Today was a day of exponents and exponential confusion. It was also another day of slow (but nonetheless rewarding) progress.
Q and J were at my table today to suffer through a progress check. Q had been absent yesterday and claimed his absence equated to hopelessness with the assignment. I wasn't having it.
J slowly chugs along through his paper as Q excitedly pesters him about some drama, sharing some presumably juicy gossip on his iPhone. I overhear something about a girl as I (half jokingly, half seriously) plead with Q to do his assignment. At this I interrupt their conversation. "Q," I said (he interrupts, loudly exclaiming, "You know my name?!" I laugh.), "You're probably just trouble for this girl and she's probably just trouble for you." J laughs riotously at this and Q sheepishly smiles. I let my own smile and humor ebb slightly as I continue. "Anyways, if you don't get to work, it won't matter if you like this girl or not because you won't be able to support no girls without passing this class!"
He laughs. "I guess you right." As his phone disappeared into his bag and he reached for his pencil, I couldn't help but to be simultaneously pleased and surprised.
We worked through the twenty problems ("Twenty?!" he had cried. "Why there gotta be so many?") slowly but almost steadily. He let me push him to get the answers on his own, only helping him when he was getting it wrong. As Q's pencil furiously scribbled the many numbers and letters, I checked on J. I showed him which questions he had gotten wrong and why, complimented his good work, and made three bullet points at the top of the paper to briefly cover his most common mistakes and what he should remember to get more correct. Whenever I helped Q or J to see and then solve their mistakes, I would ask, "Do you understand why?" The answer was usually yes, but when it was no we worked through it different times and different ways until the answer was yes. At one point, Ms. S (the teacher in the classroom), came over and said, "You sound like a real teacher." Her enthusiastic smile said as much as her words.
As the class came to an end and both boys submitted their progress checks, I asked how they felt. "I feel a lot better," J quietly said, the confident young man always considerably softer in tone when discussing math. "I think I get it now, thanks," Q said, with a self-satisfied smirk. I really do think they understand it better after that hour of help.
It's certainly an hour of mine well spent.
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