This was my last day at Classic City. I had mixed feelings about it. Part of me was happy because I didn't have to get up early anymore, but then part of me was sad because I wouldn't be able to grow as a potential teacher. I showed up a little later than usual because I decided to get munchkins for the class as a thank you. When I walked into class Mrs. Smith was shocked that I had brought donuts for everyone. This surprised me a little bit because most people I have interned with in the past have also brought a little thank you gift to their site on their last day. After telling the class they could have donuts I went with Becca to work on her annotation log again.
This time Becca was having to read for comprehension and look for critical passages. I knew this would be hard for her and that this would slow the process down quite a bit. I did the same thing that I did the first time by picking out the critical passages for her and have her think about them. It was harder to keep Becca focused this day, but I think it had a lot to do with it being a Monday instead of a Wednesday. She was frustrated because she was so behind and she knew that she had more to do after finishing the log and reading the book. I understood where she was coming from because English is a hard class to catch up in, but I also know that she doesn't try to work at home. I felt so torn because part of me thinks that she could read five pages at home every night and get a lot done but she also works and probably has a lot of responsibilities at home to deal with. We didn't get as many annotations done because she had to read as well as annotate instead of just going through the pages trying to find annotations.
After class I talked to Mrs. Smith some more and told her thank you for letting me work with your class. She responded with a no, thank you. She told me that if I ever needed anything to contact her and that she would be willing to help. I learned a lot from Mrs. Smith and respect her very much. I am very blessed to have worked with such an amazing teacher.
Friday, April 24, 2015
Thursday, April 23, 2015
Day 9 at Classic City High School: 4/15/2015
This day was a really good day for me. I showed up to Classic City, waited for Mrs. Smith, then got my student right away. At first I was nervous working with this student because Mrs. Smith had talked about her with me telling me that she doesn't like to do her work, but then as I started to work with her it all went away.
We needed to work on *Becca's annotation log. She was very behind in her reading and even farther behind in filling out her annotation log. When Mrs. Smith told me that she was using the annotation log more as a vocabulary log I knew that Becca did not understand how to annotate. I remember being told to annotate, but was never really taught how to. When Becca and I got to the media center and I explained that we would be working on her log she was not excited about it at all. She told me that she didn't know what to do. I did my best trying to explain to her what to do, but I could tell it was going in one ear and coming out the other. I decided that working with her and helping her find passages would be more beneficial. Becca's last log was on page 36 but she had read to page 76 so I told her that we had to go back and find passages from past pages and get caught up to where she left off. I think this was a good thing for her since she had already read the pages and looking over them again with a more critical eye is easier than reading and trying to find critical passages.
I was the one who would point out different passages and then have her analyze them. One passage I picked out was because the author utilized anaphora. I knew that she did not know what anaphora was, but I thought it was a simple rhetorical term that she could find on her own easily. I pointed it out and told her what her meant and then moved on. As we continued the assignment I would ask her if she has any questions on what was said. At one point she wondered how the sheriff knew a gun was not shot by smelling the barrel. I told her that asking the question and then looking it up was a perfect annotation. She wrote the passage, asked the question, and then googled it to find out the answer. By the end of the class she was still not able to pick out passages, but she was able to think critically about passages that were given to her. I felt that that was an important step in learning to find the critical passages herself.
At the end of class I talked to Mrs. Smith about Becca and how she worked very well with me. Mrs. Smith told me that she is a great worker one-on-one but in the class she has problems focusing because of friends.
We needed to work on *Becca's annotation log. She was very behind in her reading and even farther behind in filling out her annotation log. When Mrs. Smith told me that she was using the annotation log more as a vocabulary log I knew that Becca did not understand how to annotate. I remember being told to annotate, but was never really taught how to. When Becca and I got to the media center and I explained that we would be working on her log she was not excited about it at all. She told me that she didn't know what to do. I did my best trying to explain to her what to do, but I could tell it was going in one ear and coming out the other. I decided that working with her and helping her find passages would be more beneficial. Becca's last log was on page 36 but she had read to page 76 so I told her that we had to go back and find passages from past pages and get caught up to where she left off. I think this was a good thing for her since she had already read the pages and looking over them again with a more critical eye is easier than reading and trying to find critical passages.
I was the one who would point out different passages and then have her analyze them. One passage I picked out was because the author utilized anaphora. I knew that she did not know what anaphora was, but I thought it was a simple rhetorical term that she could find on her own easily. I pointed it out and told her what her meant and then moved on. As we continued the assignment I would ask her if she has any questions on what was said. At one point she wondered how the sheriff knew a gun was not shot by smelling the barrel. I told her that asking the question and then looking it up was a perfect annotation. She wrote the passage, asked the question, and then googled it to find out the answer. By the end of the class she was still not able to pick out passages, but she was able to think critically about passages that were given to her. I felt that that was an important step in learning to find the critical passages herself.
At the end of class I talked to Mrs. Smith about Becca and how she worked very well with me. Mrs. Smith told me that she is a great worker one-on-one but in the class she has problems focusing because of friends.
Day 8 at Classic City High School: 4/1/2015
Unfortunately this day I did not stay very long at all. I got to the school at 9:00 am like I usually do and waited for Mrs. Smith to come to the door around 9:10 and then have a little chat and then get a student to tutor. This did not happen though. Another woman, Mrs. Kell came to open the door. Mrs. Kell is a different teacher at the school and it turned out that Mrs. Smith was not there that day. I stayed in the classroom to see if maybe one of the students I usually tutor would show up and work with him or her, but none of them came. The other students did not want to work with me, which I understood because none of them have ever had a tutor because they are always in class and on task. Finally Mrs. Kell told me that it would be okay if I left, so after thirty minutes I left.
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