Day 18 @ McCormack Middle (Nov 7 Tue)
I had an interesting day today! I started off with my first drive to school! I volunteered to pick Laura up at the T and drive to school - which took only 10 minutes! =)
Anyway, nationwide in US, people had to vote for their state's governer, house of representatives plus some other folks and issues (me not totally familiar). It differs from state to state. Here in MA, it seemed that the democrat's representative was very strong and the favor to him being elected as the first black governer was good. I learnt that his name was Deval Patrick, if anyone's curious. Anyway, Laura's mentor teacher teaches social studies and because it was a significant day to 'commemorate', she turned the classroom into a 'mini' election room. There were 4 stations the students had to visit. They had to listen to campaign ads (over the computer from the internet), read newspaper articles, understand polling and heh, vote. There was a make-shift voting booth set up in the corner and students, after a discussion (sometimes lively, other times, ehem.. boring) with the teacher, would go in and 'cast their votes'. So cool right? They also discussed amongst other things, the questions (I would term them issues) that people would need to vote for - childcare and licensure for liquor at local grocery stores, in particular - and how the students felt about them. One guy totally impressed me when he 'scolded' his friend for voting in favor of 'no tax' because that would mean they wouldn't be able to go to school (assume education fees are high and there's no public money for that - I wouldn't have thought of that!) And that same students stopped everyone, just before the campaign ad viewing, to say "we need to get a chair for this young lady" - refering to me! Wow, although he's a little on the 'talkative' side, he's really smart (& charming =p) and I believe he has a great future ahead of him! I guess as a teacher, I might get "stressed" over his constant movements & 'noise' but if that energy is harnessed in the right way, directed to the class' contribution, then it would be the 'best of both worlds'! (or am I too idealistic? =p)
I learnt more about the parties and candidates involved.. in a matter of 1.5 hours! Haha. Then I also asked Laura, who kindly explained all the terms to me, how the elections went and what the US government is made of. It was really an eye-opener. The students whom I 'followed' (rather, tagged along) were very curious about my presence. I explained that I was on the same program as Laura and was there to visit them and learn more about their school and its culture. One Vietnamese boy asked if I was Vietnamese and he had a (kind of) disappointed look when I told him I wasn't. There was much interaction between me and the students. I was on one side curious to know more about the elections myself and on the other, interested to see student interactions. I guess it was a fruitful trip on the whole - I realized I can still work with the older kids (they were 8th graders or 14 year-olds) *smiles* Their math class was also interesting. HAd something to do with 'elections' as well but the lesson tied in very nicely.. although I was there to watch an intern (the mentor teacher was still in the room and pretty much, "in charge" of things) teach. The students were introduced to balloting (of which I'm still confused. Opps!) and how that led to a further lesson of 'exponents'. The students had to cut a paper in half and find out how many pieces of 'ballot' they would have each time. So with each half-cut, the number would double. They had to then figure out the equation for that if they were to plot it on a graph. A girl finally figured that out (after much guesses and tries) and she 'won' 3 stickers to her name. Yay for her! =)
Anyway, nationwide in US, people had to vote for their state's governer, house of representatives plus some other folks and issues (me not totally familiar). It differs from state to state. Here in MA, it seemed that the democrat's representative was very strong and the favor to him being elected as the first black governer was good. I learnt that his name was Deval Patrick, if anyone's curious. Anyway, Laura's mentor teacher teaches social studies and because it was a significant day to 'commemorate', she turned the classroom into a 'mini' election room. There were 4 stations the students had to visit. They had to listen to campaign ads (over the computer from the internet), read newspaper articles, understand polling and heh, vote. There was a make-shift voting booth set up in the corner and students, after a discussion (sometimes lively, other times, ehem.. boring) with the teacher, would go in and 'cast their votes'. So cool right? They also discussed amongst other things, the questions (I would term them issues) that people would need to vote for - childcare and licensure for liquor at local grocery stores, in particular - and how the students felt about them. One guy totally impressed me when he 'scolded' his friend for voting in favor of 'no tax' because that would mean they wouldn't be able to go to school (assume education fees are high and there's no public money for that - I wouldn't have thought of that!) And that same students stopped everyone, just before the campaign ad viewing, to say "we need to get a chair for this young lady" - refering to me! Wow, although he's a little on the 'talkative' side, he's really smart (& charming =p) and I believe he has a great future ahead of him! I guess as a teacher, I might get "stressed" over his constant movements & 'noise' but if that energy is harnessed in the right way, directed to the class' contribution, then it would be the 'best of both worlds'! (or am I too idealistic? =p)
I learnt more about the parties and candidates involved.. in a matter of 1.5 hours! Haha. Then I also asked Laura, who kindly explained all the terms to me, how the elections went and what the US government is made of. It was really an eye-opener. The students whom I 'followed' (rather, tagged along) were very curious about my presence. I explained that I was on the same program as Laura and was there to visit them and learn more about their school and its culture. One Vietnamese boy asked if I was Vietnamese and he had a (kind of) disappointed look when I told him I wasn't. There was much interaction between me and the students. I was on one side curious to know more about the elections myself and on the other, interested to see student interactions. I guess it was a fruitful trip on the whole - I realized I can still work with the older kids (they were 8th graders or 14 year-olds) *smiles* Their math class was also interesting. HAd something to do with 'elections' as well but the lesson tied in very nicely.. although I was there to watch an intern (the mentor teacher was still in the room and pretty much, "in charge" of things) teach. The students were introduced to balloting (of which I'm still confused. Opps!) and how that led to a further lesson of 'exponents'. The students had to cut a paper in half and find out how many pieces of 'ballot' they would have each time. So with each half-cut, the number would double. They had to then figure out the equation for that if they were to plot it on a graph. A girl finally figured that out (after much guesses and tries) and she 'won' 3 stickers to her name. Yay for her! =)
posted by sarabel @ 12:05 AM
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