The Start of my Path.

As eager and nervous as I could possibly be, I entered the room, unknowing of what would be through the door of that elementary school classroom where I would be spending my volunteering experience as a math tutor. When I entered, the teacher had already assembled all of her students to sit in a corner of the room on a rectangular rug, writing on a large notepad. As I entered, all of the students turned to look at me, some looking apprehensive, some smiling and some others just curious to see who the visitor was. I smiled back, having forgotten how small that I was when I was their age. The teacher invited me to sit down and make myself comfortable and motioned toward a miniature table on the side of the classroom. I knew then that my adventure had begun.

After I sat down at the small table, she continued to write on the notepad, teaching the class the lesson with all of the students sitting in close proximity to each other on the rug. It was then when I got to observe the mannerisms of the students as well as evaluate the teaching methods that were utilized within the classroom. Having all her students sit on the rug creates a sense of unity as well as the ability to get all of the students very close to her and to the information being taught. Students with large amounts of enthusiasm to answer a problem can influence those who may be less likely to answer a problem. Due to rotating classes, I was able to tutor three different sessions of students. For two of the classes, teaching on the carpet was an effective way to manage the classroom, although for one of the classes it got to be an issue. At the beginning of the lesson, one or two of the students were misbehaving, bothering other students by poking them or whispering to students who were otherwise paying attention. The teacher, noticing these distractions, quickly put a stop to them, silencing them with various different methods. Whether it was simply calling their name with a stern voice, telling the students that she expected better from them, or staring the student down until they stopped, it usually stopped the student's disruptions. The problem that I observed was that whenever the teacher stopped to quiet one of the students, several other students would visibly lose focus in the assignment. I am interested to see if for this one particular class if the teacher utilizes the same method of bringing them together to the rug, or if she deviates from her normal method.

For the second half of each session, the teacher assigned a problem for the students to complete. In each class, four students circled around my table with their assignment, while the rest of the class worked in pairs. The first class was the hardest because I was trying to figure out what method would be best to teach all of the students. It was difficult because we were on limited time and I had to make sure that all four of the students understood the work they were doing. At first, I would pose a question to the group, and there was usually one or 2 hands that would consistently go up immediately, one hand that would go up sporadically, and one hand that would rarely go up. The most important thing in a math classroom is not the answer itself, but the process that was used to obtain the answer. I wanted to ensure that all four of the students had a firm understanding of the problem. To do this, I went from one end of the circle down the line, asking each student what they thought the next step would be. In all three classes, this method seemed to be the most effective.

Probably the most rewarding part of my first week was after one of the sessions, we had a few minutes remaining and I was talking my group of four boys. They all informed me on how they were football players. In a matter of minutes, they informed me of their positions, their amazing team, their favorite professional players, and how they were going to beat the other students teams. Class was nearly over and three of the boys started to pack up, but one of the boys in my group, who had been struggling at the beginning of class, asked me to write another problem for him to do (for his own enjoyment!). I smiled and quickly assembled a similar problem to the one that we had done in class, making sure that I incorperated three of his favorite football problems into the problem. He smiled, and I watched as he started the problem in his notebook as he returned to his seat.

Overall, week one was a great experience for me, and I look forward to more positive experiences within the classroom as the weeks go on. With only one week behind me, I feel like I have learned a lot about student behavior as well as teaching, and I can only wait to see what the future weeks have in store.