1st Week

So last week was my first week as a TA at YHS. I am helping in Mr. Lancaster's 4th hour Accelerated Algebra I class, and Ms. Porter's 5th Hour Algebra 1. The two classes use a different text book - the Accelerated Algebra course actually uses the same textbook I had when I took algebra. In Mr. Lancaster's class, we were working on inequalities and number lines this week (with variables), while in Ms. Porter's class, we worked on substituting values for variables as well as the order of operations. After just one week, I think that helping in the high school is too late to be of much good for many of the kids. I would classify the students I saw into 3 groups - those who don't need help, those who are bright but unmotivated, and those who have a hard time with the material in spite of their best efforts. Its the latter two groups we are interested in, and I think 9th grade is too late to motivate someone, and definitely too late to catch someone up who has a hard time with school.

Mr. Lancaster and Ms. Porter have different teaching styles, which I hope to be able to learn from this semester. Ms. Porter's classroom is very quiet and very structured - the students each have a folder to track their work. In Mr. Lancaster's classroom, the students sit in pairs so they can work together - this makes for a louder classroom and for some getting off topic, but probably also has benefits for the students. Maybe if I run a class later in the semester, I can see which way I prefer.