For the past few weeks I have been tutoring math students who need a little extra help understanding the material. I have never officially tutored before, so I wasn't sure what to expect when I first started. I figured since I am majoring in math and secondary education, tutoring would be a good experience for me to try and help students understand math concepts, as I will be doing in my future classrooms. I was hesitant at first about whether or not I actually wanted to commit to this, but then decided it would be good for me.
I walked into the first meeting feeling a little nervous for several reasons: I had never met the student before, I didn't know what their personal math abilities were or whether I could help them, and I hoped that I would actually remember how to do the math that they were required to do. After our introductions, I asked the student what content they were in the middle of. Thankfully, I was able to recall the concepts and techniques from this section of math. That first hour-long session was a little difficult, mostly because I had to figure out what exactly they understood and how fast/slow I had to go about explaining the material. Eventually, our meeting came to an end, and though it was difficult, I felt that I had helped the student, even if only a little bit.
The second group, with two different students, met later that evening. This session was a little more difficult since there were two students that each had their own level of understanding of the subject. I felt the easiest way was to work with each student and have the other look on while I was explaining what the first student didn't understand. The first student seemed to grasp the material soon after I explained it to them. I found that the second student had a little more difficulty understanding concepts that should have been understood for this class. I asked them about their math history, and they said that the information just never stuck. I was a little discouraged, not at the student, but that their previous school hadn't made sure that the student understood the math that they needed in order to graduate. It gave me insight as to how important it is for teachers to make sure that their students really do understand the material.
Since these two first meetings, I have met with the students a couple more times each, and it's been easier each time. I am beginning to see how to explain the material to each of them, as they learn in different ways. Even though I haven't been doing it for long, I can see that it is definitely going to be a helpful experience in understanding the ways that different students learn and how the curriculum in schools needs to be specialized so that each student is able to successfully learn the material in ways that help them use it.
11/27/08 - Interview a teacher for special needs
For one of my classes, I was assigned a special education teacher to observe. Several times throughout the semester, I went to observe her and watch her work with the students. It turned out to be a great experience as I was able to see how a special education teacher deals with the daily unexpected situations of working with students who have special needs. I was also excited to be able to get to know the regular students, even just a little, and see the ways in which they worked with or against their disorder.
A couple of times during my observations, I interviewed my cooperating teacher and asked her questions about her job and her work with the students. Some of the themes I touched upon in my discussions with her included collaboration among teachers (both special ed. and general), inclusion and obstacles, individual work with the students, and representation of genders and minority groups. To sum up, here are a few highlights of her responses:
Collaboration generally seems to work between the general staff and the special education teachers. The teachers usually communicate through e-mail, and while the general teachers sometimes fall behind in getting the work for the special education teachers, they are all usually on the same page.
At this point, my cooperating teacher only works with boys, though she used to work with two girls, who went onto the middle school. She feels that boys tend to be labeled with special needs more than girls because teachers don’t accommodate for boys needs during the elementary years.
My cooperating teacher feels that there is a fair distribution between backgrounds of students in this school, mostly due to the high diversity that is present in the area.
My cooperating teacher feels that the most important part of working with special needs or emotional disorder students is the relationship with them. In order to be successful, you must get to know the student very well and know about their abilities, likes/dislikes, and personality traits. Because of this belief, she spends quite a bit of time, when first taking on a student, getting to know them.
From my conversations with my cooperating teacher, I came to better understand the many pieces that make up special education, and why it is so important in our local schools. It’s a program that must be offered so that all students have the ability to get an education and better their worlds. It made me realize that as a general teacher of math in a middle school, I will definitely have to have good connections and collaboration with the special education teachers in my (future) school in order to make sure each student has the same opportunities to learn. I want these special needs students in my classroom, because I want to get a chance to show them math and help them understand it. I realized that I will always have to be making accommodations for some students, but that’s the best way to teach: making sure each student is given that ability or opportunity to understand the material and use it in a way that works for them. Overall, I really appreciated this time spend with the special education teacher as it gave me more insight into the world of special education and how, one day, it will be part of my career.
12/4/08 - Freedom Writers - Lives of inner-city students & how their education is affected
Recently I watched the movie "Freedom Writers", which is the true story of a first-time high school teacher who struggles to make connections with her students, but eventually is able to get through to them. I felt that the movie did a great job illustrating the daily struggles that the students faced as they fought for their lives. The movie then showed how these endeavors then impacted their education. It was a view of inner-city life in an area of California that I was very unfamiliar with.
In the story, the concept of gangs in that area was highlighted as it was an important and main part of most students' lives. The story circled around to the different students and illustrated the gang involvement that their families had and the violence that was almost a constant in their lives. It showed how many of these students had grown up in this kind of environment and it was basically all they knew. They had been trained by their families to dodge bullets, stand against their enemies and fight for their allies. This was the basis of the education that stayed with them through their upbringing. It was obvious that most students were just moving from grade to grade, and weren't retaining any knowledge that the school teachers were giving them. Unfortunately, the teachers knew this fact and weren't motivated to try harder, since they believed no one could get through to them. They were wrong.
When Erin Gruwell came to the high school, she worked very hard to make connections with the students, even though it cost her a lot of time, money, energy, and her marriage. At one point, Erin confronts the students about stereotypes and makes a comment about the Holocaust. She is shocked to find that only one student (the only white student) knows what the Holocaust was. This was an example of how the students don't learn in the schools and really only learn from their life experiences. With time, Erin eventually is able to connect with the students through a writing project and they learn so much more than people around them, even teachers, thought was possible.
Even while the story is an amazing story, what stuck out to me was the lifestyle of these students. Their lives are filled with so much unnecessary violence and they are not able to expand their knowledge of the world outside of their communities. Because of the violence and disturbances in these areas, the students are not able to be challenged and grow as intellectual individuals because they are too preoccupied with staying alive. To them, the idea of school is a joke; it's something that is laughed about and pushed aside. It's seen as a way to get off the streets for a while, even by their parents. Speaking of the parents, I was even surprised to find that most weren't very supportive of their students academic interests or abilities - they were also too preoccupied with their lives and what they had to do to get by. They seemed to be looking forward to the days when their children could stay home and help with the tasks around the house. It just made me realize that this is a mindset that needs to be changed. Fortunately there are teachers and people out there who are helping to correct this.
I think what I got most from this movie was the importance of reaching out to people and believing in them, even if they don't respond or want help. It's important to continue to show that you truly care and want them to succeed. As a future teacher, I think this is such an important concept to keep in mind as I look forward to the struggles with students that I will have. I know that I will have students who don't respond well to my teaching styles or techniques and some won't even be interested in school at all. My job will be to find a way to intrigue them and make them interested in the content. I will have to come up with many new projects or techniques that will help the students make connections with math so that they can learn the material. I know it will be a challenge, but I look forward to fighting it. Overall, "Freedom Writers" was a wonderful movie that can show how important it is to make connections with students, or people in general, if we hope to create a atmosphere of knowledge and deeper understanding of the world around us.
