A Week Full of Victories

What a great way to start off this week! If Monday is any indication, I think that February will be full of victories for me and my students. Of course there were small dips in the road, but overall things are on the upswing.

For example, math class is still not going smoothly; students are still struggling. However, I was able to coax a smile from "Shirley" while she was working on her bookwork. She had to categorize the triangles by lengths of sides and measures of angles and doubted herself. When she got the first one right, I praised her. After she had done three correctly, I called her the "Triangle Master," eliciting a smile from her. I was quite pleased since she often appears aloof and disinterested in schoolwork. I also think that this translated into victories in later classes. Shirley is close friends with one of my students, "Christine." Christine is shy around adults and often doesn't talk much with me. But in FACS class on Monday, Shirley and Christine got down to work with me on finishing a kitchen supplies word search. The biggest success occurred in science class. Students are continuing their work on heredity with partners. However, Christine's partner was absent Monday so she was working solo. I was standing by one student duo when Christine called out to me, "I need help." This development is huge. The two of us were working one on one for a few minutes and Christine was actually communicating with me. I hope that this leads to even greater performance.

Additionally, "Sophia" has been working independently much more in social studies. This is also a big development since I had spent a few months prodding her constantly to do a modicum of work. This approach was not working; instead of doing more with constant supervision, she would eventually shut down. I'm glad that she's become more independent. I attribute this to her involvement in the Young Heroes program. It may just be happenstance that she started her third year in the program concurrently with this new classroom behavior, but I think the two are connected.

I started Tuesday reminding myself that I shouldn't expect that "Christine" and I would continue from the point we left off the day before. Even though we had worked together well on Monday, I knew that Tuesday was a new day. Things weren't as good, but Christine is talking more with me. Of course, she is a tad flippant but I have to start somewhere. I'm expecting greater things to come.

Math class was great! I had some warmup problems prepared for the class related to triangles. When we reviewed them, the class was very responsive. If we have a few more days like this, I think the terms (acute, obtuse, scalene, isosceles) will sink in – actual learning will take place. Unfortunately, the students were not as enthusiastic in social studies. On Monday, they began working on a project about various countries in the Middle East; each student will present information as if she were reporting on the life of kids in those countries. I have been working with the students, helping them find information on their respective countries, but I've also had to change their opinions on the work. Almost every student I talked to called the project "stupid." My job is even harder when I have to motivate them to respect the assignments before I can get them on track. One step at a time, though, one step at a time.

Conversely, "Erica" is enjoying our work in English class. The students are reading the play version of The Diary of Anne Frank in class; Erica is one of the students that is only listening to her classmates reading the roles. However, Erica really likes the play so far; her positive comments were followed by my praise of Anne Frank as a self-confident character. I was glad to have the chance to talk about literature in a big way.

My biggest success of Tuesday occurred during lunch. We are making a final push for City Year Winter Camp recruitment. Contacting students during lunch is one way to figure out who is still interested and who has decided against going. "Charles," one of Amber's students, is interested in going to camps. He is often withdrawn and quiet, but I sat down with him in hopes that I could figure out how he's feeling. I asked him how he was then asked if he was interested in going to camp. He said, "I still want to go but I don't think I can afford it." Luckily, Amber was standing behind me with some calendar raffles, our major fundraising tool for camps. I told him that all he needed to do was sell ten $10 tickets and he'd be fine to go to camp. I think there is a great chance that he'll be attending camp; I'm glad that I took the time to talk with him.

Wednesday was a crazy day. It was originally supposed to be jammed full of things for me: a food stamps appointment, afterschool programs and an open house in Portsmouth. However, by Wednesday morning all three things had been cancelled. Still, it was quite productive and full of victories. I had more success with "Shirley" in math. I think she is most receptive one-on-one; she was smiling quite a bit during first period while I was working with her. I think she's warming to me and we're going to make some progress in the coming weeks. However, I was not as successful in FACS class. I attribute this to her proximity to two other students. They were supposed to be reading articles and summarizing them, but Shirley felt more inclined to chat with her friends. At least she's feeling more comfortable in math – I'll take my victories where I can.

At the end of the day, students have Learning Lab, a period that allows them to start their homework or make up old assignments or tests. I had talked with "Whitney" about meeting up to complete a rough draft for science. "Erica" wanted to accompany us, so at 2:00 I met up with them and began working. I am really proud of both of these students – they are driven and intellectually curious. I hope that they can serve as role models to their classmates.

My favorite part of the day was likely saying goodbye to students at the end of the day. As the students left the building for the buses, I said, "Have a great night! Do your homework! Study hard! Enjoy your night!" I got a lot of smiles from students but mostly, I was just happy to be happy in the hallway. It's something that I won't be able to do often since we have Homework Help immediately after the bell rings. However, I'm going to try to do it as much as possible.

Food played a major role in my day on Thursday. Before we headed down to Seabrook, I bought a muffin from the Timberland cafeteria. I know it seems like something trivial, but having a full stomach put me in an outstanding mood. That doesn't mean that I was on the ball for the entire day. In FACS class, I was asked to work with one of my students since her partners were absent and she needed help in the kitchen. Each group cooked a different type of pizza; "Sally" and I made a breakfast pizza. I put the pizza in the oven, already warm from the class before. When I looked twenty minutes later, the cheese had melted but the crust was soft. It was then that I realized I had forgotten to turn the other knob. I felt like a dunce at first, especially because it affected Sally's project. Luckily, it turned into a joke so I didn't feel like a fool for the rest of the day.

Homework Help went incredibly smoothly. We have been tweaking it every day, making it a more productive setting for students. "Audrey" and I worked together on science work. Science is the class that gives most eighth graders trouble so I help them as much as possible in that class. Audrey, completely self-motivated, finished an extra credit assignment in Homework Help. I think that I have helped some students become more interested in learning and doing their work.

The week ended on a very positive, albeit busy, note. A few weeks ago, the corps members had a workshop on resumes, cover letters and job interviews. Those of us in WSWC (the school-based teams) missed it, so we had our workshop this Friday. While it was very helpful and I learned some good tips, I continued to be overwhelmed by the deadline for senior corps member applications. There is always work to get done, and even though some of it is for months from now, it needs to get done today. But being able to balance my workload is an essential skill and I'm getting a lot of practice with it.

After work, I drove down to Boston to pick up my mother and brother from the train station. Boston is the site of our headquarters and I've been in the city a few times while wearing my uniform. It still excites me, knowing that I'm in the same city where this program began, walking the streets with the red jacket on. While waiting for my family's train to arrive, I called a friend to catch up. We talked about City Year and then she asked me about the calendar raffle. She apologized for not purchasing one sooner, but I was just glad that I was able to sell another one. It was a great ending to a great week.