Futures

     This Wednesday was a little different for me.  I decided to do two sessions of tutoring to both catch up on some lost hours and to observe the classroom dynamics among a different set of students.  When I got to the school I found that the doors were locked because the school was on lock down for the Hood hunt.  A student let me in and I then signed in as usual.  I then discovered that the inner doors were also locked without students standing nearby to open them for anyone so I decided to sit in the lobby until a student came along to open up the doors.  While there, many different students came to the front doors and tried to get in.  They were frustrated just as I was especially when discovering that the second set of doors were also locked.  I don't really understand the tactics for this lock down.  It is locking the students, who have a personal class schedule out of the school and is keeping them out in the open in this dangerous time.  I also do not see how locked doors would keep the fugitive out of the school.  These doors are made out of glass.  What is to keep Mr. Hood from shooting the windows out or in fact shooting the student that is waiting to let others in?
    The class that meets before the class that I usually work with is larger and the students seem to be more independent.  It is difficult to find someone who will accept a tutor but I was able to work with a student who had just joined the program named Aron.  Aron is outgoing and will actually laugh at my jokes.  He wants to go to barber school to become a barber after he graduates.
    The air conditioning in the classroom was struggling and the room became very hot which agitated the students and made it very difficult for both them and myself to concentrate.  The heat continued to get worse until at one point, in the middle of our reading, the power went out.  All of the computers shut down, there was no air, and there was no lighting.  The students were very angry about this.  They continually said things to the effect of "I could get more work done at home" and "If I have to be here, I should be able to work."  The heat, the dark, and these feelings of frustration along with the teacher's slack attitude led to a break down in discipline.  Though the school was on lock-down, she allowed one of her students to dress up in a old prom dress and run around to different classrooms.  This comic relief did help to alleviate some of the frustrations in the classroom.
     When the power came back on it was a little difficult to get students to return to their work but not exceedingly so.  There is a lot more talking in this class than in the one that I usually tutor in.  Today, all of the discussion was focused on the police shooting and the suspect in particular.  Some of the students know the suspect and his history and I learned a lot about it from them.  According to the students the suspect's brother was shot and killed by the police in the past and that is the reason behind the shooting.  Though they all agreed that it was a stupid thing to do to shoot a police officer, they definitely sympathized and related to Mr. Hood where as most others see him as a inhumane monster.  I do not know where I stand because I do not know Mr. Hood but it was interesting and valuable to hear another perspective.
      During the second session the shooting came up once again.  John had been stopped by the police on the way here to have his car searched and also to be questioned about whether or not he was skipping school.  He continually told the police that he did not have class until 12:15 but the officers would not believe him and continually told him that he was lying to them and that he was skipping class.  He said that he wasn't skipping class but their stopping him was going to make him late.
      As you can probably imagine, John was not in a very good mood.  Because of this, I decided not to push him too far.  We did not read too much and I tried to include a little more conversation as opposed to just focusing on the task at hand.
     One thing that I saw which really bothered me was that the "experiment" from before spring break seems to have become a permanent installation within the class.  The students no longer have any lectures and they are not presented with any of the reading material.  This makes the class more about completeness and less about the material.
    One good thing that came out of this meeting is that John and I actually discussed what he wants to do when he graduates.  John would like to be a plumber.  We were able to discuss what would be required for this career path.  I was really happy that we could talk about such a personal subject.  John seemed really excited and I was so happy to be able to help him.