3/30/11 Back to Normal

Back to the PLC normal life! All doors were unlocked and everything was good to go! I was surprised when I entered class to find an abundance of students, almost every chair was filled. The girl I had the previous week, however, was nowhere to be found. I returned to one of my numerous previous students much to her excitement. I think the students have learned that with tutors, you progress much faster and they therefore are more welcome and open to the idea of working one on one with someone. We began exactly where we had left off over 3 weeks ago. It was saddening to see that she had not worked anymore on her English since I had last seen her. Attendance has suffered greatly recently and I'm glad more have returned to continue on. We began working again on the Iliad and the Odyssey although many of her answers were wrong due to the length of time it had been since she had read the assignment. She skipped many of the assignments and still was given a completion grade. I have noticed a change in the teacher interaction. She now will check all the answers if a student asks, before they submit the test in for a grade. She will now let you know which questions to "look at" and allow you a second chance at the right answer. I felt this was very unfair because not all of the students bug the teacher to check their individual work. It is not as if she is helping them work through them, they simply are allowed to choose a different answer even without thinking in hopes that it will now be right. They are now given more of an opportunity to get the right answer but I think it makes them take the work more lightly. They know they will be able to go back and fix answers without being penalized. She skipped the lectures, as most students do and was barely focused on what we were working on. She did bring up her progress a significant amount by the end of class although it was a struggle and I had to continually bring her back to the task at hand. I wonder how many of the students will end up graduating this year. I also heard through one of my other friends tutoring at the PLC that my original student was moved to another class because she needed more hands on instruction. I think this is the biggest downfall of the class I have been placed in. I hear from others about actual lessons and discussions but in mine I simply sit beside a child and watch the computer screen. For most though, this is the only way they will focus. From an educator's point of view though it seems very ineffective especially knowing most of the children cheat their way through the lessons using the internet and other available sources. The actual lessons are not grasped. As we read through the Odyssey, it did please me personally still being able to recall some of the details from when I read the novel in high school. This experience is teaching me a lot about techniques though. I have tried out different ways of helping without giving the answer and learned how to phrase things to ease the student into discovering the answer.