First Impressions

     Going to Classic City High School for the first time was very intimidating.  Entering the school, I was already flustered and nervous because my bus had been late.  I was greeted by Mimi Middendorf who took me on a quick tour along with my classmate Erin.  The school is very welcoming and I felt much more at home.  The student that I was assigned to work with is named John.  I had been thinking for weeks of how I would connect to the student and here was my big moment.  The computer program made it almost impossible for me to make a connection with John.  He has to stare at the screen and put in his earphones.  I felt that if I interrupted to ask about his future then I would be impeding his education.
     For the first lesson, I merely watched as John listened to his lesson.  I tried to read a little so that I would have some context to help with the quiz afterward.  When I came to the quiz, however, John did not know any of the answers.  He had not listened to the lesson much at all which was a little frustrating for me.  I did not understand why he would have just ignored the lesson.  I soon discovered why when I listened to the second lesson.  The teaching video of the program addressed students as if they were much younger than they actually were.  The lessons only gave one opinion about literary works and presented that opinion as fact.  The lesson that I listened to dealt with both the voice and the purpose of the author.  They used William Carlos Williams' "This is Just to Say" to show examples of the voice and purpose of the work.  I had read this poem in my English 2340 class last semester and we had also discussed the author's voice and purpose so I thought that I would be very familiar with the views of the lesson.  To my surprise the video began to present a voice and purpose of the poem completely opposite from those that I and many of my classmates had come up with.  I have always believed that there are multiple ways of reading literary works so I was not surprised to find that they had a different opinion from mine.  What I was surprised to find was that they were presenting their opinion as the only viable opinion.  To them the voice and purpose of the poem were obvious and absolute.  This lesson just took away the opportunity to instill the value of individual thought and reasoning skills that are so vital to life and schooling in particular.  I now understood why John did not take the lessons seriously.  These lessons treated him like a small child and gave him the supposedly definitive answers to all of the questions that were asked of him.  Why should he try if he is going to be talked down to and if his opinions be dismissed in favor of the "obviously" correct ones.
       After this dismal lesson I was able to help John with another testing activity.  In this test I felt more confident in requiring him to really search for the correct answer because I was able to read the material that the questions were covering.  It was very difficult to find the line between helping and just giving John the answer.  I wondered if I was being to helpful but I was able to get John through the test with a nine out of ten score.
      John had to leave early so I helped with a girl next.  I wasn't able to give her much help because she had to leave shortly also but I was able to connect more than I had with John because she was very outgoing and talkative.  She is from California and went to a performing arts high school there.  Her school was not accredited though and she lost all of her credits when she came to Georgia.  She was also co-captain of the team to raise money for relay for life.  After the period I stayed after for  a little while to help come up with fundraising ideas.
      I really enjoyed working at Classic City High.  I truly felt like I was making a difference which helps me to feel as if I have a purpose here at UGA.  Coming from a small high school where academic success is not a common goal it is hard to come to a big school like UGA.  I often feel like I'm lost in a sea of academia, void of all personality and importance.  I feel as if I'm just floating through school to move onto the next path in my life.  I hope that this experience at Classic City High will help me to expand my effect on those around me and that I will start to feel as if I matter again as an individual.  I got a taste of that today and I can't wait until next Wednesday.