Saturday, April 28, 2012

My Last Day at the PLC


#8   4/26/12  (3:05-5:15)

                Boo wasn’t at school today.  Ms. Scredan said that Boo comes to school depending on her physical conditions due to her pregnancy.  I felt very sad because I didn’t get to say goodbye to her at all.  Anyway, I tutored another girl, named Jessica Bradely today due to the absence of Boo.  She was working on LIT 12.  She seemed very friendly and quiet.  As we were waiting for the computer to be turned on, we talked about our summer plans and future plans-her wanting to move to Atlanta and going to technical college then transferring to Georgia State University.   

                We watched the online lecture videos together.  When we were finished watching the lecture and about to work on the quizzes and tests, she turned to me even before trying to solve them herself.  She literally looked at me and gave me the look that said “ok, now tell me the answer.”  I was surprised by the way she looked at me and the way she perceived tutors.   I though she welcomed tutors because she could get help not the answers.   Today was a bit tough because she wouldn’t read any of the text that she was responsible for.  She was supposed to read Julius Caesar, but she skipped everything and expected me to solve the problems and tell her the answers.  I carefully told her to read the text in order to be able to solve the problems; she opened the online text and what does she do? She looks and me and gives me the look that says “now you read it for me.”  It was obvious that she wasn’t going to read the text, so I just told her a overall summary and let her work on the quizzes and tests.   And, when she was still struggling with some of the problems, I tried to guide her to the right direction.  Sometimes, my guidance was leading to the wrong direction, and whenever this happened she gave me the same ignorant, condescending and disappointing look that Boo had given me during our beginning tutor sessions.   

                Another lesson of the day is that teachers MUST have respect from their students in order to be able to teach anything and have students accept and believe what they teach.  The two hours of today’s tutor session was longer than ever because Jessica expected me to do literally everything and I was trying to have her work and because it was the last day and I was anxious to leave, to be honest.   The lessons I have learned from tutoring at the PLC are the importance of having high self-esteem as a teacher, gaining respect from the students, being humble and accepting of my own lack of ability.   For preparing the materials and developing my knowledge, I should keep working In school; however, I believe that I’ve learned some life lessons through this experience, such as my mind-control, mindset, attitude, etc.   It was a valuable experience full of love and regrets.

No comments:

Post a Comment