(February 15, 2017. 12:10 – 1:45 PM)
Not every trip to CCHS screams, "Success!"
Every trip does, however, remind me that small smiles can be quiet successes in themselves.
When I checked in to CCHS, Q was out in the main foyer. "You're here! For me?"
"Of course!" I laugh. His enthusiasm is an appreciated greeting as I head to the classroom. (I'm always there 15 minutes before class starts, so Q was between classes when I saw him hanging out in the front.)
As the clock's hands slowly turn to 12:30, the room steadily fills. There's some hushed but animated shouting, but that chaos is the soundtrack of this building. The voices aren't angry and so, in the fashion of white noise, it remains largely unnoticed. The loud conversation quickly terminates, replaced by louder angry yelling. The sound and its perpetrators crash into the classroom door.
"Don't you dare call me broke when you're living with a [expletive] in a hotel!"
The quiet chatter of the class immediately stops.
Ms. S intervenes and the loud, angry voice proves to be the sweet and intelligent T. Furious, T storms in and throws herself into the seat beside me. J and Q, also at the table, watch in amused concern. R, from the nearby table, gently comforts T, telling her not to waste her time with the boy who had called her broke. I take T's still trembling hands in my own hands and try to console her. Ms. S starts to reign the class back in when the phone rings and interrupts the challenging process. I take advantage of the moment to ask R to come sit at our little table. She happily agrees with some playful fussing. Ms. S's phone call ends and the lesson (distribution shortcuts today) begins. The teacher reads through the PowerPoint slides, points out what the students should copy into their notebooks, and writes out some example problems.
The PowerPoint concludes and worksheets are started.
T had been noticeably agitated and distracted through the lesson (aftermath of the confrontation) and needs a little more guidance than usual (as she's often self-sustained in class). R happily makes use of my presence, clearly relieved to have me walk through some problems with her and answer her many questions. I have to push for her to try on her own and not rely on me, but, same as last week, she's good humored and willing to work. To force her to navigate the numbers on her own, I move to Q and J, checking their work and explaining their mistakes. They did well, but the conceptual questions need additional explaining. I draw out the formula, creating similar shapes around variables in the function and their corresponding values in the problem. As class comes to its conclusion, they tell me I have been helpful and they understand the material.
T gives me a small smile as she leaves with the bell and R shares her own large smile with me as she waves good-bye.
Ms. S calls T back as she starts to leave. "Hey, T, come here. Why don't we talk about what happened?" T immediately becomes agitated and loudly expressive again, recalling the event almost hysterically. Sensing that I don't belong in this conversation, I take my leave of CCHS for the day.
The quiet chatter of the class immediately stops.
Ms. S intervenes and the loud, angry voice proves to be the sweet and intelligent T. Furious, T storms in and throws herself into the seat beside me. J and Q, also at the table, watch in amused concern. R, from the nearby table, gently comforts T, telling her not to waste her time with the boy who had called her broke. I take T's still trembling hands in my own hands and try to console her. Ms. S starts to reign the class back in when the phone rings and interrupts the challenging process. I take advantage of the moment to ask R to come sit at our little table. She happily agrees with some playful fussing. Ms. S's phone call ends and the lesson (distribution shortcuts today) begins. The teacher reads through the PowerPoint slides, points out what the students should copy into their notebooks, and writes out some example problems.
The PowerPoint concludes and worksheets are started.
T had been noticeably agitated and distracted through the lesson (aftermath of the confrontation) and needs a little more guidance than usual (as she's often self-sustained in class). R happily makes use of my presence, clearly relieved to have me walk through some problems with her and answer her many questions. I have to push for her to try on her own and not rely on me, but, same as last week, she's good humored and willing to work. To force her to navigate the numbers on her own, I move to Q and J, checking their work and explaining their mistakes. They did well, but the conceptual questions need additional explaining. I draw out the formula, creating similar shapes around variables in the function and their corresponding values in the problem. As class comes to its conclusion, they tell me I have been helpful and they understand the material.
T gives me a small smile as she leaves with the bell and R shares her own large smile with me as she waves good-bye.
Ms. S calls T back as she starts to leave. "Hey, T, come here. Why don't we talk about what happened?" T immediately becomes agitated and loudly expressive again, recalling the event almost hysterically. Sensing that I don't belong in this conversation, I take my leave of CCHS for the day.
No comments:
Post a Comment