Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Do the Math

Day two of the opportunity class.

I've got a mix of 8th, 9th, and 10th graders. First thing in the morning the high schoolers come in. Then an hour later the 8th graders show up. At about noon the high schoolers leave. The 8th graders stay until one.

It was the first hour. The high schoolers were doing some math--some 4th grade math. And they were having trouble. I had to demonstrate how to do long division. Then they could do it.

During the last hour I gave the 8th graders a math review sheet. It was probably from pre-algebra. Susan (the only girl) couldn't figure out four of the problems. I mentioned that they were done just like percents. She was fine after that. I didn't have to do anything else. She knew exactly what to do.

Getting any of them to do anything is hard. But I'm starting to get the picture. The older students don't understand. The younger students... Well, they have issues.

(Today they told me that they had all been to juvie. I think I was better off not knowing that.)

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