Final Day At Classic City

Yesterday was my last day at Classic City, and it was a little bittersweet. I worked with Kevin yesterday and I'm glad my last day got to be with the first student I worked with at Classic City. He was pretty distracted and it took a long time to get him to sit down at the computer and start working. We went through some of his USATest Prep tests and worked through some of the questions he missed. He sat patiently and listened, but I could tell he just wasn't really feeling sitting there haha (which is ok, sometimes sitting in front of the computer just doesn't sound awesome.) We had a nice time chatting about what he wants to do after he graduates. He wasn't aware that it was my last day, and I think he may have been a little sad that we weren't going to get to hang out and work together anymore.

After 14 hours at Classic City High School, I feel like I've really learned a lot. I've that a new and different kind of patience is required when working with older children as opposed to working with early childhood students. You have to find a balance between treating your student with respect and maintaining the role as the adult and the teacher, you have to find the balance between mentor and instructor, friend and critic. I know as I grow as a teacher these balances will be easier to find and will vary from student to student.

I walked into Classic City with a lot of assumptions. Assumptions about the students, the program, and the teachers. Probably the most important thing I am walking away with is the knowledge that most of my assumptions were wrong. I assumed, that in a struggling county such as Clarke county, that the teachers wouldn't care, the students would be unable to learn, and the facilities would be severely lacking in resources. I was wrong on all counts. All of the students I worked with were incredibly smart, but I feel like they have been treated like they aren't smart for too long. Many of the students had incredibly intelligent thought processes but lacked the skills to take their thoughts and transfer them to paper. The teacher I worked with I feel truly cared about her students. She gave assignments of her own to supplement the online work the students were required to do and I feel like she really cared about each of her students. Classic City had a totally different feel than I was imagining. I anticipated it being a highly structured environment where the teachers wet very authoritative, but it was a much more relaxed atmosphere where the students and teachers worked together much more than fought against each other.

My time at Classic City taught me to never underestimate a student, and to never--for whatever reason--give up on a student. I would love to go back to classic city and continue to mentor more students there. It has been a very interesting and rewarding semester!

Disappointing Day

My latest trip to Classic City left me feeling a little down after the rewarding trips I've recently had. I worked with "Brenden" again this week. He is such a nice kid and I have no problem getting him to sit down and do his work. He remains focused throughout the class period and I feel like he really puts in a solid amount of effort. He is very respectful and just an overall nice student to work with.

"Brenden" was beginning his final paper on The Crucible this week, the same assignment that I worked with Kevin and Samuel with last week. It was different working with Kevin though because his paper was almost complete and he just needed my help editing it. Brenden was just starting and really need my help with coming up with a thesis for his paper. I was already at a disadvantage because I have never read The Crucible so I didn't know any of the characters or plot he was talking about. I frantically tried to look up some basic information on my phone so I could try and point him in the right direction. He went and asked his teacher for some advice and when he came back she had written some things down that helped me establish a basic thesis with Brenden. After that, he spent the rest of my time there writing... and never asked me another question.

I wish I had been able to help him more with his paper, but I was at a loss because I was so unfamiliar with the topic. He had also missed a lot of class so he wasn't even all that familiar with the play so I couldn't get  much information from him. I found it slightly odd that the students never actually read the play they were writing a paper about. Apparently they just watched the movie and read the Sparknotes for it. I'm not sure how much they really got out of "reading" the play, but I can't judge because I am only there once a week so I don't get to see how much work actually goes in to covering certain material.

Happy Day!!!

Great news from my most recent trip to Classic City....

Drum roll....

KEVIN IS GRADUATING IN MAY!!!!!!

It was another awesome trip to Classic City. Kevin has been super motivated these last few times, probably because the finish line is so close for him. He was finishing his final paper on The Crucible. After he finished that up, he went and got more work to finish up without me having to ask him! Go Kevin! I peer edited his paper with him, and helped him attach it to an email so he could submit it to his teacher.

Even Samuel got stuff done this trip! It was tough getting him to get going (he would much rather joke around with college students, weird huh ;) ). But once he got settled in, he really got a good amount done on the beginning of his Crucible paper as well. I think he's developing a little crush on one of the other girls mentoring at the same time. It's hilarious, (of course she is doing a fantastic job at keeping things totally professional). He really wants to get work done for her though so whatever works I suppose! I feel like the students we have been working with have been really getting closer to us and look forward to our help. My trips to Classic City have been a lot more rewarding lately and I am really appreciating it.

Another Student!

I worked with "Brenden" on one of my recent trips to Classic City. I really liked working with him because I got to really help him to get his assignment done. He was very respectful, well spoken, and quiet. I really enjoyed working with "Brenden" and would love to work with him in the future.

"Brenden" and I worked on his assignments for Arthur Miller's The Crucible. I didn't read The Crucible when I was in high school so this was great for me because I got to learn too! We used two programs while doing this assignment. The first was GAVS, which stands for Georgia Virtual School. This website had a breakdown of the play, various assignments, questions, and activities to help the students better understand the play. The second program we used was very interesting and I had never seen it before. It was called Padlet. 

       "Padlet is an Internet application that allows people to express their thoughts on a common topic easily. It works like an online sheet of paper where people can put any content (e.g. images, videos, documents, text) anywhere on the page, together with anyone, from any device." 

Each student was to create a padlet page and that their teacher could later look at and grade their work. Padlet was really easy to create and work with, it was a great resource for me to learn about. "Brenden" had to research different aspects of the play, including  a background on the author, information about Senator Joseph McCarthy, and the Salem Witch Trials. The questions he had to answer were on GAVS, accompanied by links that contained the answers. "Brenden" is a slow typer, so we worked together to find the answers on the various webpages, and then he would dictate his answer to me while I typed them into his Padlet. We were able to get the entire assignment done! He worked really hard, and his answers were well thought out. 


For the final portion of his assignment, we did a virtual witch hunt, to better understand how the Salem Witch Trials worked. The website was very interactive. You were given a name, and then various prompts and you chose your answers and saw what happened to you at your trial. Unfortunately, "Brenden" was found to be a witch and was sentenced to be hung! We liked working through the prompts together and had a few laughs over our fate. It was a great day at Classic City and I look forward to working with "Brenden" again.  

Fun Day With Students

This past trip to Classic City was really fun! I worked with several male students trying to catch up on work that they had missed or were behind on. These boys all in the same room trying to get things done was just kind of funny! The minute someone got on track, was the minute another one made some hilarious joke. It was even hard for me to stay on track because they were all so funny together. Fortunately, Kevin got a lot of work done! I think he knew that he really needed to get caught up :)

It was a really great time in Classic City, I feel like the students really opened up to me, respected me enough to get work done, but wanted to talk to me and we all laughed. It was the first time where the environment felt really relaxed and it seemed like the students and I were totally at ease.

Toward the end of my time at Classic City during this trip, I started asking some of the students the questions that I had really been wanting to ask.

• Do a lot of the students here have children of their own?
• Are there a lot of drugs?
• How does the "open campus" work?

• "Steven" told me that not all that many students had children of their own, and then they rattled off maybe 3 names of students that they knew who had children. To me, even that was a large number, but it was actually a lot less than I anticipated the answer to be after what I had been told about the Athens area and the schools here.
• The students were very open in telling me about the drug use that occurs within the student body. They told me that there wasn't all that much hardcore drug use, but that marijuana use was a fairly common activity for the students. They had a very relaxed attitude toward the use of marijuana which surprised me. In the town where I grew up, there was a much higher stigma when it came to any kind of drug use.
• I was very interested in understanding how the idea of "open campus" worked. The students told me that they were technically not allowed to just leave whenever they felt like it, but no one stops them if they do. They are allowed to leave between classes if they want to, which is when many of the students go outside to smoke cigarettes. I think this is a good method to keep students from feeling "trapped" at school, but I think it could be easily abused.  

I was very appreciative of the students opening up to me, and I am glad we all had a good time! I was also very proud of "Kevin" for resisting the distraction of his friends and continuing to work. He got a lot done and and continued to work (for a few minutes at least) after I went to sign out. 

A Day With Kevin

I worked with Kevin this Friday! He is always so nice when we work together. I feel really lucky because some of my fellow classmates seem to encounter students who don't want to interact with their mentors, but the students I have been fortunate enough to work with are always so nice and welcoming. Even when they are having a bad day, they are willing to open up to me and explain what is going on to make them feel poorly.

 This week Kevin was working on USATest Prep. I was REALLY impressed with how many of the questions Kevin was able to get right without even having to discuss them with me. He is so smart! Some of those questions are tough, and there is A LOT to read for one test on USA Test Prep, but he just kept working and really got a lot accomplished. I was really proud to see him working so hard to get his work done.

So far I feel like USA Test Prep is that best online program that the students at Classic City work with. The questions are challenging, but not impossible, and it requires them to actually read through the questions in order to find the answers. This type of online practice questions are very similar to questions that I remember seeing on my standardized tests when I was in school. I think there really is a benefit to the Classic City kids working with this program. The one downside is that one test is very time consuming (again a good preparation for standardized tests, but frustrating to work with everyday).  I'm not sure if there are shorter practice type tests on the program or if they are always 50 question practice tests like the ones I have seen Kevin working on.

Surprise Surprise This Friday

So I showed up to mentor this week and when I walked into the front office to sign in, I was told that it was Parent Conference day and the students were about to be released for the day. So sadly, I did not get to mentor this past Friday.

Another New Student!

Sorry it has taken me so long to post this, the crazy that is Midterms has forced this blog to sit--finished--but unpublished!

I worked with another student this week, we can call him, Sam. Sam was really behind on some assignments but REALLY did not want to work on them. After finding him paper, lending him a pen, and helping him understand what he needed to be doing, he got to work. It was hard for him to not put his headphones in and keep focused. We finally did get a lot accomplished, but he flat out told me that when I left he was going to stop working, which made me a little sad, but I was glad we were able to get stuff done.

I would really like to work with Sam again. He was really nice and seemed to enjoy talking to me about  his family and he and his father's fishing trips. I really enjoy when the kids at Classic City talk to me about their lives. Sometimes I can't help with their academics as much as I'd like to, but when they open up to me about things that are bothering them, I can at least be there for them and try to give advice.

Productive Day at Classic City

This past trip to Classic City was a refreshing change. I was back working with Kevin and we were working on USA Test Prep. This was a nice change of pace because the students actually have to read through the material and answer the questions (unlike E2020). The material is a little more difficult as well so I actually really felt like I was able to contribute and help Kevin. I noticed toward the end of my time working with Kevin on Friday that he was beginning to stop reading the passages and just guessing because he knew I would point him in the direction of the right answer. To combat this tendency, if he got a question wrong, I would go back into the passage and show him how to arrive at the right answer. I think this frustrated him a little bit ( I think he thought he could fool me!) cause for awhile I thought he was just getting stuck and I was just watching him guess. I was really enjoying working with Kevin this Friday and was motivated to keep working to try and get as many tests finished as possible. Unfortunately, there was an assembly on Friday so we didn't get to work for as long as I had hoped. Kevin really impressed me with just how many questions he was able to get on his own. He really only seemed to start getting questions wrong when he lost focus and started getting tired. I hope we work on USA Test Prep again together in the coming week.

New Student, New Excitement!

So this Friday I was told that a new student would need my help instead of Kevin. This girl, "Sara" had just started at Classic City. She is still working at a 10th grade level, even though she is technically in 11th. I was asked to work with her on some of her E2020 lectures to try and get her caught up.

This was my first time working with E2020. It is a computer based program in which students logon, listen to a lecture and take notes, then complete questions based on the material covered in the lecture. The benefits I noticed working with the program is that the student can pause or rewind the lecture at any time if they need to hear something again, or just need more time to write something in their notes. However, I didn't think E2020 provides a students with enough concrete examples of a topic. It just kind of spit the information out at the student and expected them to remember how the concept works. I'm also not sure students who really need extra attention for instructors should  be sitting in front of a computer fending for themselves.

"Sara" was very focused with me there and we worked through an entire lecture. She was working on Plot and Setting. She was struggling with finding the answers in the reading passages. I told her how I work through comprehension questions like that and how to use the questions as clues to be on the look out for as you read. It seemed to help her a lot. She got a 100 on her assignment!

I also did some mentoring while I was there this week. This girl was sitting next to me and she opened up to me about how another girl was gossiping about her. These rumors had gotten back to the boy that she liked and now he didn't want to talk to her. I was really flattered that she was willing to open up to me about something so personal and I tried to give her some solid advice about what to do in those kind situations. It reminded me of "The Bully Society" that I am reading for my book discussion right now.

Day Two: Finding a Balance

My second day mentoring "Kevin" left me feeling a little..well..deflated. I really thought he and I made a connection on the first meeting and I was so excited to work with him again. He was a little late to class and I was anxiously waiting for him to get there because his teacher said he had a lot to do. When he finally walked in..he didn't even recognize me. I finally had to go up to him and say "do you remember" me before he realized that it was Friday and that meant I would be there to help him. After a little bit of a rough start, we began listening to the lecture about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

I was surprised to hear that only a few of the students were able to recognize the significance of January 21st. I assumed that most of the students, being primarily African American, would be familiar with the significance of the day. But most of the students only knew that they didn't have school that day. Our first assignment was to research the significance of the events of January 21st. The next part of the assignment was to find out information about Medgar Evers and what he had to do with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. I helped "Kevin" narrow down his google search so that he could find the information more quickly. After the lecture "Kevin" and I went to the media center so we could finish his paper on "what it means to be American".

I struggled to find a balance with Kevin during this visit. His teacher stressed to me that he had to finish his paper that day because it had to go in the grade book that day. I was really feeling the pressure to make sure we finished, but if I left Kevin to write the paper on his own, he wouldn't have even made a dent in it. I struggled to find the balance between telling him what to write and guiding him in the writing process. I tried to give him ideas that he could expand upon, but it seemed that he was only able to type out the idea that I had said, and he couldn't go any deeper on his own.

I want to help Kevin to succeed and get his assignments turned in on time, but I'm just not sure how to do that when he relies so heavily on my input.

Kevin says he is still working on the drawing he promised me, hopefully I will be able to post a picture of it next week!

Day One: A Whirlwind

I started my first day of mentoring at Classic City High School! I honestly didn't know what to expect when I walked into the school. I didn't know how on earth I would be able to relate to a kid who has experienced true hardship. My school experiences were sheltering to say the least. One or two kids had a "story" but for the most part we were all pretty fortunate. There wasn't a significant bullying problem, poverty wasn't an issue, and one of the most tragic events of the week was if the cafeteria changed "Chicken Tender Tuesday". Needless to say, I did not know how to process a place where every student has a "story".


I wanted to start the day out well. I wanted to look presentable and professional. The hair looked good, the outfit looked nice, my bag was packed and I was ready to face whatever Classic City had to offer me. I walked out my door... and into the pouring rain. So with hair ruined, shoes wet from the puddles I couldn't avoid, and a twisted ankle from slipping out of the car, I took a deep breath and walked into the school.

After getting assigned a student to work with, the coordinator showed me around the school. Classic City has an open campus policy that I wasn't expecting. The students seemed to have a lot of freedom to roam the school. My first impression of this policy left me kind of curious. It appears to me that these kids need structure in their lives, and school would be the place to get it. But for all I know, structure could have been the very thing they rebelled from in a mainstream school. I will have to watch and see how the students respond to the freedom. The students seem to do a lot of their work on computers, which kind of makes me feel old! Classrooms are getting more and more technology based, and I need to learn to adjust my thinking and be open to the benefits of using technology (she said as she typed her blog...on her laptop...).

I was very nervous to meet my student. I was told that some of the kids are trouble makers, some don't want you to help them--for various reasons-- and some just don't even care that you are there. Well was I surprised when I met...lets call him Kevin. Kevin is maybe one of the kindest people I have met. He is in 11th grade and I am helping him with his American Literature class. He was nice to me when we met, he seemed interested in getting to know me, and he was open to telling me things about himself.

Things I've learned about Kevin so far:

• He loves art and drawing (I was promised a drawing next week, I'll upload a picture!)
• He wants to one day go into the music production business
• His favorite artist is Eminem
• He is incredibly motivated
• He wants to learn
• He wants to graduate
• He likes playing chess

I know these things seem pretty surface level--and I will agree that they are. But the fact that I was able to learn those things about him meant the world to me. He wasn't afraid to ask me for help, he wasn't embarrassed or mad that I was there, and he was able to have conversations with me and also remember that we had work to do.

The things that broke my heart about Kevin:

• He knows exactly what he wants to say in his papers and work, but can barely put a sentence together on paper...as an 11th grader.
•  He was continuously asking me if I was going to come back again.
• He offered to miss an assembly to stay behind and continue to work on his assignment with me.

I will be working on test prep for Kevin's English Graduation Test, and I hope we can really make some progress. This kid wants to learn, wants to do well, and could really do some good in this world. It would break my heart if someone so talented and kind wasn't able to pursue the life they wanted. Here's to hoping that Kevin and I can get some serious work done together! 

What I'll Be Doing

My assignment is to work at a school for "at risk" students. This just means the students are at risk for not graduating. Classic City is a wonderful opportunity for kids in Athens that might not graduate from a regular school, to come and hopefully get the push they need to succeed. I believe Classic City can take up to 150 students. They also have a day care for students that have children of their own. It seems like they are truly doing everything they can to help these kids break the cycle they have found themselves in.

I will be assigned a student who needs extra help in the classroom. For an hour or so once a week, I will go in , and help the students with their current assignments. We are there to tutor and mentor the students and to help them reach their goals in any way we can. I hope that I can do my best to help and make a difference in my student's life. I know I will only be there for the semester, but hopefully I can help in some small way.

Welcome to My Blog!

Hello! Welcome to my blog! My name is Kristina and I am in my second year at the University of Georgia. I'm loving my college experience so far. I have great friends, I love my classes, and Athens is one of best places to live as a college student!

Since I was a kid, I have always loved teaching. While most kids were having tea parties with their stuffed animals, I was grading their "homework assignments" and teaching them their ABCs. I can remember pretending to be sick so I could stay home from school and go to work with my mom at the preschool she worked at. I don't know many children who get out of school to go to school. I've been fortunate to know exactly what I've wanted to do from a very young age. I also have three adopted Chinese sisters, so I got to see firsthand the joys of watching a child learn as we helped them to master English and prepare for entering school themselves.

I originally planned to enter the world of education as an Early Childhood teacher. I thought working with little kids all day would be fun, my classroom could be adorable, and there would be no stress. However, when I began to shadow teachers, I realized that an adorable classroom could not make up for the fact that my passion for teaching did not translate into a passion for teaching elementary school students.

I have always been inspired by my English teachers. They always seemed to be the teachers that went the extra mile to understand each one of their students. They came in early and went home late in order to grade piles of research papers. They were the teachers I could go to when it seemed as though my high school world was falling apart. And they are the teachers I still keep in touch with today. Those teachers are what I aspire to one day be. If I can impact just one student the way my teachers impacted me, then I can take whatever else may come with teaching.

After realizing how much I loved English, and my English teachers, I realized where my passions truly were. UGA has a fantastic English Education program that will certify me to teach 6-12th grade English. One of my first steps to becoming an educator is to take a service learning class in which I mentor high school students. This blog will serve as my final project for the course, (hopefully) provide entertainment for people reading it, and provide me with a record of the beginning stages of my "Road to Teaching".

Hope you Enjoy!