wait what? March 23rd

back to the PLC after spring break! I arrived hoping the students would also be returning. The attendance the weeks before break left something to be desired to say the least. The front doors are both locked. This is weird, I guess someone just hit the switch or something. Luckily, someone was standing inside the door to let me in. I signed in as usual and then couldn't open the door to the hallway. Again, someone had to let me inside. Twice in one day got me wondering, why the locks today? I entered the classroom and to my dismay found two students, once again. The teacher addressed my questioning gaze by saying it still is the end of class change and hopefully more students will arrive. When they didn't she explained it must be because of the fact that the school is on lock down. Lock down, well now everything makes sense. A student arrived I had never before seen and I sat down with her approval to help her for the day. She seems very uninterested in any of the material and ignores the lectures. She writes down her vocabulary words but that is the extent of her involvement with her work. Also on this day, the AC is broken and it is unbearably hot. I do not blame her one bit for complaining, as excessive as it was considering everyone in the building is in the same situation. She goes on and on about the heat until I turn her attention to the lock down. Boy, what a mistake. She explained the school is on lock down because of the police officer shooting by Jamie Hood. Understandable, I thought, but it did not end there. She elaborated to much extent about Jamie. His background, his reasoning for the shooting, his plan, the fact that she knows where he is, she hid in the bush during the news filming because she didn't want to be on TV "for THAT kinda thing." Turns out, the police have raider HER house multiple times and has been questioned on multiple occasions because she "knows where he is but they can't make her tell." The entire time she is detailing this gruesome shooting, I am sitting in silence, in shock, disbelieving. She is genuinely worried about how hungry he is, how cold he is, and I am thinking how many lives he has destroyed.  I continuously tried to draw her back to the lessons but she simply muted the lectures and continued her story. I am appaled. I am scared. This information is crucial. Nobody else can hear our conversation. WHAT DO I DO? Do I tell the teacher? Do I tell the police? Tell anyone? She finally glances at the clock and realizes she is late for work at Subway and she must be on time because her mom is making her pay the electric bill this month because she is the only one with an income. At this, I was brought back to the reality of the students here. She is no different than the others, simply mixed up in the wrong crowd at the wrong time. I instantly dropped all ideas I had formed about her. We did not get a single lesson accomplished but from her status report, I could tell this was a usual event. I bid her goodbye and exited as usual, my mind still spinning with the information about the murderer. In the end, my parents and I decided it was best I did not become involved with the investigation because in the end, I did not have any new information, she was already under suspect. My labeling her would only cause her more problems and I would have to face her again the next week, if she showed to class. I never imagined entering the PLC that day what I would be leaving with. No knowledge about English, or teaching, or poverty but about a criminal investigation. I still cannot fathom the turn of events.

3/8/11

Rain, rain go away! I guess contrary to students not coming in sunny, warm weather is the lack of students on rainy days. Again, only THREE students attended English class today. I worked with the same girl as last week upon her eager request. She changed from never accepting any help to straight forwardly asking for it. She and I sat together at the end of the rows and began her myth/epic session in literature. Today her big challenge was the Odyssey. I can personally remember having to read the Odyssey in high school and loving it. However, my tutee did not share the same passion. I have noticed that when she reads aloud she is carelessly misspeaking. She will change simply everyday words to completely different words. When completing quizzes, this became a problem because she would misread the directions and be looking for a negative instead of a positive for example. She would also offer a very little attempt at phonics for words she did not understand. Instead of struggling through them, she would give an off the wall guess and move on without hesitation. This worried me because of the potential problems it will cause throughout her entire schooling. It disrupts her understanding and comprehension of what she is reading and I wonder if it is only when she is reading aloud or if it happens all the time. Instead of actually reading the Odyssey, she looked up answers and summaries of the story online. I have noticed this for a while now in each student. With available internet access, they can easily avoid actually having to do most of the work to get by. The teacher does not seem to mind either, which I found strange. She did not actually read any of the passages but found all the necessary information on Google. This seems like she is missing the entire point of the course. Also, I have found the questions to be way too repetitive on E2020. It gives the same question word for word on the pre-test, quiz, and topic test. My student ended up just memorizing the answer choices she had previously chosen without taking into regard what she was answering or why.
I learned today personal information about, "Sarah". Although she is literature grade 9, she has a son over at the day care center offered by the PLC. I was astonished. She did not strike me as someone with such a major responsibility at hand. She focused on her school work without seeming to worry about her child or problems at home. It left me wondering her situation and her reasoning behind placement at the PLC. There is such a variety of students at the school that stereotyping and guessing about personal facts is useless. Each story is drastically different, as I have seen being able to work with numerous different English students. There is no set criteria for acceptance in the PLC, which I admire.
When leaving for the day, Sarah called to her friends in the hallway in fluent Spanish. This also just me as being very curious. Does she speak Spanish at home? Is this part of the reason why her English is far behind? Does she read Spanish? Does this also attribute to the fact that her pronunciation is extremely faulty at times? I wonder if bringing more English language into the home would help her in school, not only in English but in all classrooms. It might even help her interact with others better and prepare her for the outside world. Hopefully after Spring Break, the class will be back to its original size and numbers!

3/2/11

Only TWO students in the entire English class today. I guess with warm weather comes less attendance to the PLC. I worked with a completely new student today of Hawaiian decent. She is studying 9th grade literature. She previously has turned down any help from tutors or the teacher so I felt very grateful that she allowed me to work with her. Working with me, she had increased confidence in her answers and flew through assignments. She moved up from the "red" to the "blue" indicating she is now on track to finish the course. We were able to work together and eliminate many of the lectures and activities by successfully passing the pre-tests before the topics. Her work focused on myths and epics and various details of both. She was very grateful at the end of the session for my help and made sure I would indeed be back the following Wednesday to help her because of the immense progress she had made in only one day. I noticed a sign on the wall today regarding listening to music. It talks about the numerous reasons the music helps students work better and why it is effective. However, beside the sign was a chart indicating which students were and were not allowed the privilege. Personally, I find music distracting when I am working so it struck me as very interesting that it is given as a reward to students who work hard. I also noticed signs for a talent show and relay for life team. I especially liked seeing both of these around the school because it made it seem like more of a real school, rather than just an alternative for students. It allows them opportunities to experience what life would be like in a regular high school without giving up on the freedom the PLC offers. The sense of belonging and helping the school surely helps in attendance and attitudes of the students.