Today, A Kid Called Me Teacher

A week has gone by, and so far, so good. My team has been split in half, one group at Woodland High School, and one group at Pioneer High School. I am at the better of the two, Pioneer. (No bias whatsoever.)

The first day, last Tuesday, was a little shaky. I felt like the awkward girl in the baggy uniform with no clue as to what I was doing. It's called First-Day-At-A-New-Job syndrome. As the week went on, I became much more comfortable in my surroundings and assimilated suprisingly well. The team that had this project before us made us think it was going to be a nightmare. "The kids are little jerks. There's a lot of trouble at the school. The hours are so terribly long." Well, I think the kids are quite nice, they just need some focus. There's some trouble at school (today several kids were arrested for a riot held two weeks ago), but I never feel unsafe. And yes, the hours are somewhat long, we leave campus at 7:15 am, have a 45 minute commute, work at school from 8 to 5 with minimum breaks, and then take another 45 minute commute home which gives us an eta of 6 pm. It was tough the first couple days, but with 8 hours of sleep a night, it's more than bearable.

During the week I tutor all subjects, but primarily math and essay-writing. I also am an in-class tutor for three classes: two Algebra 1 and a geometry class. I definitely pay attention during note-taking time so I can actually help the kids. The classes aren't too bad, except there are some control issues. More like, lack of control of the class by the teacher. Sometimes class can be a bit stressful, but I do my best to help kids. That's all I can do.

I have to admit, this tutoring gig is much more enjoyable than expected. I'm starting to get to know the kids and tutor some of them regularly. I'm also getting to know the book Animal Farm extremely well without ever having read it. All the sophomores are writing Animal Farm essays right now and I continually have to ask them to remind me what allegory, satire, and characterization mean. I figure, I'm better help than no help.

It's dinnertime, so my hungry tummy is wanting me to go. So long!

Happy Paczki Day!!

<3 anne