What a crazy semester. I hope I hit all the requirements in all of my classes...I guess I will not know until grades are posted. I am realizing that it is not easy, even with government aid and scholarships to get through college. I am working two part time jobs and barely pay for my gas!! I guess that is the only down side to all of this field experience.

I just taught my last lesson for the semester in a self-contained ESE classroom and it was amazing! I am so glad that I had that opportunity and it was so rewarding. I am now motivated to move forward and keep my chin high until I hear that graduation song.

I am now registered for all of my classes up to my internship, it feels good to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

I feel like I learned a lot in my courses with Dr.Reed, and my experience here at Lake shore Middle. No just terminology and pedagogy, but more so I learned about me and my limitations/strengths as a future educator. I also feel like I am getting more from these classes then I got from any other class I have ever attended. I am really looking forward to next year!

I hope that Lakeshore makes some of the changes that Dr. Reed is suggesting because I have a gut feeling that it will be where I am placed for my internship!

Blah.

Today I brought in a lesson that I am also using in my field class. Of course I simplified it to a normal style lesson, not the crazy 12 page field version. My lesson was on positive and negative integers. Since they are done with FCAT it is a little late to make any changes to that score...I can tell that they are less stressed now that it is done. My worksheet ended up being a lot of fun, and would have helped a lot if it was before the big test. I noticed another small issue that my tutees are having and felt like I helped a lot. I did not realize how hard it is to teach adding and subtracting negative numbers. Since Rosely has a tough time visalizing quantities it is even more difficult for her then Javonte and Kiarha. Using the little cold computer room also made it a little harder, I know I can not focus with a million voices going at once, how can I expect them to.

Today went pretty well, I still am wishing that I had more time...or more opportunities to work with them. I brought in a worksheet on multiplying decimals and they seemed to really struggle. I am went over lining up the problems and knowing how far to move the decimal but they did not seem to grasp the concept. I do feel as if the extra attention on multiplication is paying off.

On a side note I really feel like they 2 math class thing is not paying off. I was looking at the homework that they brought with them and it was completely different. The sad part is you can not do the algebra they were assigned without knowing the order of operation that they are working on in another class. How about give them one skilled teacher, smaller class sizes, and let them enjoy an elective that can motivate them or point them towards a career.

Every other week is not the best idea.

When you add in breaks, absences, and school events it feels like we see our tutee so little. I want to see them every other day! I started to pinpoint where Rosely, and Javonte are struggling, and I am ready to make some changes. I know that FCAT is coming up and I really do not want them to get less than a 3. A 4 or higher would be ideal. My lesson today went well I made a fun graphic organizer with multiplication tables that they got to work with, they asked to keep it as a tool to use when doing their homework.  I guess when i am an actual teacher I will have the opportunity to work with my students everyday...but their will be about 15X more than what I am deal with now.

INTERNET ACCESS!

We need internet in the media center, there are soooo many awesome math games online!

I have not been keeping up!

This is a great course and I am learning a lot but I think that the students need us more than every other week with gaps in between. I am forgetting what I did with them and where they had strengths and weaknesses. I also am having a hard time knowing what they are currently working on. Maybe next semester the Professor can send out a document about what the students are currently working on the day before so we can tweak our lessons. None of my students have exhibited mastery of the original topics that I am working on so my lessons seem very similar. I do not want to move to more complex problems if they can not figure the basics of variables and expressions. My students are also on very different levels, before the lessons I am doing warm up sheets to address where they are when it comes to the big picture. For example one student is having a hard time with multiplication, and the other did not know what the terms such as "sum of or product of" meant in word problems. Without these skills they will not be able to do any of the algebra problems or solve word problems during the fcat. Overall I just wish I was more organized and knew what was going on.

2/6 Meeting the tutee

As the title implies we met one of the two students that we will be tutoring. I was nervous to meet my tutee because I did not know if they would want to work with me, or at what level they would be at. I introduced myself and to my surprise the girl I would be tutoring seemed to be nice! I started my lesson be introducing myself and doing a student inventory. In the inventory I found out that she likes math but she does not think that she can do the math this year. This got my hopes down because she obviously did not believe in her ability to do the math we were helping with. When asking about her family I found out that her mom is my age, and that she had her older brother when she was 13, and her when she was 15. She also does not know her father and lives with her moms new boyfriend. I asked if her mom helps her with school and she said that she is not home and that she works during the day and goes clubbing at night. I feel that she is not set up for success but it only motivates me to try harder and do more. The final question on my student inventory was to find out if there was anything special I needed to know about her. I was expecting a response about hobbies or music, or maybe even a story about something she has done. Instead she writes "when teachers make me angry the only way to calm me down is to call me mother to come get me". This intimidated me but I made sure to laugh it off with her when we read back the answers.
When it comes to planning our next meeting I came across some difficulties. She does not like electronics and I was planning on using my laptop or tablet to assist the lessons. I am hoping that she will be fine with it but if not I will do what I need to do to adapt my lesson to her learning needs. Another difficulty is that she does not know a lot of the basics. She had a hard time during my practice problem subtracting and adding multiple digit numbers. I am thinking I might have to add in some simple math skills for her to do as a warm up and assist her in using those skills in the lesson.
I am learning that even though I grew up in a low socioeconomic community north of New York City I am now far detached from that lifestyle. I want to be cool, I want to relate but I do not feel like it will be easy to do. I also know that if I am myself and maintain a good attitude and make the future seem working for my tutee will follow my lead. Hopefully I can find a way to bridge the differences and keep the material relevant and fun while still being a positive role model.
I look forward to meeting my new tutee next week, hopefully we will have a good start and be able to jump right into learning! I hope I get to have many good tutoring sessions with her!