(no subject)
Into the fourth week, I still have apprehension with certain approaches when tutoring. I ask myself if it is appropriate or if it is too presumptuous between the teachers, the students and myself. These dynamics are constantly in turmoil with external influences from the school as well. Today was really focused on managing disturbances and curriculum.
The period began with Ms. W reading a short story called “Your Move” by Eve Bunting. To summarize, the story’s plot dealt with gang influences, the repercussions, and the ripple effect into families of gang life-but that is the bigger picture unseen by the students. For some god-awful reason the story used nicknames for “gangs.” This could be to shield other unaffected-by-gang groups such as suburbanite students from gang life. Or it could just be an unnecessarily vague writing by the author.
The main characters in the story are ten and six and brothers. It has peer pressure, an antagonist in the pressuring friend, and a rival gang, and a gun. The students read the story, underlining important parts as Ms. W underlined. Afterwards, they chose their favorite parts of the story and explained why. The first and most obvious choice was the part with the gunfire. Ms. Bwent ahead to explain how crews and clubs were the same as gangs. So I’ll never know if they could figure it out on their own.
I have to again say Ms. W’s management of her class was so quick and easy as she read the first story. As we moved onto the second story, she places a timer under the overhead and tells them to get into partners and begin working before the time expires. The second story was “Shells” by Cynthia Rylant. The children enjoyed working in partners on their own and they enjoy reading aloud most of the time.
Jabori was the student I worked with. This is the second time, not because he’s a horrible student. He is largely unmotivated but reads well and reads often on his own. I don’t see him having much trouble with language arts when the subject matter interests him. “Shells” is incredibly depressing, however. It deals with a boy whose parents died recently and it’s his grandmother who reluctantly takes him in. They share joy in buying crabs together and live happily ever after. I had to feed him answers for the rest of the assignment unfortunately. He wanted to finish reading more manga.
Mr. C’s class was being substituted by an older, older woman who had forgotten most of algebra. They were learning the Pythagorean Theorem today which was simple enough. Most of us already knew how and most of the class already knew as well. The explanations were quick. The problem arose outside of math tutoring. I had asked what was the school’s fascination with manga was about and one of the students believed it was a Japanese school, or named after a dead Japanese teacher, but then the substitute halted conversation to tell them to honor her friend. Apparently, the substitute lived close to the teacher the school had been named after. This sort of outburst is expected but at this age, to instill regret you can’t just cram it down their throats. If the substitute had appealed to them by asking them how they felt if their dead friend was being insulted, they might have expressed regret.
I don’t want to assume and say there was a two-generation gap between the substitute and the students but time and shifting tradition and standards have become a factor that causes clashing between adults and children now. They like different music. They wear different clothes. They even speak a different language. They have a different lifestyle. How ever different they are, they are still simple creatures that appreciate being spoken to as people.
The period began with Ms. W reading a short story called “Your Move” by Eve Bunting. To summarize, the story’s plot dealt with gang influences, the repercussions, and the ripple effect into families of gang life-but that is the bigger picture unseen by the students. For some god-awful reason the story used nicknames for “gangs.” This could be to shield other unaffected-by-gang groups such as suburbanite students from gang life. Or it could just be an unnecessarily vague writing by the author.
The main characters in the story are ten and six and brothers. It has peer pressure, an antagonist in the pressuring friend, and a rival gang, and a gun. The students read the story, underlining important parts as Ms. W underlined. Afterwards, they chose their favorite parts of the story and explained why. The first and most obvious choice was the part with the gunfire. Ms. Bwent ahead to explain how crews and clubs were the same as gangs. So I’ll never know if they could figure it out on their own.
I have to again say Ms. W’s management of her class was so quick and easy as she read the first story. As we moved onto the second story, she places a timer under the overhead and tells them to get into partners and begin working before the time expires. The second story was “Shells” by Cynthia Rylant. The children enjoyed working in partners on their own and they enjoy reading aloud most of the time.
Jabori was the student I worked with. This is the second time, not because he’s a horrible student. He is largely unmotivated but reads well and reads often on his own. I don’t see him having much trouble with language arts when the subject matter interests him. “Shells” is incredibly depressing, however. It deals with a boy whose parents died recently and it’s his grandmother who reluctantly takes him in. They share joy in buying crabs together and live happily ever after. I had to feed him answers for the rest of the assignment unfortunately. He wanted to finish reading more manga.
Mr. C’s class was being substituted by an older, older woman who had forgotten most of algebra. They were learning the Pythagorean Theorem today which was simple enough. Most of us already knew how and most of the class already knew as well. The explanations were quick. The problem arose outside of math tutoring. I had asked what was the school’s fascination with manga was about and one of the students believed it was a Japanese school, or named after a dead Japanese teacher, but then the substitute halted conversation to tell them to honor her friend. Apparently, the substitute lived close to the teacher the school had been named after. This sort of outburst is expected but at this age, to instill regret you can’t just cram it down their throats. If the substitute had appealed to them by asking them how they felt if their dead friend was being insulted, they might have expressed regret.
I don’t want to assume and say there was a two-generation gap between the substitute and the students but time and shifting tradition and standards have become a factor that causes clashing between adults and children now. They like different music. They wear different clothes. They even speak a different language. They have a different lifestyle. How ever different they are, they are still simple creatures that appreciate being spoken to as people.