Today I went for my second tutoring session at my school. The neighborhood is not in the best of sections in Providence, and all the kids seem very diverse. They do have a school playground close by, which I found out, some of the kids skip classes to go to with friends. The classroom that I am in is actually very nice. It is a 6th grade science room with all the typical things you'd find in a science class. They have tables of 4-5 kids at each, not rows of seating. They do a lot of group work and having seating like that helps with that. The only thing the teacher complained about was not having running water, which makes it difficult to do some some science experiments with the students.
The 6th grade wing of the school is sectioned off from the rest of the middle school, so they pretty much have their own hallway in which that grade operates. It makes the transition from elementary school to high school style learning easier for the students to get accustomed to.
They start off the class with some of the homework from the night before, going through terminology and information that they need to know. The group time is where the kids get to be active and get "hands-on" which they love and really seem to soak in the information that way. Some classes are move advanced than others, most students with special needs are grouped together in certain classes and have a special aid come in to help with the normal classroom teacher. The teacher treats all classes the same, but expects more input and better grades from the higher level students. They seem to respond well and some have even started asking me about the college experience and expressing an interest in going to college once they get old enough. I tell them that paying attention and doing well in school now, will help them prepare and get into the college of their choice.
I had trouble getting onto the infoworks.ride.edu website to find out the specific info about the school, but when that becomes available, I will check it out and post the school's statistics.
I had trouble with the infoworks page as well. I kind of wish that I was placed in an older grade level classroom, so It's interesting to me to hear about your experiences with the 6th graders. I think it's awesome that you're able to emphasize the college experience and the importance of paying attention and doing well in school. That's awesome! you mentioned in class that they ask you a lot of questions and tend to get off topic, but how does the group work that they tend to do work out? Do the kids typically get everything done, or does the class get out of hand regularly? I remember I loved sitting at the groups of four at a table in middle school science because I got to sit with my friends!
ReplyDeleteThe site has actually changed. The actual site's address is: http://infoworks.ride.ri.gov/
ReplyDeletePlease remember to do this demographics research on your school!