A Free Tutoring Service: Preparing For the Future
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Next Page Previous Page Home Lesson Review and Activities: Jan 10, 2001
Cleophas "Mike" McAlpin................Tutor
E-Mail (confidential) send to : mikecmac@valueweb.net
Happy 14th Birthday, Ryan!
Ryan wants to become a Lawyer. This brilliant 14-year old is well on her way as she took marking pen in hand this evening and proceeded to instruct some of the students on how to graph straight lines!
2:30 PM... It was raining extremely hard. Nevertheless, Jarrell had to be picked up from Banning High; Cleasena from San Pedro High; Joshua from Carnegie Middle School; Sheena, Cassaundra, Matthew and Shavonn from home. I picked up as many as I could under the circumstances and brought them to our Tutoring Session.
We had a round table discussion. The main question that was given to the students for consideration was..."Where will you be in 10 years?" Each of the students gave their input. They told of their ownership of very fine cars, nice homes and billions of dollars...in the future. I asked how they intended meeting their goals and ended up with a discussion on the need to get a good education; neglecting the need to engage in sports or any other activity until a good education is obtained. The students all agreed.
2:00 PM... I sat in Jarrell's Spanish class at Banning High and took notes on the lesson for the day. Most of the students looked at me with wonderment. Some thought I was from the F.B.I. There were in excess of 30 students in the class, which in itself is a deterrent to learning Spanish.
I moved to Jarrell's Biology class and talked to his teacher about assignments and examinations. Then it was on to San Pedro High to begin my transportation of other students. So far, the year 2001 had begun with Teacher-Tutor (me) interaction, with many telephone conversations with teachers all over the Los Angeles basin.
5:00 PM...Basic mathematics is a must. We covered basic fractions, decimals, percents, graphing straight lines and exponents. This was a review for some, and new material for others. Ryan served as Assistant Tutor on occasion.
Other students busily engaged themselves in their homework. I made myself available to assist. I took Cleasena's Spanish word study list and reviewed it with the students. Most of the students, along with Cleasena, learned the Spanish vocabulary words. I took James' homework on graphing straight lines and had the students, along with James, to graph many straight lines. We focused on the "slope" and learned to plot lines by looking at the slope (m) and the intercept (b) in the formula, y = mx + b. Ryan is very knowledgeable and assisted with the lesson.
6:30 PM...We took to the dry erase board after eating and did basic Algebra. It was on to positive and negative numbers. This was a review for some and new material for others. Homework continued for others.
6:30 PM....7:00 PM....Dinner
7:00 PM...Parents in attendance...Marie, Chip, Margaret, Andrew, and Hose. (Hose has volunteered to teach the students the Spanish Language for one hour per tutoring session. Spanish is his second language...Thank you, Hose.
7:30 PM...The noise was loud, but it all had to do with working problems. No rap music, no other discussions except those that concerned working fractions and doing Algebra. We took a break to sing....Happy Birthday to Ryan.
1/10/01...Missing....Cassaundra, Matthew, Shavonn, Sheena, Michael, Keyotta, Asia
Total active students...18...Tutoring is intense and to the point at this time!