another kid standing against the wall...

Well, progress is being made. My newest and greatest (read also most chaotic) class is the 6th grade remediation math class. Apparently the teacher has a lack-o-spine, and as a result the children refuse to listen to him...and he seems to ignore this and teach anyway...teach to the loud roar of 20 kids doing whatever they please. Mostly the kids walk around and talk, sometimes they draw on the board or do whatever. Occasionally they fight. There wasnt really much I could do yesterday. So, today, I came up with a plan. The first thing all the kids did was stand against the far wall of the class. I have seen this tactic used very effectively with another one of my classes by that teacher, so I tried it. It took them 20 minutes of short outbursts here and there before they, as a group, were quiet for one minute. Then, I allowed them to take desks that I chose for them. Then I handed the class over to the teacher, who then proceeded to lose control over the whole group, but still retained enough of them to help some of them learn. It was a small victory. I think it will take about 5-7 days of class before they are doing what they should, and then they will start learning. Otherwise, many of them will probably repeat the 6th grade.

Another problem that I discovered (hah...I could probably discover a new problem every day for the next year) was that many of the teachers lack faith in the system, and thus they dont try and work with it. The system requires a teacher to fill out these things called "referals." Many of the teachers feel that doing this gets nothing done, and as a result they dont do them. So, incidently, there is no mountain of paper proving that the system is flawed. If they did the referrals, and then it didnt work, at least then they would be able to hold up the copies and ask "what now?" So, I filled out two referrals on behalf of my teacher today...and in the case of the first girl, she changed her behavior. As for the 2nd boy, he got so mad and furious by my glaring and kind requests to do what he was supposed to do that he eventually put his head on his desk and was silent. DAlen:3 Middle School Monsters-o-fun: 0

On a very very happy note, during my initial referral writing of the first girl, one of here classmates, one that did not particuarly like me, requested I not document her misbehavior. He begged that I leave her alone, and promised he would make the class good, because it wasnt fair. If she gets one more referral, she repeates the 6th grade. Much of the reason behind this is not her fault (but small pieces are) and this is why he requested I not turn in the paperwork. He showed compassion, which really surprised me, and made me hopefull.

Tommorrow is another day...

be great

School? more like chaos on a time schedule...

Well, I started actually doing stuff at work this week. Monday was a wasted day, but tuesday we finally got a schedule and now we are following that schedule and assisting with classes. Some of the classes are fine, but others are pure chaos. I talked to my teachers in the nice class today and told them that I might move to some of the worse classes since they already had things under control. Pretty much, the original description of our project has gone right out the door. There was no obesity problem. There is a discpline problem. In many of the classes, the students do what they want. In one class, the teacher seems to have control, but its only because she spends so much time tongue lashing the kids. I was even confused when she said that she loved kids, stopping several times during that short phrase to reprimand students for not sitting up or not having feet on the ground or breathing too much or no blinking enough. I really do feel she is a product of teaching at a bad school for way too long. Worse yet, it seems like the principle isnt involved at all in the workings of the school, especially since I have yet to talk to him and I am a guest at his school. He was the primary contact to the mayors office who is our sponsor, and yet it seems like he knows the least about whats happening. Luckily, there is a lady who is some sort of admin. person who has her act together and has given us some structure. So, we are tutoring. I'm losing sleep though trying to figure out a way to fix the much larger issue of underfunded school systems and impoverished students who have no future.

On a really bright note, the students in my school are being taught material that seems advanced to what I remember learning in the 6th, 7th, and 8th grades. In science, they are working with curcuits and electricity, which I dont remember doing much of in the 6th grade. I remember life sciences class being really hard, but I dont remember taking a physics class. Some of my teammates are capable of tutoring some of the subjects because the material is defiantely advanced for kids.

After school today, I went to the high school to pick up my teammate and I played a little soccer with them. It was very enjoyable. I miss soccer. Maybe I'll start going on a regular basis to help coach.

Only one more day until the weekend.

--Will Leroi DAlen