MCAS Tutoring - final week

Two days ago was my last session of MCAS tutoring, and I am glad that I kept to it and persevered, even though there were only 4 kids in my last session. Throughout the different sessions, Mrs. Gallo seemed very pleased and grateful to have me there, especially because she was able to do some work or organization or step out into the hallway for a minute to take care of business while I kept teaching. The kids seemed to be learning and it was evident that they needed the review because every time I started a topic, they would be stumped for an answer or be asking lots of questions. I think I put a lot of energy into my "teaching" and really made an effort to bring the material down to a student-friendly level, keep them interested by using different and sometimes funny examples or explanations, and encouraging them to participate in a positive way. I feel I have "developed" these skills in a way that I only could have through actually being in the classroom like that and teaching, not my same-age-peers in a class presentation, but younger students who need help and are receiving it from a student teacher.
This activity was valuable for me because I got to experience handling a small classroom and teaching information, and discovered that I like doing that because I enjoy things I am good at, and I enjoy helping others to succeed in life.

MCAS Tutoring - week two

5-11-09
Despite the fact that a parent complained that the MCAS-Prep course was being taught by a student and not by a qualified teacher and now Mrs. Gallo has to sit in for all of the lessons anyway, she would like me to keep teaching, and I have decided to persevere in this endeavor for the benefit of Mrs. Gallo, the students, and myself (L.O. 5). If I teach the material and Mrs. Gallo just observes and adds in any of her own comments, she can still do some work while I tutor the kids and it's not as much stress on her, and I feel like the kids pay more attention to me "teaching" than they would to an adult teacher because I am closer to their age and bring more energy and kid-friendly examples and explanations to the classes than most teachers would. And I also feel staying with this is a great experience for me, to feel what it feels like to be in command of a classroom and to be (at least partly) responsible for the learning of these kids (L.O. 1 + 8).

5-17-09
So last week, both Monday and Thursday went well with Mrs. Gallo sitting in on the prep session and adding her own teacher wisdom. I feel like I maintain enough balance and authority in the classroom to make the kids pay attention while still making their learning a bit more fun and learning myself about science, people, and teaching.
I was struggling with how sometimes, some of the kids were not participating as much as they were supposed to be, or texting in class or just not taking it seriously, and I felt like I was not wanted or needed, but I am committed to tutoring these kids and taking some of the burden off Mrs. Gallo, so I will continue to try my best until I am no longer needed.

MCAS Prep Teaching - 1st day(s) teaching

This Monday and Thursday I "taught"/tutored the group of freshmen after school, but I feel Thursday was much more productive than Monday for both me and the students. Monday I just handed out the outline and packet of papers Mrs. Gallo had prepared for the 8-session class, and then gave them a practice test to take in order to identify areas of weakness, and told them they could ask me if they had any questions and we could go over it the next week. So I didn't have to do much, but on Thursday I went over the test with them and answered their questions or encouraged classmates who understood something better to help the others who didn't. Then I went over a power point with them about ecology and explained everything slide by slide, offered more examples, and answered their questions. I had never really done that before so I was kind of worried that I wouldn't know what I was talking about or how to convey the information in a way that they would comprehend, but I just tried my best and brought all the enthusiasm and effort I had into it, and I think it worked. I was able to come up with very understandable examples and parallels for them to understand the scientific terms and relations etc. (i.e. niche competition is like 2 people who both want the one pizza in the room), and when I asked them if they got it they smiled and nodded. I was worried that they would get bored and not pay attention, but I think my energy kept their attention and made it less lecture-like so they stayed more interested. Another challenge I thought I would have was the time limit because we only had about 40 minutes to go over the test and learn all the stuff in the slide, but I explained stuff so simply that they got it right away, and we ended up with a few extra minutes to start the homework together.
I think I am also fulfilling more of Objective 1 because I am learning that explaining things, having patience, and keeping interest of students are strengths of mine, but I think I would have to work on being able to develop my own lesson plans for a class.