Wednesday, April 19, 2017

Peer Help


It was the last day before spring break, and I was covering an Earth Science class (more on that on Friday). Of course they asked me to cover another class on my prep period. Luckily it was two doors down and across the way. And it was a math class. A freshman math class.

It had a few too many familiar faces. Not in a good way. Including Vaughn...

Surprisingly, they settled right away, let me give them instructions, and then they got right to work.

So, it was one of those days where I circulated and waited for students who needed my help. A few were having difficulty with the assignment, but of course, they didn't want my help.

It was a geometry problem. Triangles. Two students were debating whether or not they had set up the problem correctly. Even though I was there, they didn't ask me.

"Vaughn..."

Vaughn dutifully came over to them, looked over their problem, and told them it wasn't set up correctly. (It was close. It only needed a minor tweak.)

He was correct. (If he hadn't been, I would have said something.) Okay, fine. My help wasn't needed.

Sometimes I get to sit back and relax.

Who was your go to person to ask for help in classes? If you're doing A to Z, what was your P word for today?

Today's A to Z Challenge post brought to you by the letter...

34 comments:

  1. My P word is a double: prohibition poison.

    I was the helpful one when I was in school, a total teacher's pet.

    http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/2017/04/atozchallenge-4-19-2017-letter-p.html#comment-form

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  2. That's pretty cool that they could help each other out. :) My word today was Planning, and I made a short vlog about planning my newest book, "Echoes."
    You can see my "P" post here: https://lydiahowe.com/2017/04/19/p-is-for-planning-atozchallenge-vlog/

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  3. Not sure which person I would of ask...depends on the subject..Math wasn't my best subject...although I can keep a check book stright. Although I've looked back on some of my comment and post. I could use a good review in grammer 101.
    Coffee is on

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  4. My daughter is the helper, the one who explains, in most of her classes. I'm glad to hear a good report on Vaughn! My son could read out loud from the King James Bible and do long division by 1st grade. Yet, it was a struggle to get good grades out of him in school. Once he knew something, why do more of it?
    Perspectives at Life & Faith in Caneyhead

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  5. I guess not... I remember in high school thinking the subs really knew nothing, because most of them were a bit clueless about the subjects they were subbing. That's not to say that's the case these days or in certain areas, but you may just be one of the FEW knowledgeable subs they come in contact with.

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  6. If I had a great teacher, I would ask the teacher but if the teacher was an a hole then I would not. I definitely would not ask the students because of the bullying

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    Replies
    1. Really? That's too bad. Most of the time, when kiddos ask each other for help, they get help. (At least when I'm there.)

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  7. Crumbs I guess I need to play catch up but I'm peddling as fast as I can, lol

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  8. At school I was the one people checked things with. Actually, sometimes I'm still that person at work!

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  9. That's good Vaughn could help out correctly! I would usually ask a fellow class mate if I couldn't figure out anything, but I was pretty good in school so usually people were asking me about things :)

    betty

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  10. He sounds like some of the kids in my daughter's high school class. Brilliant, they were in the school's gifted program in elementary school, but by high school they were burnt out, lazy, or just not interested in doing the work.

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    1. Yeah, he's one of those, I'm sure. I don't know if he was identified gifted, but he does know what he's doing. Applying that, however...

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  11. Glad Vaughn was actually helpful and did it correctly :)

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    Replies
    1. Yeah, me too. I'm really glad he wasn't goofing off...

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  12. He was the one who did really well on a test, right? I guess they know he'll remember how to do everything. And then they don't have to ask the scary sub. :P

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  13. Helpful to have someone like that around to take the pressure off!

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  14. So, another dull and boring day? In A to Z, you can show that not every day is a horror. Again, I'm plain happy that I'm not in school any more. Alana ramblinwitham.blogspot.com

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    1. It was more of a spring-break-happened-so-I-need-to-mine-more-days-for-stories. If I had worked last week, I probably wouldn't have used this story.

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  15. Nothing but relaxing sometimes it is a good thing. That tells me that maybe the teacher of that class has her students well behaved.

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    Replies
    1. Yeah, I've rarely subbed for him, but I have a pretty good impression of his classes now.

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  16. I imagine, as a teacher, you seldom get to sit back and relax. That was a good day.

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  17. Hi Liz - I don't remember asking for help, just getting on with things ... especially as homework was done in silence - I was at boarding school - and that era was somewhat different .. cheers Hilary

    http://positiveletters.blogspot.co.uk/2017/04/q-is-for-quirky-quizzy-facts-and-quaggas.html

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  18. Vaughn might have been pleased that he could help.

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    Replies
    1. Pleased? I'm not sure that was his reaction.

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  19. I wasn't a fantastic student (mostly disinterested in the subject matter) but took good notes and ended up helping other students more often then needing it. I'm so busy with another writing challenge that my bands for the letter P slip my mind. ~grin~ Be well!

    http://darlamsands.blogspot.com/

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    1. Oops. Oh well. You can always add it in later.

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  20. Yay for getting a break! Glad everyone was behaved and willing to help one another that day. :)

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  21. I'm not doing the A to Z this year, just as well cos there was no internet on a lot of our little jaunt into the desert. But today could have been P for packing. I ma glad the kids help themselves sometimes.

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    1. They help themselves more often than not. Usually that doesn't make the blog.

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  22. Nice to get a break :D I was pretty good in school so most of the time could figure things out on my own. Mostly. lol

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