The blog will serve as a medium for students from Temple University’s Education in the Global City to connect their classroom activities with their Philadelphia volunteer site experiences. The course is geared to develop your understanding of the history, society, culture and political systems of the U.S. In addition to teaching them how to interpret historical & cultural materials and articulate their point of view about the role globalization and education has played in American history.
The one thing found myself unprepared for was the enthusiasm that the students had for what we were presenting and how disorganize it was. Even though the students were in teams they didn't really play like a team. They talked across the room and when they had to introduce themselves some turned it into a joke. One of student said that his name was "Pleasure P". In spite of all this it was hit and i was proud of what we did. To better manage i think we need clear cut rules.
There were a lot of things that were going on throughout the 7th/8th grade class room that I didn't expect. Throughout our AVID orientation, while we prepared for our tutoring sessions, my concept of the kids that we'd be working with became skewed. I developed the idea in my head that this would be a classroom with extremely eager students that were focused solely on their studies.
I was unprepared when the first things students brought up in discussion with me were facebook and frat parties. Which were the top two topics orientation told us not to discuss with students. A second thing that caught me off guard was that one student seemed extremely uninterested all together.
I think my next steps to further prepare myself will be to try to be myself more with the students. When I entered the classroom I felt as though I was suppose to transform myself into an immaculate model college student rather than being me. I think that to have a successful experience I need to not only remember to tell myself to be "real," but that also these are real human beings. I am not working with an actor/actress on the AVID website video example.
My placement site was everything that I expected. Coming from a great background in AVID. I already had known the in's and out's of the program. I was very prepared for the AVID class. I will continue to be prompt for the class and come with a willing mind.
@Elizabeth Schaeffer Thats a great point. You want to get down on the students levels and amke sure you continue to lead by example through it all. It is important that the students not only respect you but that they also can communicate with you. I think that it was important that you pointed that these students aren't actors and also that this isn't the "story book" setting. This is a national program implemented for the first year inside of Philadelphia Public Schools.
There were many things that i didn't expect would comes from the 7th graders. My group of 7th graders were very organize and respectful even though they didn't prepare any question for the day. They were very eager to hear about college life and what it feels like to be a college student. Some were already interest in picking their college and some even asked about GPA and classes in college. We got a little carried away with talking about colleges and the opportunities they would have in the future that we ran out of time. I think the next step i have to take is learn how to keep the students focus on their school work and the questions they bring to the AVID class and not to get sidetracked.
@comllian: I agree with you about the disorganization that you felt at first. I had thought a lot about my AVID experience after it was over trying to get into the mind of a 7th/8th grader again. I think that a lot of the disorganization comes out of excitement to have someone from outside of their school walls come into their class room [us] and also their need to feel accepted/social with the other students? Those are just my speculations. I feel though that the disorganization will decrease and students will become more focused once the more structured AVID tutoring takes place and when the students do not feel a need to show off for one another in the class room because they are instead more concerned with they work.
I began my first day at Treehouse this Tuesday and love the program! I did however feel unprepared for the discipline that is so essential to maintaining a positive study environment. Kids are usually more interested in playing, being loud, and showing off. I felt that I was unprepared to get them focused without coming off too mean. The kids see me more as their big sister or friend. I think that in subsequent weeks I will try to be more stern and focused on getting them to complete their homework and assignments instead of allowing myself to be overly friendly. Hopefully they'll see me as more of an authoritative figure.
In repsonse to comilian: I experienced some of the same "Pleasue P" difficulties with keeping the kids on task and having them take assignments seriously. They had to write a paper to themselves in 25 years and the boy I was working with said "I'm gonna have 130 kids cause that means I'll get a lot of ____!" ...you fill in the blank. It can be hard sometimes to correct this behavior instead of laugh but it's something I need to work on too!
I found myself unprepared to deal with the students behavior. In my high school if we acted out or weren't sitting in our proper seat we got sent to the dean. These kids were very loud and not respectful at all. The program we presented to the students at Benjamin Franklin High School went over well, but the behavior of the students frustrated me and caused me to loose interest. I still hope that I can make a difference and give these students inspiration to go to college though. I think in order to fix this problem and make the program better, I need to be more strict with the students and have more structured rules for the jeopardy game. But in all, it was an amazing experience and I hope that at least one student decides he/she wants to go to college after listening to us talk!
I had the exact same problem with the students at Benjamin Franklin High School! The one girl that sat near me during our game was asking me about boys and if I liked Temple's party scene and such. I want to be their friend in hopes of inspiring them to go to college but at the same time I wanted them to respect me more than they did! Hopefully over the semester we both get better with this.
Unfortunately the policies at Waring are very strict, AVID tutors are not allowed in the building without having the official clearances in hand. I did not check my email until later that day; as a result I was unaware of Waring's policies until the principal turned me away. Not checking email + no clearances = unprepared.
In the following weeks I will definitely check my email often so that I can avoid missing important information.
My initial thought walking into the school was "How am I gonna be assertive? I'm such a pushover and these high school kids are bigger than me!" I felt really unprepared in the public speaking part because I am not a great public speaker. I thought it would be impossible to get their attention but they actually listened. They often got distracted and really competitive because we played a game (jeopardy). Also, they knew more than I expected about college and that really excited me. Of course, some knew more than others but getting them to talk to one another about their answers was very helpful in our activity. We only had 15 kids so we lucked out because we got to work with a small group, so it was easier to find our mistakes for the next group. Next time, the only thing that I can do is be a little more confident in my public speaker. If the kids can't see confidence in me, they won't respect me. And I'm hoping that it all turns out for the best, espcially with a bigger group of kids!
@ Rebecca Tokar I feel the same was as you did with your first encounter with the children. The kids get so carried away and try to show off so much that all of their personalities clash. The only difference is I worked with freshman in high school and they were a bit more inappropriate. There were sexual jokes from the guys and the girls were all about being pretty. I have to learn how to adjust to it or have them adjust to having a college student around but it's hard because I don't remember being as rowdy as they were.
I feel the same as you with having ideas of what the 7th/8th classroom would be like after having our tutoring sessions. I also thought that the students would be very eager to learn and also focused on their studies. Although it turned out to be a little different than what i had imagined, i was still very pleased when they showed so much in college and what it has to offers.
I wanted to ask if when people blog in the future, could we write down whether or not we're AVID, Ben Franklin, or Tree House. I'm interested in comparing different peoples responses with the different places we tutor at. Thanks! Oh, and in case I didn't write it, I tutor for AVID at Ferguson Elementary.
I volunteer with AVID at Bache Martin. The class was split; Linh had the seventh graders, and I had a group of about seven eight graders. It was the first day, so the students didn’t have any notes prepared. I didn’t have much of a plan, so I wasn’t prepared to have as much freedom with the group as I was given. We discussed if they were planning on going to college and where. I asked about their favorite and least favorite subjects. Unlike Linh’s group, my group didn’t have any questions for me, so I asked if they had any questions or concerns about the topics they’re learning in their classes now, but no one did. They are mostly doing practice testing for PSSAs. The teacher gave us a practice booklet and we went over some of the questions as a group. They worked well on those questions, but they may have been too easy. They weren’t always focused, and it was hard to find a problem that they could constructively discuss/was interesting for them. I think next week they will have questions prepared. I think that will change the mood from social to productive.
I agree with @comllian. My group was a bit talkative, and would joke sometimes. We don't have a lot of time with the kids, but I'd like to have them collaborate a list of expectations if we had time. I could see what they want out of these sessions and they could see that these are study opportunities for them, and we can have fun,but should also be productive.
The one thing found myself unprepared for was the enthusiasm that the students had for what we were presenting and how disorganize it was. Even though the students were in teams they didn't really play like a team. They talked across the room and when they had to introduce themselves some turned it into a joke. One of student said that his name was "Pleasure P". In spite of all this it was hit and i was proud of what we did. To better manage i think we need clear cut rules.
ReplyDeleteThere were a lot of things that were going on throughout the 7th/8th grade class room that I didn't expect. Throughout our AVID orientation, while we prepared for our tutoring sessions, my concept of the kids that we'd be working with became skewed. I developed the idea in my head that this would be a classroom with extremely eager students that were focused solely on their studies.
ReplyDeleteI was unprepared when the first things students brought up in discussion with me were facebook and frat parties. Which were the top two topics orientation told us not to discuss with students. A second thing that caught me off guard was that one student seemed extremely uninterested all together.
I think my next steps to further prepare myself will be to try to be myself more with the students. When I entered the classroom I felt as though I was suppose to transform myself into an immaculate model college student rather than being me. I think that to have a successful experience I need to not only remember to tell myself to be "real," but that also these are real human beings. I am not working with an actor/actress on the AVID website video example.
My placement site was everything that I expected. Coming from a great background in AVID. I already had known the in's and out's of the program. I was very prepared for the AVID class. I will continue to be prompt for the class and come with a willing mind.
ReplyDelete@Elizabeth Schaeffer Thats a great point. You want to get down on the students levels and amke sure you continue to lead by example through it all. It is important that the students not only respect you but that they also can communicate with you. I think that it was important that you pointed that these students aren't actors and also that this isn't the "story book" setting. This is a national program implemented for the first year inside of Philadelphia Public Schools.
ReplyDeleteThere were many things that i didn't expect would comes from the 7th graders. My group of 7th graders were very organize and respectful even though they didn't prepare any question for the day. They were very eager to hear about college life and what it feels like to be a college student. Some were already interest in picking their college and some even asked about GPA and classes in college. We got a little carried away with talking about colleges and the opportunities they would have in the future that we ran out of time. I think the next step i have to take is learn how to keep the students focus on their school work and the questions they bring to the AVID class and not to get sidetracked.
ReplyDelete@comllian: I agree with you about the disorganization that you felt at first. I had thought a lot about my AVID experience after it was over trying to get into the mind of a 7th/8th grader again. I think that a lot of the disorganization comes out of excitement to have someone from outside of their school walls come into their class room [us] and also their need to feel accepted/social with the other students? Those are just my speculations. I feel though that the disorganization will decrease and students will become more focused once the more structured AVID tutoring takes place and when the students do not feel a need to show off for one another in the class room because they are instead more concerned with they work.
ReplyDeleteI began my first day at Treehouse this Tuesday and love the program! I did however feel unprepared for the discipline that is so essential to maintaining a positive study environment. Kids are usually more interested in playing, being loud, and showing off. I felt that I was unprepared to get them focused without coming off too mean. The kids see me more as their big sister or friend. I think that in subsequent weeks I will try to be more stern and focused on getting them to complete their homework and assignments instead of allowing myself to be overly friendly. Hopefully they'll see me as more of an authoritative figure.
ReplyDeleteRebecca Tokar
week 2/7
@comilian
ReplyDeleteIn repsonse to comilian:
I experienced some of the same "Pleasue P" difficulties with keeping the kids on task and having them take assignments seriously. They had to write a paper to themselves in 25 years and the boy I was working with said "I'm gonna have 130 kids cause that means I'll get a lot of ____!" ...you fill in the blank. It can be hard sometimes to correct this behavior instead of laugh but it's something I need to work on too!
Rebecca Tokar
week 2/7
I found myself unprepared to deal with the students behavior. In my high school if we acted out or weren't sitting in our proper seat we got sent to the dean. These kids were very loud and not respectful at all. The program we presented to the students at Benjamin Franklin High School went over well, but the behavior of the students frustrated me and caused me to loose interest. I still hope that I can make a difference and give these students inspiration to go to college though. I think in order to fix this problem and make the program better, I need to be more strict with the students and have more structured rules for the jeopardy game. But in all, it was an amazing experience and I hope that at least one student decides he/she wants to go to college after listening to us talk!
ReplyDeleteRebecca Tokar
ReplyDeleteI had the exact same problem with the students at Benjamin Franklin High School! The one girl that sat near me during our game was asking me about boys and if I liked Temple's party scene and such. I want to be their friend in hopes of inspiring them to go to college but at the same time I wanted them to respect me more than they did! Hopefully over the semester we both get better with this.
Unfortunately the policies at Waring are very strict, AVID tutors are not allowed in the building without having the official clearances in hand. I did not check my email until later that day; as a result I was unaware of Waring's policies until the principal turned me away. Not checking email + no clearances = unprepared.
ReplyDeleteIn the following weeks I will definitely check my email often so that I can avoid missing important information.
@Ari I hope my first in class experience with AVID is as pleasant as yours was! I am really looking forward to working with the children.
ReplyDeleteMy initial thought walking into the school was "How am I gonna be assertive? I'm such a pushover and these high school kids are bigger than me!" I felt really unprepared in the public speaking part because I am not a great public speaker. I thought it would be impossible to get their attention but they actually listened. They often got distracted and really competitive because we played a game (jeopardy). Also, they knew more than I expected about college and that really excited me. Of course, some knew more than others but getting them to talk to one another about their answers was very helpful in our activity. We only had 15 kids so we lucked out because we got to work with a small group, so it was easier to find our mistakes for the next group. Next time, the only thing that I can do is be a little more confident in my public speaker. If the kids can't see confidence in me, they won't respect me. And I'm hoping that it all turns out for the best, espcially with a bigger group of kids!
ReplyDelete@ Rebecca Tokar
ReplyDeleteI feel the same was as you did with your first encounter with the children. The kids get so carried away and try to show off so much that all of their personalities clash. The only difference is I worked with freshman in high school and they were a bit more inappropriate. There were sexual jokes from the guys and the girls were all about being pretty. I have to learn how to adjust to it or have them adjust to having a college student around but it's hard because I don't remember being as rowdy as they were.
@Elizabeth Schaeffer
ReplyDeleteI feel the same as you with having ideas of what the 7th/8th classroom would be like after having our tutoring sessions. I also thought that the students would be very eager to learn and also focused on their studies. Although it turned out to be a little different than what i had imagined, i was still very pleased when they showed so much in college and what it has to offers.
I wanted to ask if when people blog in the future, could we write down whether or not we're AVID, Ben Franklin, or Tree House. I'm interested in comparing different peoples responses with the different places we tutor at. Thanks! Oh, and in case I didn't write it, I tutor for AVID at Ferguson Elementary.
ReplyDeleteI volunteer with AVID at Bache Martin. The class was split; Linh had the seventh graders, and I had a group of about seven eight graders. It was the first day, so the students didn’t have any notes prepared. I didn’t have much of a plan, so I wasn’t prepared to have as much freedom with the group as I was given. We discussed if they were planning on going to college and where. I asked about their favorite and least favorite subjects. Unlike Linh’s group, my group didn’t have any questions for me, so I asked if they had any questions or concerns about the topics they’re learning in their classes now, but no one did. They are mostly doing practice testing for PSSAs. The teacher gave us a practice booklet and we went over some of the questions as a group. They worked well on those questions, but they may have been too easy. They weren’t always focused, and it was hard to find a problem that they could constructively discuss/was interesting for them. I think next week they will have questions prepared. I think that will change the mood from social to productive.
ReplyDeleteI agree with @comllian. My group was a bit talkative, and would joke sometimes. We don't have a lot of time with the kids, but I'd like to have them collaborate a list of expectations if we had time. I could see what they want out of these sessions and they could see that these are study opportunities for them, and we can have fun,but should also be productive.
ReplyDelete