City Mouse Now Country Mouse
No. 12
When Aaron and I moved to the cabin in August, we made a pledge to be penny-wise. In downsizing our living space and our overall lifestyle, we committed to saving money and living economically. In one of my moments of frugality, I decided that we did not need to spend the additional $17/month on the HD-DVR to accompany our monthly cable service. Oh, you misguided fool!About three weeks ago, after I had missed new episodes of Rizzoli & Isles and Bones while watching other first run shows, I had a melt down. I have so little "real" interaction with people everyday that having the opportunity to follow my shows has become really important to me. "We HAVE to get the DVR," I remembered saying to Aaron, in a more than whiny tone. He listened patiently and smiled politely. "Whatever you want, honey," was his response. He wasn't the one who was the hold-up on the DVR. After a few more whines, I resigned myself to the DVR expense.
I arrived at my local Comcast office with the old cable box in hand and full of excitement about the new DVR. Jacqui, my customer service rep, made several dozen clicks on her computer keyboard and then handed me my new DVR box. "Now remind me," I said. "What is the monthly charge for the DVR?"
"There's a special $9.95 monthly deal," she said with a smile.
"Oh, how do I get that deal?" I said, trying not to sound too excited or too eager.
"You already did," Jacqui said with a smile. I thanked her profusely and signed all the paperwork. I was out of the Comcast office in less than 10 minutes. So, even though I succumbed to this additional luxury, I ended up saving a few pennies. Yahoo!
I tell this story as I think about the next one since it gives a significant contrast to my West Virginia experience between being wise and being educated. At the end of September, I completed all the requirements to become a PASS Volunteer. This means I had to get a TB test and to attend a 2-hour training session on how to mentor PK-12 students. PASS stands for "Providing Academic and Self-Esteem Support." When filling out my form, I volunteered to work with Middle and High School students. "God bless you," the coordinator said. "No one likes Middle schoolers," she added. "Well, I do," I added without hesitation.
As a PASS volunteer, we meet weekly with students to help them with their academics and also give them moral support to keep working at school even though it might not be easy. I have three Middle Schoolers and two High School boys. After so many years of working to integrate technology into schools and to help make the learning environment engaging and dynamic, I realized in the last four weeks that this doesn't mean a thing if the students you're trying to educate haven't had breakfast (or dinner the night before) or know who's taking care of them. It is poverty and parenting that are hindering so many students in low economic areas.
All of my students are at least three grades behind in math, reading, or both. None of the boys know all of their times tables and they struggle once they get to multiplying any numbers beyond the 6's or 7's. My 8th grade girl, who excels in math, can only read at a 3rd grade level. "What kind of books do you like to read?" I asked. "I don't know," she replied. "I don't read." [sigh.] After a few more minutes of conversation, I found that she liked movies about cheerleaders (Bring it On!) and Mean Girls. Argh! I wasn't sure I was going to be able to find a book that would keep her interest and one that she would be able to actually read herself might be difficult. Thanks to the dyslexic salesman at Books-a-Million, he pointed me in the right direction and was very sympathetic to my cause. (People love to tell me their personal stories.) Believe it or not, there is chapter book series about cheerleaders that is written for 4-6th graders. I figured we could read it together and once she got hooked, she'd read it on her own. Reading, even if it includes tips on make-up and cheer acrobatics, is better than no reading at all.
This is the first time I've ever worked with students who have poor math and reading skills. It is frustrating to think that they spend time in class trying to figure out what's going on and that they lack the basic skills necessary to keep up. I now understand why there are students that drop out. My one 9th grader is 16 and the other just turned 15. Most of their worksheets require regurgitation of facts and/or figures rather than doing anything
that makes them think. I don't know if this is the typical work that mainstream
students get but this is my impression so far. I quickly learned that this
30 minute time slot could be spend shooting the breeze, especially with my high school
boys who like to act like they don’t have any class work or homework to do.
That’s when I started bringing my “This is your Life” word problems to our
sessions.
One significant takeaway I learned at the STEM conference in Dallas this
summer was that students do not know how to apply the math/science/tech skills
they learn in school to real life problems. Well, Marcy's "This is your Life" word problems are designed to change all that. So far, we have investigated three
different part-time jobs, one as a cashier at Burger King, one as a clerical
worker in a dentist office and one as an after-school babysitter. Not only did
we determine how much s/he would make at each job but we also talked about
working conditions and personal preferences. The best job is the one that has
the right salary AND working conditions for you. We also talked about buying
and owning a car. While the vintage Mustang might be appealing, it’s MPG and
annual insurance made it 50% more expensive than the slightly dinged up Cavalier. This week we are
decorating the house and learning to determine the costs of home improvements. One problem helps the students calculate how much paint one
must buy if you want to cover all the walls with two coats of paint. It’s all
practical stuff and it’s all applied mathematics. After the holidays I am
hoping we are going to start doing some applied engineering by building a bird
house or doll house as well as I will have them write their own resumes.
I realize I've been procrastinating about my blog over the past month, and I think it has a lot to do with my concern about my kids. I want to fix things--to fix them--so that they can be successful but it isn't that simple or that easy to do. While I know that working with them 30 minutes once a week isn't going to change their reading and math skills overnight, I do know that during those 30 minutes they have my undivided attention and they are beginning to trust me as someone who is invested in their success. After all, that's why I started working in schools all those years ago--to make a difference in children's lives. What I'm learning is that they are making the difference in my life and helping me reconsider what is and isn't important about education.
