My day as an intervention specialist goes in a fairly predictable fashion. One day I go to one selection or teachers' classes, the next day I go to a somewhat different selection.
The day starts with "Boost," where I spend about 30 minutes. Here the instructor in charge and I sit between different pairs of students as they do sets of math problems from packets of Xeroxed sheets. We are there for several reasons. One of them stems from the fact that these students all have educational disabilities. Many of them simply have trouble focusing on their work. They may do one problem, then start staring off into space or watching other students. Our job is to draw their attention back to their work, to keep them "on track."
They are working in pairs. While one is actively doing a math problem, he or she is supposed to be explaining to the other how it is solved. In sitting between them, we watch the students' work and try to catch wrong answers as they are being produced and to bring the attention of the student to these problems and have them do recalculation. The sheets have about ten pages stapled together and as a student progresses through the packet, the problems become progressive but slowly more difficult. What is unusual here is that the students are graded at the end of each half hour session not by the number of problems they completed, but by their interaction with the other student in their pair. Did Student A actually talk to the other student about mathematical solutions ? Did they have any eye contact with the other student, or were they just mumbling to themselves ? The theory behind this is that if the students explain problems to each other, they will learn better.
After "Boost" comes crew. Most days this lasts from 8:30 a.m. until about 9:05, but on Wednesdays, when the school day is shorter and the number of classes reduced, it lasts about an hour. During this period, many students come from the school cafeteria where they can get a free breakfast, They bring their breakfasts with them, and spend time eating and socializing for ten or fifteen minutes.
Each student has a day planner which, when open, shows a full week of activity. In this class, the instructor-in-charge and I circulate around the room, making certain that each student has had his parent or guardian sign at the bottom of the previous day's entries. Later in the day, the first thing each student will do upon entering a classroom will be to copy the homework assignment from the board into his or her planner. This system has several advantages. First, the student is accountable to teachers at the beginning of every class, because the teacher makes certain assignments are written down. Second, it automatically involves the parent in the educational system. They can see what the assignments of the day are, and they can use this information to make certain their child has done homework. Third, the use of the planner serves as a concrete reminder to the student of just what he or she is accountable for.
The instructor-in-charge also has an opportunity to explain many things to the students. For instance, today the instructor spoke about why the students are required to wear green sweatshirts with the school insignia on them, and khaki pants. The green sweatshirts and khaki pants are regulation uniform for this school because the area around its location is heavily infested with gangs. Wear blue or red and you're in trouble. You won't be able to pass through certain neighborhoods.
The instructor I'm working with has seen all the gang life possible because he grew up in a part of Los Angeles where gangs were very common. He also became a football player in college, He has the kind of tough, athletic bearing one would expect from a football star, In the morning as each student enters the classroom, he exchanges a Black fist bump and a "Good morning ! How are you ?" or some such greeting to each kid. Some of them have their own special fist bumps, moving their hands around in special ways, and he knows every one of their specialties and follows along with it. He has great rapport with them, and a great sensitivity to each student's mood on any particular day. He's also an incredibly intelligent person, with a wide range of knowledge that he feeds in bits and pieces to the kids during what is called "Morning Crew" period.
Crew is about 40 minutes long, and the kids arrive ready to show their notebooks, their papers from the previous day signed by their parents or guardians, and their pens, pencils and marker. Yellow highlighting is required of the kids in most of the school's classes.
The school seems finely tuned to the needs of the students, right down to their ethnic preferences. At the beginning of crew, those kids who didn't eat or want breakfast at home can get it free of charge just before Crew, so they can bring the food with them into the classroom. While they are eating, the instructor-in-charge reads school announcements and gives small talks about behavior the kids are encouraged or discouraged from engaging in. He does this with a sense of humor and compassion, yet a sternness that the students like and respond to. I sure wish I could handle students the way he does.
I have enormous admiration for this particular instructor. He is studying for either a masters or a Ph.D. at U.C. Berkeley these days, with the eventual goal of becoming an administrator. I would rather see him get a much higher salary and stay where he is, where the kids respond to him, and where he is changing lives in a direct fashion.
The day starts with "Boost," where I spend about 30 minutes. Here the instructor in charge and I sit between different pairs of students as they do sets of math problems from packets of Xeroxed sheets. We are there for several reasons. One of them stems from the fact that these students all have educational disabilities. Many of them simply have trouble focusing on their work. They may do one problem, then start staring off into space or watching other students. Our job is to draw their attention back to their work, to keep them "on track."
They are working in pairs. While one is actively doing a math problem, he or she is supposed to be explaining to the other how it is solved. In sitting between them, we watch the students' work and try to catch wrong answers as they are being produced and to bring the attention of the student to these problems and have them do recalculation. The sheets have about ten pages stapled together and as a student progresses through the packet, the problems become progressive but slowly more difficult. What is unusual here is that the students are graded at the end of each half hour session not by the number of problems they completed, but by their interaction with the other student in their pair. Did Student A actually talk to the other student about mathematical solutions ? Did they have any eye contact with the other student, or were they just mumbling to themselves ? The theory behind this is that if the students explain problems to each other, they will learn better.
After "Boost" comes crew. Most days this lasts from 8:30 a.m. until about 9:05, but on Wednesdays, when the school day is shorter and the number of classes reduced, it lasts about an hour. During this period, many students come from the school cafeteria where they can get a free breakfast, They bring their breakfasts with them, and spend time eating and socializing for ten or fifteen minutes.
Each student has a day planner which, when open, shows a full week of activity. In this class, the instructor-in-charge and I circulate around the room, making certain that each student has had his parent or guardian sign at the bottom of the previous day's entries. Later in the day, the first thing each student will do upon entering a classroom will be to copy the homework assignment from the board into his or her planner. This system has several advantages. First, the student is accountable to teachers at the beginning of every class, because the teacher makes certain assignments are written down. Second, it automatically involves the parent in the educational system. They can see what the assignments of the day are, and they can use this information to make certain their child has done homework. Third, the use of the planner serves as a concrete reminder to the student of just what he or she is accountable for.
The instructor-in-charge also has an opportunity to explain many things to the students. For instance, today the instructor spoke about why the students are required to wear green sweatshirts with the school insignia on them, and khaki pants. The green sweatshirts and khaki pants are regulation uniform for this school because the area around its location is heavily infested with gangs. Wear blue or red and you're in trouble. You won't be able to pass through certain neighborhoods.
The instructor I'm working with has seen all the gang life possible because he grew up in a part of Los Angeles where gangs were very common. He also became a football player in college, He has the kind of tough, athletic bearing one would expect from a football star, In the morning as each student enters the classroom, he exchanges a Black fist bump and a "Good morning ! How are you ?" or some such greeting to each kid. Some of them have their own special fist bumps, moving their hands around in special ways, and he knows every one of their specialties and follows along with it. He has great rapport with them, and a great sensitivity to each student's mood on any particular day. He's also an incredibly intelligent person, with a wide range of knowledge that he feeds in bits and pieces to the kids during what is called "Morning Crew" period.
Crew is about 40 minutes long, and the kids arrive ready to show their notebooks, their papers from the previous day signed by their parents or guardians, and their pens, pencils and marker. Yellow highlighting is required of the kids in most of the school's classes.
The school seems finely tuned to the needs of the students, right down to their ethnic preferences. At the beginning of crew, those kids who didn't eat or want breakfast at home can get it free of charge just before Crew, so they can bring the food with them into the classroom. While they are eating, the instructor-in-charge reads school announcements and gives small talks about behavior the kids are encouraged or discouraged from engaging in. He does this with a sense of humor and compassion, yet a sternness that the students like and respond to. I sure wish I could handle students the way he does.
I have enormous admiration for this particular instructor. He is studying for either a masters or a Ph.D. at U.C. Berkeley these days, with the eventual goal of becoming an administrator. I would rather see him get a much higher salary and stay where he is, where the kids respond to him, and where he is changing lives in a direct fashion.
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