Evangeline

//Biography //

I've always liked simplicity. Clean, classic, elegant, sleek; it's my personal style. But there's definitely nothing simple about me. I'm interested in anything and everything, and am always up to dipping my feet in the shallow end of a pool of knowledge. Even though I've had many hobbies and interests, including dancing, singing, drawing and painting, musical instruments, writing short stories and many more, something has to really grab my attention for me to stick with it. Two of the interests that stuck are playing flute, and doing graphics and design. Academically, I'm very mathematically oriented, and combined with my interest in graphics and design, this led me to apply for computer science majors in my post-secondary studies. Through peer tutoring, I hope to gain experience with helping people and working with people younger than me. I also want to improve on my patience and efficiency in explaining and working through problems. //Week #1// This week is the first week of peer tutoring. I've realized getting to know kids is harder than I thought! I often don't know what to do with myself in the classroom because the kids are too shy to reach out to me for help, and I'm too shy to check up on them and ask them if they need help. I just awkwardly walk around the classroom hoping someone raises their hand. Being in a Science 9 class brings me back to my own 9th grade experience. It's so surreal to relive that feeling of just starting out the high school journey. And I also realized how far I've come, from learning about simple subatomic particles and naming rules, to Chemistry/Physics/Biology 12 and gaining all this in-depth knowledge. My high school career is just about finished. I just received my first choice university acceptance letter a few days ago, and am already looking into information about dorms and financial aid. But a s I look around the class I feel like I'm starting this journey again. I can't help but wonder what will become of these kids 4 years from now, when they are the graduating class.

//Week #2//

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I can say that interacting with the kids is getting a tiny bit easier. Not by that much, but every little bit is an improvement right? Or I'd like to think... This week they are learning more about atoms and their features and rules. It's surprising how difficult you think this information is to grasp when you first learn it, but now it's so deeply imbedded in my brain from using the rules over and over again, it's more of a reflex than anything. The course is still at a point where I can easier answer most of the questions they have, and for this week I tried to "up my game" and try to keep students on track when they get distracted. Its times like those when I start to feel the pain of being a teacher. It's hard for me to do this because I don't feel I have the authority yet, and I think the kids know I'm not going to be like their teacher and be strict about being distracted. So when I urge them to do their work, they always say yes but when I circulate back to their desk, the page is still blank. It's pretty frustrating, and I'm just not forceful/encouraging enough, and I can't easily interact with the kids, so that's something I'd like to improve on. ===== //Week #3 // I have to admit, I think I would do better if I only focused on one student. I would be able to connect with them on a personal level, and generally do better with teaching them. I am feeling more comfortable with the classroom. I know the kids way better than the beginning of the first semester, and they are more open to me as a peer tutor. It was especially funny when, during a jeopardy game, one of the kids referred to me as a "student teacher". I have seen some improvements, but it's really hard to specify with a class full of people. The best improvements I've seen are some of the kid's concentration ability. Some of them didn't focus on classwork at all during the beginning of the semester, but now they are proactive in asking questions and working hard during the period where the teacher gives them class time to do work. There are some students who still refuse to concentrate during class, and are always talking and playing when the teacher gives class work. I guess I'll have to try harder in motivating them. //Week #4 // It feels really different because we get so used to listening to the teacher explain theories and problems, and we criticize easily about which teacher explains more clearly, and who is more interesting. But when it's our turn to fill in these shoes, our mental list of "improvements I would make when I'm a teacher" goes flying out the window. We stammer, we second guess ourselves, and we feel dumbfounded when our students don't understand the simplest of the simple concepts that is already deeply ingrained in our brains. Being a peer tutor in this Science 9 class has helped me understand those teachers who do not give the best explanations, and even more appreciate the teachers who have the ability to engage their student's mind in the material of study. //Week #5 // The best moment in Peer Tutoring is when you realize how far of a journey you've made since grade 9. This week my science 9 class has been learning biology, learning all about cell structure and DNA. It's coincidentally the same thing I am learning in Biology 12 right now, except we are learning about these things way more in depth. So when they ask me questions about the homework, labs or projects, I feel so confident in answering their questions because I know the exact and answer. I also had to simplify my answers, because it might be too complicated for their understanding at the moment. It gives me confidence that even though I feel panicked that university classes might be too hard for me to handle, I know when the time comes, I'll be able to work it out and hopefully understand everything. //Week #6 // I am really starting to enjoy my peer tutoring placement. I started out not knowing how to communicate with the students, and not knowing how to connect with them. I would wait for the students to ask me questions, and this would rarely happen because the students in the class are pretty shy themselves. But as the weeks progressed I started to be more open to them, and I would go up to them and ask them how things were coming along, they would also ask me questions proactively. It's still a learning process for me, I'm still trying to reach out to them more and to become more available for them. In the last two weeks, my science 9 class participated in a static electricity lab. It was pretty funny, watching them act silly and experiment with different ways of getting their hair to stand up. //<span style="color: #ca919e; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12px;">Week #7 // <span style="font-family: georgia,serif;"> I had a conversation with the teacher about graduation and what was coming up next for me. There's one and a half months left of school, and I'm really looking forward to finishing high school and moving on into University. The teacher told me about her experiences in university, her major, and her transfers in university. It's really started to make me think of the impact my decisions now will make on my future. I'm also really trying to focus on my studies, because now is the general time seniors get distracted from school and end up getting really bad final grades. It's not that these grades will effect me in my university admission anymore, as long as I don't fail any courses, I'll get in just fine. But it has to do with personal integrity and responsibility. I want to finish high school on a high note, and start fresh with a blank slate for university. This is all definitely starting to feel incredibly close and real. I really want to tell my grade 9 class to work hard in their fundamental courses like this science 9 class, because opposite to many student's belief, it does effect everything. //<span style="color: #ca919e; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12px;">Week #8 // <span style="color: #8f8f8f; font-family: georgia,serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">When I help the students in my class, I generally try to lead them towards the answers instead of giving them the answers outright. I believe the process of getting the answers are as important as the answer itself, because it betters your understanding of how and why you got to the conclusion. Most of the time the students aren't very cooperative. It's very apparent that they just want the answer and to move on to the next question. They care more about finishing the task at hand than actually learning and understanding the material. This may be a workable technique in grade 9, but I would try to make the students understand that this will not work on higher level course material like in Grade 11 & 12, even more so in university. I feel like grade 9 students shouldn't be protected and babied like they are now. If they have any urge of learning, they should be shown the proper way of learning. They shouldn't be spoon fed answers. This is only possible when dealing with students who actually want to learn, and those kind of students are very rare nowadays. //<span style="color: #ca919e; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12px;">Week #9 // <span style="color: #8f8f8f; font-family: georgia,serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">The first thing that I felt I did well was when the students got noisy, I would patiently tell them to quiet down and do their work. It's really hard to get them to listen to you, but when they do, you feel like you've accomplished something, like they actual respect you. The second thing is when the teachers complimented me on my explanation for a topic one of the students didn't understand. When you're a student and learning material, it's really hard to appreciate how difficult the material is to explain. It's easy to understand, but explaining takes some practice and deeper understanding. So when I knew how to explain a topic or a question, it makes me feel accomplished. Something that I wish I can do better is to be more forward with the students. I find it really hard to just go up to them and ask them how they're doing, it's easier to answer their questions when they come to me. I will try to be more pro-active in seeking out the problems they have.

//<span style="color: #ca919e; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12px;">Week #10 // <span style="font-family: georgia,serif;"> It's almost the end of the school year! Time has never passed by so fast, it seemed like almost yesterday when we were talking about how far away graduation and university are. Peer tutoring has really opened my eyes to the hardships teachers have when trying to reach their students, especially students who aren't there to learn. I've learnt that explaining material to students is much harder than learning them, it's hard to achieve a clarity of an idea until you actually thoroughly understand it. Peer tutoring has taught me to be forward with people, not just in the teaching environment, but in social situations too. Don't be afraid to initiate a conversation, people are more likely to talk to you and it's easier to make friends. This knowledge is very useful since I'm starting university next year in the states, and I don't know anyone there. I'll have to start anew, and I need the skills to make friends. One moment in peer tutoring that was special for me, was when we were playing jeopardy in class for the chemistry unit. I thought I really started interacting with the students, and they saw me as someone they can ask questions and talk to. This experience was very memorable and special, and I'll bring the knowledge with me along for the new chapter of my life.