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Oct. 9th, 2006 08:59 pmHad my first day of Partners in Education today. Basically it is through work and we can volunteer for up to one hour paid a week at the nearby elementary school. I signed up for the fifth grade math class on Mondays.
It was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed it. I wasn't quite sure how it would go, and I had to clear away some cobwebs, too, but it went really well.
I was a little surprised about the diversity in the class. Considering in fifth grade I was in International Falls and everyone was white. Even the foreign exchange student (she was from Finland). So I'm impressed by how many different nationalities are in the class and how the only discrimination I heard was from one of the boys commenting on how three boys were done with the assignment and no girls so that must mean boys are smarter than girls. I promptly went up to him and said I'm a girl and I probably would have been able to get the assignment done quickly, too. So there.
I do feel a little bad for the two Somali girls in the class as they are not only struggling with basic math concepts, but also reading and writing in English (although their spoken english is quite good). However, their teacher said they'd only been in the school for a year.
I found it a little hard to keep my help on their level. It reminded me of the time when my dad tried to help me with my math and I just got more and more frustrated when he suddenly introduced X into the equation. I had no concept of algebra at the time and he was just trying to help. I almost brought it up when helping a boy figure out this: 27000 = _____ * 90. He didn't know how to divide with two digits. I probably still talked over his head a little, but I did not mention the letter X.
All in all, it was really a good experience. I'm looking forward to the rest of the year. :)
It was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed it. I wasn't quite sure how it would go, and I had to clear away some cobwebs, too, but it went really well.
I was a little surprised about the diversity in the class. Considering in fifth grade I was in International Falls and everyone was white. Even the foreign exchange student (she was from Finland). So I'm impressed by how many different nationalities are in the class and how the only discrimination I heard was from one of the boys commenting on how three boys were done with the assignment and no girls so that must mean boys are smarter than girls. I promptly went up to him and said I'm a girl and I probably would have been able to get the assignment done quickly, too. So there.
I do feel a little bad for the two Somali girls in the class as they are not only struggling with basic math concepts, but also reading and writing in English (although their spoken english is quite good). However, their teacher said they'd only been in the school for a year.
I found it a little hard to keep my help on their level. It reminded me of the time when my dad tried to help me with my math and I just got more and more frustrated when he suddenly introduced X into the equation. I had no concept of algebra at the time and he was just trying to help. I almost brought it up when helping a boy figure out this: 27000 = _____ * 90. He didn't know how to divide with two digits. I probably still talked over his head a little, but I did not mention the letter X.
All in all, it was really a good experience. I'm looking forward to the rest of the year. :)
