first ptps teaching
the weather was terrific, and we passed some rather nice neighborhoods up on the hills of oakland.
but as soon as we went down the slope, woh, the view changed, very sudden and obvious. as if someone had drawn a line between the two parts of the city.
the school had mainly black and hispanic students. there was only one cauasian and one asian present - eric and me.
one student turned up for eric m and marshall's session on monday. we were much luckier today, we had two.
both of them were junior girls. one girl wants to be a doctor and has already taken SAT early this month, but she didn't know that she also needed 2 SAT IIs. the other one just knows she needs to take the SAT for college and had no idea what the tests are like.
we first went over basic test taking techniques such as when to guess for an answer and how to fill in the grids and plug in numbers for variables.
"After a while, two girls showed up to use the computers in the teacher's room--I guess they hang out there often after school. They used the computers for a little bit then one started getting involved in our lesson (Number Basics--it can really hook any audience). I got her a book and she started following with the other two. At that point, I asked the fourth girl if she wanted a book too and everyone was in." - from eric's site email
eric is a terrific teacher, he's very patient and explains math in simple and clear terms. but we got stuck on this one problem for quite a long time. one girl had trouble thinking back in time to figure out how old one would be right now if one was 10 two years ago. she said that she's thinking about becoming a vet or an astronut, and she looked quite hopeful. that made me sad. for a moment i wasn't sure if anything we do there is significant enough to be of any real help to the students. even one of the better learned girl had problem doing basic math because she forgot or didn't know a(b+c) meant a x (b+c). plugging in numbers is their only way to solve any problem involving variables.
when i first entered the room i looked around and noticed it was a social science classroom. on one of the blackboards it was written that the goal of the econ class is to have students understand the basic concepts, terms and reasoning of economics. the phrase now sounded almost as practical and realistic as one of those "we are communist progenies who will liberate all human kind" phrases that had hung in frames on the walls of my elementary school in china.
it wasn't until last week that i found out america actually has a terribly low high school graduation rate, and the percent of students going on to college is just, eh, probably the same as in china. and i used to complain about how the chinese system's no good by not giving the majority of the students a chance to go to college.
the students there today were down to earth, very motivated, but at the same time lost. they want to go to college and pursue a good career, but they don't know how. having grown up in an education oriented environment, i had just assumed that everyone automatically knows the path to college. i can't picture what it'd be like to be all by myself probing around for a possible chulu, good thing they at least have a career center there.
i'm guessing that we have such a low turn out rate is not because the kids are too lazy to stay afterschool for more learning, but because they just don't consider taking the SATs and going to college a realistic option. last summer i met quite a few girls in yunnan who had finished only middle school and had to get a job as a maid of some sort. when being asked about their future, they all replied with "in a few years i'll just get married". that was in china, the rural undeveloped parts of china. i didn't know that college could also seem so far away to someone living in urban america today.
but as soon as we went down the slope, woh, the view changed, very sudden and obvious. as if someone had drawn a line between the two parts of the city.
the school had mainly black and hispanic students. there was only one cauasian and one asian present - eric and me.
one student turned up for eric m and marshall's session on monday. we were much luckier today, we had two.
both of them were junior girls. one girl wants to be a doctor and has already taken SAT early this month, but she didn't know that she also needed 2 SAT IIs. the other one just knows she needs to take the SAT for college and had no idea what the tests are like.
we first went over basic test taking techniques such as when to guess for an answer and how to fill in the grids and plug in numbers for variables.
"After a while, two girls showed up to use the computers in the teacher's room--I guess they hang out there often after school. They used the computers for a little bit then one started getting involved in our lesson (Number Basics--it can really hook any audience). I got her a book and she started following with the other two. At that point, I asked the fourth girl if she wanted a book too and everyone was in." - from eric's site email
eric is a terrific teacher, he's very patient and explains math in simple and clear terms. but we got stuck on this one problem for quite a long time. one girl had trouble thinking back in time to figure out how old one would be right now if one was 10 two years ago. she said that she's thinking about becoming a vet or an astronut, and she looked quite hopeful. that made me sad. for a moment i wasn't sure if anything we do there is significant enough to be of any real help to the students. even one of the better learned girl had problem doing basic math because she forgot or didn't know a(b+c) meant a x (b+c). plugging in numbers is their only way to solve any problem involving variables.
when i first entered the room i looked around and noticed it was a social science classroom. on one of the blackboards it was written that the goal of the econ class is to have students understand the basic concepts, terms and reasoning of economics. the phrase now sounded almost as practical and realistic as one of those "we are communist progenies who will liberate all human kind" phrases that had hung in frames on the walls of my elementary school in china.
it wasn't until last week that i found out america actually has a terribly low high school graduation rate, and the percent of students going on to college is just, eh, probably the same as in china. and i used to complain about how the chinese system's no good by not giving the majority of the students a chance to go to college.
the students there today were down to earth, very motivated, but at the same time lost. they want to go to college and pursue a good career, but they don't know how. having grown up in an education oriented environment, i had just assumed that everyone automatically knows the path to college. i can't picture what it'd be like to be all by myself probing around for a possible chulu, good thing they at least have a career center there.
i'm guessing that we have such a low turn out rate is not because the kids are too lazy to stay afterschool for more learning, but because they just don't consider taking the SATs and going to college a realistic option. last summer i met quite a few girls in yunnan who had finished only middle school and had to get a job as a maid of some sort. when being asked about their future, they all replied with "in a few years i'll just get married". that was in china, the rural undeveloped parts of china. i didn't know that college could also seem so far away to someone living in urban america today.