LESSON REVIEW  # 2  Oct. 6,1999

Mathematics and Chemistry

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              Lesson Review….October 6, 1999

 The tutoring began at 4:00PM. Students in attendance were Jarrell, Cleasena, Jeremiah, Michael, Kimberly, Byron and a new student, James. Shamus did not attend because of illness and Nicole did not attend because of her homework load.

 I intended following our lesson plan but was sidetracked by an S.A.T. examination. Kimberly took it out and began to survey it when it caught my eye. The part that caught my eye was on mathematics. There were questions about the area and circumference of a circle, the area and perimeter of a rectangle, the volume of a cylinder and  cube, the area of a triangle, the Pythagorean Theory and a “special triangle”, a right triangle containing 30^o.

 The examination contained many of the topics we had covered in detail, but a review was now in order. I took out the writing board and proceeded to go through each figure. Some of the new students looked frustrated about it all but Jarrell, Cleasena and Jeremiah knew most of the answers to my questions. Jarrell and I had spent a lot of time on the Pythagorean Theory and he had little trouble calculating the value of the hypotenuse, in his head.

  The mathematics review took one hour. I had meticulously planned an activity for each of the students on the day before, but now my lesson plan had changed. Changed for the best, I might add. I assured the new students that they would be just as knowledgeable as Jarrell in a very short time.

 I returned to my lesson plan for the day. I had Kimberly to monitor Byron’s reading. I had Jeremiah to test James on basic fractions. I had Jarrell to plot a straight line. I had Cleasena to set up the electrolysis experiment. I had Michael and Jeremiah to show James how to solder. The students went busily about helping each other. I monitored each session to make sure everything was o.k.

 Cleasena did a good job with her electrolysis experiment. The new students stood in awe as the tiny bubbles of hydrogen formed at one of the pencil tips and larger bubbles of oxygen formed at the other pencil tip. The smell of chlorine let everyone know that the sodium chloride (NaCl,  table salt) had been broken down as well by the electrical current from a six volt battery. Jarrell proudly discussed the circuit with Kimberly and explained how to measure the voltage with our digital voltmeter.  

 Please allow me to back track for just a moment. I picked up Cleasena from Dana Middle School in San Pedro at 1:30PM, Jarrell from his school in West Los Angeles at 2:45PM and Byron from his grandfather’s house in South West Los Angeles at 3:30PM. Somewhere in between, I bought hamburgers and sodas from McDonalds for Jarrell, Cleasena and Byron. I am backtracking to let you know that Jarrell’s tutoring began as soon as he got into my car.

We had 45 minutes to complete his portion of the lesson plan for the day and he answered each and every question correctly. He knew that the halogens had 7 electrons in their outermost orbit. He knew that the Noble Gases had 2  or 8 electrons in their outer orbits. He knew some of the uses of chlorine, iodine and bromine. He knew some of the uses of helium, neon and argon. He knew why the halogens would combine with hydrogen and he knew the atomic symbols of the halogens and the noble gases. I stand in great appreciation for such a student as Jarrell. His mathematics teacher shares the same feelings as me. He always reminds me that Jarrell is one of his prized students.

Cleasena and Byron could do nothing but listen as I grilled Jarrell on his chemistry lesson for the day. Cleasena was a bit knowledgeable about the subject matter, but it was way over Byron’s head. I assured him that he would be just as knowledgeable as Jarrell in a few short months.

 The new student, James, is 11 years old. He needs some help in basic mathematics. This became evident as Jeremiah and Michael grilled him on one of my mathematics exams.

 All of the homework from school was completed and it was completed in perfect time. Marci arrived to teach all of us Spanish.

 Marci spoke to us in Spanish upon occasion. She used words such as quien, cuando, cual, donde, caundo, and que. She focused on the Spanish words for relatives and the word endings when the family member is a male or a female. All of the students eagerly took notes and tried as best as they could to answer the questions that were asked in Spanish.

 It was 7:30 PM. Gayle had prepared the pizza and a salad. Mary McAlpine had sent over a large batch of cookies that her students at Banning High had made. Needless to say, my diet went out of the window as soon as the cookies had arrived. The students finished eating and cleaned up. I allowed them time to relax and do whatever they wanted for the next 45 minutes. I fell asleep on the couch because I had been up since 3:30 AM. Andrew arrived to take some of the students home.

To backtrack once again, the students held a democratic election and elected Jeremiah for president, Jarrell for vice-president, Michael for Sgt-at-Arms, and Kimberly for secretary. I monitored and controlled the election process. 

For more information on the lesson review above...send e-mail to seemacal2@cs.com