It’s hard to believe that it is almost May! Where has the semester gone? It feels like a blur at this point. It was the busiest semester of my college
career, but also the most fulfilling. It’s
really awesome to see how you can take on a daunting challenge and do well; it
really makes you feel good inside knowing all the hard work is paying off. One of my commitments this semester that has
really changed my perspective on life has been tutoring at Bradley Tech High
School. It doesn’t seem like much,
having only visited on Monday’s, but already I have visited the school 8 times
and will try to squeeze in a few more before final exams. I think the only word to describe my
experience is WOW. I didn’t know what to
expect when signing up to tutor in an inner city Milwaukee school where I became
part of the racial minority, but I have been pleasantly surprised at every turn
and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
Not
only has this experience helped enhance
my tutoring skills, I feel more confident and comfortable working with people of many different backgrounds. Some days as a tutor your patience can be tested. Whether the students were thinking about spring break, the nice weather, or were busy texting, sometimes it was hard to get them motivated. In these cases, I did as much as I could to get the ball rolling and then let them decide. I came to the conclusion that if they don’t want to work, I can’t make them work or make them learn, they have to decide that for themselves. Another thing I have noticed is that repetition combined is essential. As mentioned in a previous blog entry, they sometimes don’t pick up on patterns as quick as you would think they would, but if you show it to them enough times, it finally starts to click. You can’t take offense that they might not be learning much from you the first time through, so you just have to keep going and continue showing as many different ways as possible. This is huge for Math!
my tutoring skills, I feel more confident and comfortable working with people of many different backgrounds. Some days as a tutor your patience can be tested. Whether the students were thinking about spring break, the nice weather, or were busy texting, sometimes it was hard to get them motivated. In these cases, I did as much as I could to get the ball rolling and then let them decide. I came to the conclusion that if they don’t want to work, I can’t make them work or make them learn, they have to decide that for themselves. Another thing I have noticed is that repetition combined is essential. As mentioned in a previous blog entry, they sometimes don’t pick up on patterns as quick as you would think they would, but if you show it to them enough times, it finally starts to click. You can’t take offense that they might not be learning much from you the first time through, so you just have to keep going and continue showing as many different ways as possible. This is huge for Math!
Today I
was helping a student with Parallelograms.
She had to find the missing lengths, which were comprised of just a
variable or a variable with a math operation.
She had most of the worksheet completed, but needed a little help with
some tougher ones. It was interesting to
me because she already knew how to do them (the tough problems). She was telling me that the certain sides
equaled each other. I agreed and then
told her to write that down on the paper.
At first she wrote it down wrong by placing a minus sign in between the
two math operations. I told her to take
a step back and then reminded her what she said earlier when she said they were
equal. So instead of a minus sign, I
said put in an equal sign in between the two lengths. Then she was like ohhhh and then I can solve
for x by algebra. Exactly! Sometimes all you need is that little extra
push to get things to click. 
These
kids are very lucky to be in the Gear Up program. In hindsight you always wish you could do
something different. I say this because
some of the kids in the program treat going to these afterschool homeworkathons
as a chore and do everything they can to not do homework. Years from now, I bet the ones that didn’t
take advantage of this amazing opportunity to have 1on1 help will wish they
did. But they are young and want to have
fun! School sucks at this age, it’s the
last thing they want to do. I think I
was the same way… I find it interesting to reflect on how similar I was to some
of these kids.
Maybe I will get time to post one more blog before final
exams!
Until then, signing off.
--Ross
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