My first visit there my student was enthusiastic and very willing to study in order to pass the OGT the first time.
My student needed only slight guidance in the English portion of test. I helped my student with vocabulary - finding context clues - and helped steer her in the right direction with prompts. The one thing I found rather frustrating was the totally bland material used by the OGT test makers. I understand that not everything we read needs to be fun, but the dry material used was disappointing.
Math wasn't a problem at all because my student was a whiz at math (thank goodness!). Although my student didn't have trouble with math I figure some others did and so I found an interesting and useful site for help in the math portion of the OGT. It's called YourTeacher.com and this link goes directly to the math test preparation for the OGT.
Another multi-module site that is popular among high schools is Study Island. Study Island is a web-based program that helps students study for all sections of the OGT.
My second day at Firestone my student didn't show up. Mr. Martin went to go get her and never came back. I sat for a little while reading but then I looked around and saw a student without a tutor. I decided to ask him to join me and he did. After that, another student sat down with us and I was able to work with both of them. At this point I asked if they would rather work on the same problem all together or different problems and they agreed to work on the same one.
One my the students was very confident and he moved quickly through the work. My other student was less confident and took a longer time. I found that my timid student would get flustered when my confident student was already finished with a question and instead of working through his own question he would simply look to the other student for the answer. After the first question, I gave the student's each a different question and my timid student, once he was on his own, did wonderfully! One technique that helped my timid student was reading each answer to a question and crossing out those least likely to be the correct answer. This seemed to cut down on the overwhelmingness of the looking at four possible answers.
Besides the work with the students, I also loved working with Mr. Martin and Mr. Parks. Their encouraging words to their students, their pride in the students, and their absolute belief that the kids could pass the OGT the first time, was inspiring and refreshing.
Going to Mr. Park's presentation about teaching in an urban school was really incredible. His passion for his work was inspiring and encouraging. I've been running on empty for the past few weeks and sometimes it's easy to lose sight of why I'm in school in the first place, but talking with Mr. Parks, Mr. Martin, and one of Mr. Park's former students helped remind me why I want to be a teacher. One of the activities Mr. Parks does with his Freshmen classes on the first day of school is to show them a clip from Apollo 13. In the clip the astronaut's are stuck half way between earth and the moon and the engineers on earth are trying to figure out how to get them home. Mr. Parks used the analogy that the students are currently in 9th grade, stuck in space with everybody's bad expectations keeping them there. He explains that it is his mission to bring them home to their goal, 10 grade. All they have to do is give him their best. And failure is not an option.
He also told and showed us how at the beginning of every class the students line up outside the classroom door and Mr. Parks greats each of them with a handshake and a how are you. They, in return, need to look him in the eye, shake his hand, and ask how he is. This simple act, which he did with us, made me feel at ease with him; it made me feel like an equal; it made me feel respected.
Respect is a key, perhaps the key element in creating a relationship with your students and a classroom dynamic that is truly incredible. A former student of Mr. Parks also spoke to us and she explained that no other teacher had ever respected her or showed that they truly cared; Mr. Parks did both. This student improved her grades and her outlook on her life because a teacher showed he truly cared about her and respected her.
Mr. Parks went on to explain that it's not always easy and at times he thought he was going to give up; but he pulled through and he absolutely loves what he does. The kids are a part of his life and he is a part of theirs. He's making a HUGE difference and the impact he makes in their lives will carry on throughout the rest of their school careers and lives.
Mr. Martin also had some great advice to give and stories to share. One of the main things I took away from what he said was that it's important to be willing to learn about the culture in which your kids live. Being willing to learn their "slang" or even their dance moves will prove to them that you truly care for them and their culture.
Overall my experience in Firestone was positive, worthwhile, and very useful. I was encouraged by the students and the teachers and reminded exactly whey I want to be a teacher.
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