The teachers I shadowed were all well-established and commanded respect from the students. Though most of them were very young, they were strict and direct. The main issue I noticed is that students were extremely talkative and just couldn't stop talking when instructions were given out. They enjoyed listening to music, eating in class, and messing around on their phones. Some students were really loud and rude, while others buckled down and took their work seriously. Sometimes, the louder students would engage the serious ones and get everyone off track. Depending on the personality and control of the teacher, this could get out of hand or be subdued.
When I observed, I usually spent 1st period absorbing the lesson and getting used to the teacher. Then the rest of the day I wandered around and helped out with questions and a little behavior. Behavior was hard because each teacher's rules were different for food/phones/cursing. It was hard to know when I should ignore the phones or tell them to put them away.
I was lucky because my teachers were receptive to City Year and allowing me to assist in the classroom. I usually had a chance to introduce myself (whereas some of my teammates were completely ignored or humiliated in other classrooms). Almost all of the people I shadowed received a CY in their classroom.
Picture break:
 |
| Squad's weekly photo |
I was paired with Ms. Turner (9th grade algebra). She reminds me of my 3rd grade teacher, Ms. Todd. She was one of the older teachers, but she was very invested in her students. Ms. Turner has a science background and worked on the vaccine for anthrax. She decided to get into teaching because she noticed a lack of diversity in the spheres she was in. I'm excited because she was very inclusive and I think she'll be a great mentor. I also really like the 9th graders - they're not as rowdy as the 10th graders (at least this week).
The students have a dress code: freshmen wear navy blue pants and baby blue collared shirts, sophomores wear khakis and blue shirts, juniors are khakis and red, and seniors are khakis and white. This makes it easy to pick out students.
After school: City Year has been recruited to help out the football and cheer teams after school. We go to the cafeteria for 30-45min to help them with their homework. They haven't had too much work this week so it has been a little weird. Yesterday, the cheerleaders did a few of their routines for us- which were really good! I'm excited to go to our first home game. Still not sure if there's a marching band though...
Last week, I applied to work on the Service Reserves. This one of a few of City Year's extracurricular activities. The group organizes service events and leads small groups of volunteers (both corps members and external volunteers) in community service projects. It's a good chance to network outside of CY, as well as socialize with corps members that aren't on my school team (which is about 160 people). Anyways, I learned today I got in! So that's exciting.
Today we also learned what our coordinator positions are. Within each school team, there are various coordinator roles that implement programs. I will be the service coordinator and the 9th grade attendance coordinator. Other coordinator roles include Literacy Coordinator, Math Coordinator, Behavior coordinator, School Positivity Coordinator, and a few others I forgot. Under each of those roles is a 9th and 10th outreach. I got 9th attendance because I'll be working with the 9th graders and I requested attendance. These coordinator positions are another opportunity to exercise and practice our leadership skills.
 |
| squad at red jacket ceremony at the capitol |
No comments:
Post a Comment