I can't figure out for the life of me why I feel so weird today. I feel out of it, but not really. And that didn't even make any sense either, I'm sure. I couldn't even think of a blog title...
Last night, I tried staying up till 4:30 AM to watch Game 6 between my beloved Portland Trail Blazers and the Dallas Mavericks. I failed.
I made it till about 3 AM and then promptly fell asleep. By the time I woke up the final score was Mavericks 103 Blazers 96. Blahh. One could argue the Mavs just had more experience (they are one of the oldest teams in the NBA but they've also won at least 50 games in each of the last 10 seasons). But it just felt like the Mavs wanted it more, even with the two games that Portland won.
Anyway, the loss caused me to promptly change my Facebook profile picture to something other than my "Uprised" profile picture.
I got up around 12:30 PM (yes, I slept in really late today), and after a quick shower and lunch, I headed to the library 45 minutes away for the fourth day in a row. Two students I had been working with have been asking for help in preparation for their MSA (exams).
Now, when I first met up with them on Tuesday, I had anticipated just meeting up once. Well, each day they asked if I had time to meet again, and being too nice, I said sure. However, with Easter holidays ending now and still lots on my plate for my research project, I told them today would be the last time I could meet up.
We worked on math and English today. What I have realized in working on math with the students the past few days is that they really had no clue how to start solving the problem. I had to walk them through the wording of the problem (all in German), and even though I didn't understand every word (new vocab), I could still figure out what we were supposed to solve for.
After a few days of working on these, they didn't seem to be making any real progress. Frustrating, and yet another reason why I'm not really cut out for teaching: I am impatient. I expect that after two or three (differently worded) explanations of a problem you would understand the concept. I finally had some success with drawing pictures and diagrams. It was geometry after all.
I also realized they were completely dependent on their calculators. I asked them if they'd be able to use their calculators on the exam. Yes, they said. Well, great. They're still not understanding the concept behind their calculations. So I made an effort to try and clarify what the heck they were actually trying to do. Here's an example:
1/4 is greater than 1/3. True or false?
As soon as they saw the problem, they started punching numbers. Stop, I told them. Let's figure this out without calculators. They looked absolutely confused.
Apparently, they had never truly learned what the heck 1/4 or 1/3 even mean. When I asked them to convert 1/4 and 1/3 into percentages, they weren't sure how. Now, mind you, these students are in the 10th grade. Where they are in the education system is where an American high school student would be in the 12th grade—they're about to finish "high school."
The problem here is not an American or German thing though. It's a problem that includes student and teacher expectations, motivation, and support for the student (from home and from school). Could it be that everyone these students talked to have done them a disservice during tutoring and during school? This entire week, these students have spent their days (long after the three hours I came by each day) to study for their MSA exams.
I could go on about more observations I made, but I'll stop. We finished up math and then moved on to English. They had asked me to explain tenses as they were having trouble with it. I'm not sure my explanations (even with interactive online tools) really helped much. They were still confused as to when to use:
I am going versus I go
He is biking versus He bikes
In explaining all this (in German), I realized that having a strong grammatical background in your first language makes learning a new language that much easier. Throughout elementary school, I got drilled in English grammar, and the lessons simply stayed with me. It made learning German grammar a lot easier (although it's still tough).
The final exercises we worked on before they decided they'd had enough was with simple past and past perfect tenses. Even more frustrating for the students than the tenses themselves were the regular/irregular participles.
His heart was transplanted after he had already undergone several procedures.
I had to explain, using the German grammar I knew, how the difference in time, both in the past, mattered.
They asked me, "Why can't you say his heart was transplanted after he already underwent several procedures?" As I explained, how much time passes (even when talking in the past) matters. In German, the past perfect is called Plusquamperfekt, so they got a bit of a better understanding since the concept of time is the same. But they still struggled with when to use simple past and when to use past perfect plus all the irregular participles.
I finally made it home around 7 PM, after a long delay because of construction on the road. Until Monday, the tram in front of our house is out of commission, so I had to switch with another bus a few stops away. Terribly confusing, and I ended up waiting for 20 minutes before just hopping on another bus and walking.
Since it was already sort of late and I felt too lazy to cook, I picked up a Turkish pizza. I ate half of it waiting for the bus and then finished it off on my terrace. The view was absolutely great, and the wind felt really nice. All I was missing was a nice cold beer and some friends to hang out with.
And, of course, today was the royal wedding. London is only one hour behind Berlin, so I was able to catch some of the TV action after my shower this morning. I have a little British and UK flag (the Irish flag is in the back) in my room too from my trip to London two weeks ago. No, I did not wave it around.
Anyway, perhaps a mixture of my Blazers losing (ending their season), the Mariners seemingly on the upswing (a sweep of Detroit instilled in me a sense of false hope that may come crashing down this weekend in Boston), and the festivities of the royal wedding (even my roommate was watching it on TV in our living room) made for a somewhat bittersweet day.
And, of course, it could be that my experiences in working with more students have really made me rethink where my focus in education and policy really lies. There is so much work to be done, and it's all related.
Anyway, hard to believe it, but May's just around the corner. Till then.
Toodles,
Sam
Last night, I tried staying up till 4:30 AM to watch Game 6 between my beloved Portland Trail Blazers and the Dallas Mavericks. I failed.
I made it till about 3 AM and then promptly fell asleep. By the time I woke up the final score was Mavericks 103 Blazers 96. Blahh. One could argue the Mavs just had more experience (they are one of the oldest teams in the NBA but they've also won at least 50 games in each of the last 10 seasons). But it just felt like the Mavs wanted it more, even with the two games that Portland won.
Anyway, the loss caused me to promptly change my Facebook profile picture to something other than my "Uprised" profile picture.
I got up around 12:30 PM (yes, I slept in really late today), and after a quick shower and lunch, I headed to the library 45 minutes away for the fourth day in a row. Two students I had been working with have been asking for help in preparation for their MSA (exams).
Now, when I first met up with them on Tuesday, I had anticipated just meeting up once. Well, each day they asked if I had time to meet again, and being too nice, I said sure. However, with Easter holidays ending now and still lots on my plate for my research project, I told them today would be the last time I could meet up.
We worked on math and English today. What I have realized in working on math with the students the past few days is that they really had no clue how to start solving the problem. I had to walk them through the wording of the problem (all in German), and even though I didn't understand every word (new vocab), I could still figure out what we were supposed to solve for.
After a few days of working on these, they didn't seem to be making any real progress. Frustrating, and yet another reason why I'm not really cut out for teaching: I am impatient. I expect that after two or three (differently worded) explanations of a problem you would understand the concept. I finally had some success with drawing pictures and diagrams. It was geometry after all.
I also realized they were completely dependent on their calculators. I asked them if they'd be able to use their calculators on the exam. Yes, they said. Well, great. They're still not understanding the concept behind their calculations. So I made an effort to try and clarify what the heck they were actually trying to do. Here's an example:
1/4 is greater than 1/3. True or false?
As soon as they saw the problem, they started punching numbers. Stop, I told them. Let's figure this out without calculators. They looked absolutely confused.
Apparently, they had never truly learned what the heck 1/4 or 1/3 even mean. When I asked them to convert 1/4 and 1/3 into percentages, they weren't sure how. Now, mind you, these students are in the 10th grade. Where they are in the education system is where an American high school student would be in the 12th grade—they're about to finish "high school."
The problem here is not an American or German thing though. It's a problem that includes student and teacher expectations, motivation, and support for the student (from home and from school). Could it be that everyone these students talked to have done them a disservice during tutoring and during school? This entire week, these students have spent their days (long after the three hours I came by each day) to study for their MSA exams.
I could go on about more observations I made, but I'll stop. We finished up math and then moved on to English. They had asked me to explain tenses as they were having trouble with it. I'm not sure my explanations (even with interactive online tools) really helped much. They were still confused as to when to use:
I am going versus I go
He is biking versus He bikes
In explaining all this (in German), I realized that having a strong grammatical background in your first language makes learning a new language that much easier. Throughout elementary school, I got drilled in English grammar, and the lessons simply stayed with me. It made learning German grammar a lot easier (although it's still tough).
The final exercises we worked on before they decided they'd had enough was with simple past and past perfect tenses. Even more frustrating for the students than the tenses themselves were the regular/irregular participles.
His heart was transplanted after he had already undergone several procedures.
I had to explain, using the German grammar I knew, how the difference in time, both in the past, mattered.
They asked me, "Why can't you say his heart was transplanted after he already underwent several procedures?" As I explained, how much time passes (even when talking in the past) matters. In German, the past perfect is called Plusquamperfekt, so they got a bit of a better understanding since the concept of time is the same. But they still struggled with when to use simple past and when to use past perfect plus all the irregular participles.
I finally made it home around 7 PM, after a long delay because of construction on the road. Until Monday, the tram in front of our house is out of commission, so I had to switch with another bus a few stops away. Terribly confusing, and I ended up waiting for 20 minutes before just hopping on another bus and walking.
Since it was already sort of late and I felt too lazy to cook, I picked up a Turkish pizza. I ate half of it waiting for the bus and then finished it off on my terrace. The view was absolutely great, and the wind felt really nice. All I was missing was a nice cold beer and some friends to hang out with.
And, of course, today was the royal wedding. London is only one hour behind Berlin, so I was able to catch some of the TV action after my shower this morning. I have a little British and UK flag (the Irish flag is in the back) in my room too from my trip to London two weeks ago. No, I did not wave it around.
Anyway, perhaps a mixture of my Blazers losing (ending their season), the Mariners seemingly on the upswing (a sweep of Detroit instilled in me a sense of false hope that may come crashing down this weekend in Boston), and the festivities of the royal wedding (even my roommate was watching it on TV in our living room) made for a somewhat bittersweet day.
And, of course, it could be that my experiences in working with more students have really made me rethink where my focus in education and policy really lies. There is so much work to be done, and it's all related.
Anyway, hard to believe it, but May's just around the corner. Till then.
Toodles,
Sam
1 comment:
wow that is amazing about the students. I am assuming that there are people like that in America as well - it is just sad that we use technology as such a huge crutch these days! Well good luck with your research! See you soon!
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