble she would make sure that he got moved to a different school where he could continue his education. Unfortunately, Clarke missed a good bit of school because of time he spent in rehab for drug abuse. This is something that I never would imagine a person younger than me having to experience. I see it on the television everyday where celebrities are in and out of rehab, but I have never personally known someone who struggled with something like that. Clarke said that he now has his priorities in order though and is planning to graduate. He also is a frontman to a jam band he has with a few of his friends. I think that it is very interesting to learn about each of these students hobbies and some of their stories.
I have never realized how different people's outlooks on school in general can be. I loved every minute of my middle and high school years. I didn't think it could get any better than that until I came to college. It just blows my mind to think that some people have no plans to go to college at all. Spending time at this school has really helped to open my eyes up to the different types of students that are out there.
The most recent time when I went to I worked with Adrian again. She is still behind in her English program a pretty good bit. She is taking two other classes, History and Government, both on the eleventh grade level, but her English class is 9th grade. She told me that she failed her 9th grade class at her traditional high school, but that the counselors messed up her schedule so she was able to take her 10th grade literature. Adrian is 17 and has a one year old child. She said that she is at the PLC to catch up on her classes and that she does not want to have to graduate from there. She wants to go back to her old high school for her last semester. Adrian said that she just doesn't like being at the PLC and that it's boring to her. She also said that if she went back to her regular high school she would probably fall behind so that's why she is going to wait until her last semester to go back.
Adrian has her program on E-2020 set so that if she passes the pre-tests then she does not have to sit through the lectures or do the homework to hopefully help her catch up. When the pre-tests ask her questions about stories she has not read yet because she has not gotten to them, she will find the story on the internet and read it. She also answers the questions similar to the way that I answer questions that I am not sure about. I would like to think that I am a good test taker and I generally make the grades to prove it. When I do not know the answer to questions I eliminate the ones I know are not right and then choose the best one and that is the same strategy that Adrian would use when I was working with her. I enjoyed working with her because she would ask me questions when she was not sure about something instead of just trying to look up the information on the internet. She seemed like she really was wanting to learn.
I really enjoy the time that I get to spend with the students at the PLC because I think it is important for me to get out of my comfort zone and experience other classroom settings. I think that I am not only helping these students accomplish the work that they work on, but also helping myself become a better teacher. These kids are almost my age, but we are so different. I think that is one of the things that I enjoy the most about the idea of teaching. I cannot stand monotony and with a classroom full of children with all kinds of backgrounds and personal experiences I don't think that I will ever encounter that. The challenges will be the best part of the job though, I believe. Trying to figure out how to capture the attention of 30 students that are so diverse will be a challenge, and I would like to think that I will be able to overcome this challenge to help make a difference in the children's education.
Saturday, March 19, 2011
The Essential Difference
For my second book club I have been reading The Essential Difference by Simon Baron-Cohen. The book basically distinguishes the differences in the sexes brains by categorizing them into male brains being systemizing and female brains being empathinzing. Baron-Cohen explains that the male brain is generally wired to systemize things. They are more likely to place things in categories or distinguish how things work as a system. The male brain is likely to recall systems of numbers such as jersey numbers associated with a specific sports team they watch or maybe the players batting averages. The female brain is empathetic which means that it helps them to tune into the feelings of others and how to react appropriately to others emotions.
The reason I am writing about this is because after reading the book I started noticing the differences. For example, I was at my sister's softball game today and there were about five guys there cheering for her team. The guys were athletes at the school too. While my sister's team was at bat, the guys would poke fun of the other team's girls. Since they did not know the names of the girls on the other team, they would associate the girl and her number with a number that related to a basketball player's number in the NBA. For instance, they called one girl Paul Pierce because her number was 34 and that's the same number as Paul Pierce. They also used the names Michael Jordan and Lebron James. They were extremely amusing and kept the game entertaining while they cheered for the team while they were unconsciously exhibiting the typical systemizing brain that Baron-Cohen associates with males.
I myself have always played sports since I was a young girl and have been an Atlanta Braves fan as long as I can remember. I can tell you that at the baseball game I went to for my birthday last year Eric Hinske hit his first career homerun as a Brave. I could not tell you his number or anything like that. I can tell you the people I went with to see it and what I wore, but not what the final score was or the exact date. Typically a person that has a more systematic functioning brain probably would be able to recall more specific numbers about the game than someone like me with an empathic brain.
This book was one that I thoroughly enjoyed and really appreciated. I liked that the scientific facts were presented in a way that made it easy for me to understand and to follow. It was a book that made me interested in reading more about Autism. I am currently interviewing a friend who has a brother that has Aspergers and I am looking forward to finding out more about him after reading this book to see if it coincides with what Simon Baron-Cohen presents in The Essential Difference.
The reason I am writing about this is because after reading the book I started noticing the differences. For example, I was at my sister's softball game today and there were about five guys there cheering for her team. The guys were athletes at the school too. While my sister's team was at bat, the guys would poke fun of the other team's girls. Since they did not know the names of the girls on the other team, they would associate the girl and her number with a number that related to a basketball player's number in the NBA. For instance, they called one girl Paul Pierce because her number was 34 and that's the same number as Paul Pierce. They also used the names Michael Jordan and Lebron James. They were extremely amusing and kept the game entertaining while they cheered for the team while they were unconsciously exhibiting the typical systemizing brain that Baron-Cohen associates with males.
I myself have always played sports since I was a young girl and have been an Atlanta Braves fan as long as I can remember. I can tell you that at the baseball game I went to for my birthday last year Eric Hinske hit his first career homerun as a Brave. I could not tell you his number or anything like that. I can tell you the people I went with to see it and what I wore, but not what the final score was or the exact date. Typically a person that has a more systematic functioning brain probably would be able to recall more specific numbers about the game than someone like me with an empathic brain.
This book was one that I thoroughly enjoyed and really appreciated. I liked that the scientific facts were presented in a way that made it easy for me to understand and to follow. It was a book that made me interested in reading more about Autism. I am currently interviewing a friend who has a brother that has Aspergers and I am looking forward to finding out more about him after reading this book to see if it coincides with what Simon Baron-Cohen presents in The Essential Difference.
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Day 5
Day Five (March 7, 2011):
Today I was able to work with Riley again. We started out by reading a ten page story. Riley was taking her time and reading her printout while I read the story online. The teacher was doing her walks around the room and when she arrived at Riley she told her that she could go ahead and do the assessment since she had the story in front of her and did not have to read the entire thing. I realized that this is something you would normally never see happen in a normal classroom setting, but the circumstances are different in this case. Riley is still behind in her literature class. She said that she is pretty much caught up with all of the other classes except for this one because of all the reading.
We worked through the homework that followed the reading. Riley was asked to write a few short essays throughout the homework that involved her interpretation of different parts of the story. I have never had to read any of Riley’s writing or seen it before since all of her tests are taken on the computer and are generally multiple choice. Her grammar skills were actually lacking. I know that students today are said to write like they talk, but I have never really witnessed that until I watched Riley working on her short essays. I helped her with her writing the best that I could as we went along. I noticed that she was using the wrong ‘their’ while she was typing so I wrote out for her the three different forms of the word that people generally get confused. After we went over the differences she said that it helped and refreshed her memory. There was a few other times when she would use slang words like ‘gonna’ instead of going, but I would point it out to her and she would correct it. We worked through the quiz and she made a 90 on it. We did not get through very much of her work since the story that she had to read was so long. I can understand why it is difficult for Riley to stay up to speed with her work since she is required to do the reading and then the homework and quizzes all in one sitting.
I feel like I am developing a relationship with Riley. She knows that I will be there every Monday at the same time and that she will have me to help her. Sometimes when we are going over questions from her homework or for the quizzes I will ask her to explain why she chose her answer. I think that if she can do that then she really understands the material and what is really going on. If she has trouble or says her common phrase: “I don’t know”, I tell her that I think she really does and try to explain the question differently. Most of the time after I explain something, Riley, is able to make the connection to the material and understand how we arrived at the answer.
Riley seems to be making progress though. I think that after we go over certain terms she retains the information because she can answer my questions about it. I explain vocabulary terms to her that she does not understand and I see her make the best choices for the quiz questions based off of the explanations that I have given her.
Another thing that I have noticed every time that I drive to the school, I pass a police car. This is not an exaggeration at all. Every single time I have drove over to tutor, I have seen a police car patrolling through the neighborhood. I do not know exactly why I have picked up on this, but it is something that I have noticed happening.
Day 4
Day Four (February 28):
Today, Riley was late to class so I was assigned to work with another student until she arrived. This new student was named Adrian. She was working on Literature for grade nine. She told me that she had already taken and failed the course two or three times before she entered the e2020 program. I asked her if she liked it better and she said yes because she was able to pass the tests easier and could get more help. Adrian started this semester later than most of the other students. She did not begin until the end of January so she is quite a good bit behind where she should be in the program.
To help her catch up, the teacher in the classroom told her she would help Adrian work through a 12 page short story by working on the quiz with her. After they finished the teacher said that that should help her with catching up some, but Adrian showed me her progress measured in the program and she was still far behind.
Once Patrice came back I worked with her while Adrian was receiving help from her teacher. Patrice was in the middle of finishing her test for her 10th grade literature class. While we were working through it I would try to help her when she was having trouble determining the answer. I did this by asking her if there were any answers she could eliminate and if so which ones. After that I would ask her which one did she think was the best answer and after she would respond I would ask her why she chose that. Most of the time Patrice would respond “I don’t know”, but I would help her work through it. I would ask her why she knew it was not the other ones and then help her explain why she chose the final answer that she did. I think that by doing this, it helped her to understand the material better.
I never really liked taking tests in high school where the teacher would ask short answer questions, or any type of questions and then ask me to explain my answer. Now I feel like as a teacher it is helpful to know how your students arrive at their answer by having them to explain their reasoning. I think that even if the answer that the student gives is not necessarily “correct”, if their reasoning is logical they should still be allotted some points for their answer.
Day 3
Day 3 (February 21):
Today, I was unable to work with Riley. The students in her class, including her, were taking what the school calls a “benchmark test”. This test is to measure how far the student is in his or her objectives set out by the program. The teacher also encouraged the students to do well on this test because if they met certain objectives then she would remove them from their objectives list on their E2020 program.
Rather than staying in the classroom, the teacher allowed me to work with a student who was in a class for an elective. His name was Derrick. He was by far the most entertaining and self motivated student that I have worked with so far. We went to an extra room in the school that houses 3 or 4 extra computers for students. There we began to work through his Exploring Careers class. Derrick impressed me in many ways. He actually took the time to copy notes in the space created by the program that allows the students to keep them. He would pause the lecture in certain places and take down notes that were important from the slide show and cite the examples given by the instructor in his notes. I was impressed because I have thus far worked with three different students and he was the only one I had seen actually take notes and be active in the lecture part of the program. The other students, not just the ones I have worked with, generally mute the lecture and listen to music or work on other projects. Derrick told me that he tried that and was just going to go through the tests and make his best guess, but after failing one test twice because he slept through the lecture, he decided against this method.
Derrick is a 19 year old student at Classic City High. He told me that he should have kept his priorities in order when he was in high school and still had the chance. He said he would have probably graduated when he was 17 if he had stayed on track and done what he was supposed to. Not only did he impress me with his note taking skills and actual devotion to his school work, but he told me about some other skills he has. He is able to fix computers, gaming systems, phones, etc. He told me about one time when his Playstation 3 started scratching his cd’s. Rather than taking it to a shop to see what was wrong with it, he opted to get a screw driver and find out for himself. Once it was taken apart he found a broken piece of a cd in the gaming system and removed it. He said it worked like brand new after that. This impressed me not only because I am technologically challenged, but also because I did not really expect that to be something he was interested in. I’m not really sure what I expected, but this was something that I found impressive. Derrick told me that he would be interested in becoming a video game graphic designer. I found this to be a thrilling idea and certainly an attainable goal for someone who exhibited such a grand knowledge for computers and technology.
Derrick has developed a strategy for doing well on his quizzes and tests in the E2020 program. He is able to keep his notes pulled up while he is taking the quizzes and tests. When a question arises that he cannot recall the answer to, he simply pulls up the notes he has typed up and finds the answer. Granted, not many high schools allow open notes tests, this is still a good strategy for this situation. I say this simply because most of the students do not take the time to actually type the notes from the lecture. I think it’s actually a great idea because by taking notes, you know that the student is at least somewhat actively engaging in the school work. I see it as just an incentive for the students to take notes if they get to use them when it truly counts.
Not only did he do well on his quizzes, but we also discussed what he was thinking about doing once he finished his E2020 program. He is currently taking an environmental science class and an elective. Once he finishes these he only has two more electives to take during the summer and then will be able to graduate if he passes the science portion of the EOCT. Derrick also told me that he had had a great science teacher. He talked about the teacher and how he had taken the class out to actively engage outdoors in an entomology course. He said he really broke the class down into terms that he could understand. I feel like the teacher was able to do that because he had the chance to work with students and help to explain the material that they were covering in their E2020 course. Back to his plans after graduation, Derrick talked about possibly enlisting and joining the Marines. He said that he just could not wait for all of the new places and new tasks that would come along with joining the Marines. He also said he had thought about applying to UGA. I told him I thought that was a great idea.
One of the main reasons that Derrickl is not certain about whether he will be joining the Marines or not is because he has had a cousin who served and was killed overseas. He told me he remembered his dad getting the call that his cousin had passed away while serving because of a possible suicide mission. He told me that his father said he would support him if he chose to join the Marines, but that he needs to make sure he recognizes what could happen while he is serving. I asked Derrick if he was scared about the thought of death since his cousin had passed away serving his country. He told me that the possibility of dying is something that comes along with that job, but that serving his country is a greater service. Derrick was different than the other students I have worked with because he seemed to have a drive that I have not necessarily noticed in the others yet.
Derrick would talk about his mom. He said that she has 3 jobs just to make sure that they get everything that they all need. He talked about her like she really cared about him. He said that he had been to pretty much all of the high schools in Athens because she wanted him to find one that he could do good in and Classic City turned out to be the answer.
So far, I have thoroughly enjoyed my experiences at Classic City because of many reasons. I personally love getting to work with students one on one and learn their stories. I also like being able to help explain things to them so that they can better understand them. It shows whenever they get the answer correct and in the end earn a good grade on the work. I like the laid back environment that the school has. Personally, I find it a rather easy learning environment.
One of the main things that I have noticed in my time spent at Classic City so far has been the effectiveness of the E2020 program. I cannot speak for all of the students, but I feel that many of them would much prefer a little more hands on work to go along with their lessons. I mean, it gets boring just sitting and watching a lady on a computer screen lecture for 25 minutes and then take a quiz. The monotony of the program eventually wears down the students so that they get bored and are no longer interested in their work. I also feel that the students do not necessarily have to learn the material they are working on. They can generally glaze over the information presented to them and make reasonable assumptions about the answers or if they fail ask the teacher to reset the test for them so they can take it again. Also, the students can just take the notes from the material and then reference it during the tests so that they never truly have to learn it. I almost feel that this method of teaching that the E2020 program has developed is like the idea of “bulimic learning”. This type of learning means that the student learns what they need to to pass the test and stores that information long enough to take the test and it then leaves their minds as soon as the test is finished. I know it has to be harder to make sure that each and every student is actually learning and staying on task with this online program, but the teacher I have observed generally does a good job in making sure they are. She tends to help them whenever they are having trouble with certain parts of their objectives. I think the teacher in these classrooms has to be a very skilled professional, have a lot of knowledge, and maintain a high level of patience with his or her students. I won’t go so far as to say that the E2020 program is not efficient, because it is, I just feel that maybe there are some other ways that the program could engage the students more rather than having just a lecturer and a slide show.
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