Day 4

February 6, 2013

Today was incredible! I could tell it was going to be a good day at Classic City High when I showed up and Ms. McNair (the Language Arts instructor) told me that I was going to be working with a student in the media center. I had never been to the media center, and I was excited about spending some one-on-one time with a student outside of the normal class environment.

Once again, I was paired with Michael, because he is very behind on his Language Arts credit. Ms. McNair told me that she would probably have to drag him out the door to the media center because he really hates having a tutor. But surprisingly, Michael went willingly with me to the media center and talked to me the whole time. I was thrilled because he seemed to be in a really good mood. We talked for a while about his weekend and how he was doing in his classes, and he was very vocal about how much he wanted to get all of his credits completed and get a high school diploma.

We spent our time on the E2020 computer program, working on some Language Arts quizzes. Michael got a little bogged down by all the reading, and I had to keep encouraging him to look at the text and then reread the questions. On the first quiz, he ended up getting an 80%! I was excited for him. He had to leave the room a few times to go ask Ms. McNair a few questions, but I didn't mind waiting for him. We discussed how he liked the E2020 program- and he admitted to me that he would rather be taught by a teacher and not a computer program. He didn't think he was learning as well by simply watching powerpoints and taking quizzes. This really got me thinking. I know that a major advantage to Classic City High is that classes are smaller and there is a small student to teacher ratio, but what about this computer program made it a better system than a normal classroom? Michael seemed to be having a really hard time with it, and I could tell how hard he was trying. Is this online program really the answer for these struggling students? I will have to continue to observe and evaluate it as I spend more time at CCHS.