Tutoring and Tests

Yesterday I finished two months of tutoring every Saturday. I started with a group of third graders, then helped a 9th grader with Algebra and the last three weeks I served as a sub since the 9th grader could easily be put with another math group. I learned a lot through the experience.

• I thought I would like the younger kids better, but the older kids were easier to work with. Their maturity level and attention span are such that they were much better able to focus on the task at hand.
• Tutoring from 8:30 to 3:30 is a long day for all age groups.
• Being bilingual has lots of advantages, but doing well on those standardized tests isn't one of them. The bilingual kids I worked with were bright, attentive and eager to learn. At the same time they had no idea what was meant by the sentence, "Johnny stayed home from school because he was under the weather?" I was glad to be able to help them make a small step forward in gaining a better grasp of the intricacies of the English language.
• Environment matters. Both sites for the Saturday tutoring were in churches. One had a room that was used for a preschool. It was brightly colored but the tables and chairs were small and shelves of toys and games were distracting. The other was a larger drab room in the basement. There was also a small gym (about the size of a volleyball court) up a couple of flights of stairs. I was normally at the second site but spent two weeks at the first one I described. The kids were much easier to work with at the drab one. It helped to have more space between the tables, fewer distractions and a place for the kids to run and get out some of their pent-up energy.. 
• Math is easier to teach than reading - at least for me. Maybe that is because I've been immersed in math since late August so it is fresh in my mind. 

Overall it was a good experience. I hope it will help me get a tutoring job next fall. My math skills should help since lots of people forget all those algebra concepts once they are a few years out of school. An added bonus is winning the drawing for a $50 Target gift certificate for those of us who took a turn or two riding the bus. That will come in handy.

This week is the last of the semester. I have a test in each class between tomorrow and Wednesday followed by two comprehensive finals next Monday. I have my work cut out for me especially in reviewing everything we've covered in Chemistry and Math. Friday I can register for my summer school classes - including College Algebra. So far there are spots left in the traditional class. I hope it stays that ways as I do not want to take another online math class.