tutoring reflection #3

Tutoring reflection #3

Week three and I am beginning to get excited about going to class and seeing the students. I still find myself a little intimidated by them and their lack of seeing me as an authority figure.  I haven’t found a way to assert my authority inside the classroom. My position as a tutor does not give me the opportunities that I feel is necessary for the students to think I am someone they need to respect. I would be happy if they saw me as someone they can ask for help from.

 This week I found myself getting more comfortable in front of the students. Unfortunately Mr. Jones is given a stack of movies that he must watch throughout the year. He, as do I feel like students who are already far behind should not be wasting valuable class time watching movies that frankly they are not watching. This day however, was very helpful to me. The students were instructed to work on an acrostic poem during the movie. I used this opportunity to interact with the students. During the movie I walked around the classroom helping kids find sentences for their poems. I know that for the students this assignment was fairly easy, the hard part was staying motivated to finish it. I came into class early today so I saw how far the other class got on their poems; many of them did not finish them. It was my goal for every student to finish the assignment today; I felt that 40 minutes was ample time to finish the assignment. Finally a goal that I set for myself was reached. It felt really great to have each students finish all of the assignment. Motivation to do an assignment while watching a movie seems almost useless. The movie was roots, this is a movie about slavery, which was the root word for the poem, but it didn’t help get the assignment done any easier. Because of these forced movies the children lose their focus on learning. This idea was made very apparent when they were trying to do their poems. It has to be frustrating as an educator to have barriers and restrictions put in place by the state. With all of the reading we have been doing about time management against the readings on state board regulations and requirements I haven’t figured out a way to solve this ever present problem.

This week was about trying to find an affective place in the classroom. I don’t see me being an effective tutor in the eyes of my teacher; therefore it is up to me to get something out of this experience. Every week I hear yet another student complaining about how they are not getting the experience they had envisioned, all they are doing is cheating themselves. All experiences are what you make of them, and if you go into every situation with high expectations, chances are you will find yourself constantly disappointed.