10 Hours Down, and I Still Want to Go Back ;)

Well, I finally completed my volunteer hours at HHS. The funny thing is, although I was not thrilled about having this assignment, I really want to keep going to Miss Holland's class. The kids are not at all like the kids at my high school, but they're so unique and interesting. Since they don't really know me, I can ask all the questions I want, and they answer them because I'm a "teacher." I've learned everything from gang leaders and founders (some of the chosen research topics) to why all the guys wear their shirts so big (a 6x when they should be in a L). Well, they couldn't really tell me the answer to that, but it was fun hearing them try. The scary boys in the back corner aren't so scary anymore, and the "gangstas" in the other corner aren't so tough anymore. Patricia even made a 100 on her last vocabulary test! Although my ten hours are up, I will definitely make one more trip to Holt before I go back home for Christmas break. GO IRONMEN!!!

I'm Not Weird, I'm Just Gifted

Today we read an article by Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez ( http://alisavaldesrodriguez.com)about parents with an extremely gifted kid who was thought to have autism. When I first got the article, I was so excited to read it because I worked with special needs children in high school and love autistic kids. The little boy in the article was believed to be and diagnosed with autism. He was interested in very complex things like sprinkler systems and referred to himself in the second and third person (like Dustin Hoffman's autistic character in "Rain Man" http://www.dvdmg.com/rainman.shtml). Although Alex did show symptoms of the type of autism he was diagnosed with, there were many symptoms that he did not have. The author took him to yet another doctor who realized that he was super gifted, not autistic. Alex had just seemed that way due to bad parenting. The author and her husband never made Alex do anything; they catered to his every want and need.

The article has two arguments that jumped out at me.
1. Just because someone diagnoses your child with something does not mean that that is what they have, so always double check and get second opinions (doctors do know best, though).
2. Parents should not do everything for their children because then kids will not learn to do things themselves, thus resulting in a possible misdiagnosis like Alex.
I was very entertained by the article and wanted to keep reading (partly because I wanted to see what the parents would do or not to next). The article was very successful and got it's point across. I give it an A+!

Dinner or Desperate Housewives

"Us and Them" was a very interesting essay. It's so funny that the narrator thinks that someone without television is weird and the outcast of the town, when he and his family are the "new guys" (the typical outcasts in a city). The Tomkeys are definitely strange, and I know that I would not make it without my television to watch the shows that I've become addicted to, but it's interesting to see that having a television and watching all the prime time shows is what is considered normal these days. The Tomkeys had lived in the North Carolina town much longer than the narrator's family, yet they might as well live on the other side of the world just because they don't have a television and they value spending time with each other talking (which is what families should do more of). The essay really makes me think about how big of an impact television has on people's lives and, as corny as it sounds, kind of makes me want to go back in time to when did spend time with their families and just enjoy being with people without having to watch television all the time.

"I ain't never had a single digit average!"

I went back to the lovely Holt High today for volunteering and it was so much fun this time! Miss Holland's class was extremely energetic today; they were also extremely loud because it was progress report day. I don't know how Miss Holland keeps up with all of those kids every day. Brittany and Patricia were freaking out because they turned stuff in late, so it wasn't on their progress report. Well, actually it was more like Patricia complaining for "me and Brittany" and Brittany complaining about how she's "never had a single digit average, it's always been double digits!!!" This was on top of the rest of the class yelling to Miss Holland with their various "problems." After the progress report commotion finally settled down and another student got written up, I actually got to help the students. I helped with vocabulary exercises and grammar reviews. I was able to interact with the kids and get to know them and their personalities a little more. I didn't get called a 15 year old, or Miss Holland's cousin, niece, friend, or slave (although Patricia seems to think that Miss Holland and I are best friends and talk on the phone every night) so I would say that it was a very good day at Holt. Not only did I get to show a part of my personality with the kids, but I got to help teach others and get them to understand things that were very difficult to them. I also discovered that they should all have higher averages than they do, because they are all very bright, they just like to socialize too much, but isn't that the problem with us all??

Hooray for Public Education!

The article that I used for my paper was one man's opinion on public education in America. Bracey, the author, is an educational researcher and knows the facts about public education in our country. He shows that, despite the fact that everyone talks down on public education and thinks that it is about as good as a dog with no legs, public education is actually pretty good. We've even made it in the top ranks on some very prestigeous lists. Bracey's article was so good that it made me question my own opinions on public schools.

Would You Like an Apple Pie with That?

In class, we're watching "Supersize Me", you know, that "McDonald's makes you fat" movie? While the guy in the movie blames McDonald's and their menu for the extreme change in his health and weight, McDonald's says that it's his own fault for eating 5,000 caleries every day. I can agree with both of these things. True, McDonald's might not have had the healthiest food when the documentary was made (they do have healthier stuff now including like a million salads), but Spurlock didn't have to eat as much as he did. The first time he got breakfast, I seem to remember him ordering an egg McMuffin combo along with a sausage biscuit and who knows what else. That's definitely more than one "meal" for breakfast. Spurlock did say that he had to order one of everything on the menu, but I don't think he had to do it in big groups. He could have stuck to one breakfast, not two.

But obviously the movie did have an effect on McDonald's because they got rid of the super sized meals and are coming out with more healthy opitons all the time.

Welcome to Miss Holland's Class!

I finally got to visit the class that I will be volunteering with for the remainder of the semester, Miss Holland's english class. I'm guessing that it's freshmen because all of the students are so little and they were reading "The Odyssey". I didn't really get to do much my first day. I just kind of sat there, but next week I'll be helping a lot more. The students were very funny and kept me entertained the whole block without even realizing it. It was obvious that there was no one class clown, they shared the title equally. I'm excited about being able to actually help during second block this year. I'm not 100% sure what all that will entail, but I'm thinking that I'll just be helping them do workbook pages and stuff of that nature. Once again, wish me luck!

WOOPSIE ;)

I definitely got ahead of my syllabus, well I didn't have it yet, so I guess it's not too bad. I already wrote about my first (and only) day working with GEAR UP. Now, since GEAR UP and English are both at the same time, I'll be working in Shannon Holland's english class at Holt High School. I don't know exactly what I'll be doing, but I'm going tomorrow, so I'll do yet another "First Day Volunteering" post after that!