Today I volunteer at Classic City High at 2:30-3:30. I was in Ms. Johns class, the English teacher. This is the class I typically am assigned to. However, each time I go different studies are there.
Today I was assigned to help Jay. Jay was working on an English paper about Fidel Castro. However, I noticed Jay had a huge lack of motivation. He told me his closest friend was out today and he had no one to hang out with. I tried my best over several attempts to get Jay to engage in his paper and helped him outline his thesis and introduction, but I understood I was not the teacher and if he did not want to work on it there was nothing I could do to motivate him (hence I could not discipline him).
Jay asked me several questions about myself- such as where I went to college, what I did in college. I realized he did not have plans for college and was more interested in the social aspects of a university. Something that dawned on me- something that I had not realized during my own experience in high school- was that college is not the plan for everyone. I think I am naive because at my high school it was typical that every student went to college. But when I become a teacher I can not think this way because not every student will want to go to college. It is important to provide resources and teach in a way that can apply to all students, including the students who may not want to attend college after high school.
*all names have been altered for purposes of privacy
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