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!