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Students get to Meet Carson's Civic LeadersA Free Tutoring Service: Preparing For the Future
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January 20, 2007 (310) 635-4536 or (310) 351-1950 Cell E-Mail: cleophas9@sbcglobal.net Page 10
Birthday time for Asia and Katelynn
From
Carson; Science Center, to Fox Hills Mall
Below is an account of our activities on this most interesting day of tutoring and going on Field Trips.
Jarrell (20-Student-Volunteer-Tutor) worked with several of the students: He worked with the group at the Science Center and other places of interest on this Saturday from 8:30 AM until 8:30 PM.
8:30 AM: I picked up Courtney and Asia from Lakewood and drove to Quick Cleaners (Carson) to pick up my clothing. I introduced the students to Kay, one of our Business Supporters. Then it was on to the donut shop for a few donut treats for all. As soon as I arrived at Dominguez Hills, our tutoring began. Christine, Shalay and Ebony soon arrived, as did Jonathan, a new student from King Drew Magnet School.
I worked one-on-one with Ebony and Christine (sisters). Ebony is 11, while Christine is 15; both need a lot of assistance in their classes at Charter Schools in Southwest Los Angeles. At first, I used Courtney and Asia to teach the students how to tell time where there were no numbers on the clock face. Courtney did a good job (while I prepared food in the kitchen....cakes, fish and other goodies). I then took over with a description of circles and fractions of circles. This was a spontaneous lesson, as some lessons occur, when I see a definite educational problem such as "telling time". I used the "clock circle" to take the two young ladies into fractions. Shalay arrived to teach Courtney and Asia all about the Algebra One homework at Mayfair High and Middle Schools in Lakewood. After a while, Christine got the point and was soon using my "times-table- business- card" to find the least common denominator to solve simple fractions. Ebony went to the computer to do her homework, while Shalay ("A-B" student at King Drew) worked with Asia and Courtney on Algebra One homework. Shalay finally said "They got it!", and I checked to make sure of that.
Jonathan (14) a new student from King Drew, came with his mother, Tammy. After an introduction to our Program, and after letting Jonathan know that he was in an intense tutoring program, I proceeded to assist him with his homework......on graphing lines. Before we looked at homework, I reviewed him on Quadrants, Points, and Positive and Negative numbers. Then we took two arbitrary points and found the slope, rise over run, by placing the points into the formula for slope, "M". I used the slope of my roof to get the point across. M = (Y2 -Y1) / (X2 -X1) ....Jonathan was soon finding slopes in record time. Next I reviewed him on the "Slope Intercept" formula for a straight line; letting him know that where there are unknowns raised to higher powers than one, represented curves, and not straight lines. I gave him the formula Y = mx + b, and proceeded to find "b". This was a slight "step ahead", but Jonathan grasped all. He then wrote the equation of this straight line. He found "b", the point at which the line crosses the "Y" axis, and then he used the slope, m, to find the other point by using the rise over the run. I made up an equation and had Jonathan show me the "b" and also the "m". He then used "rise over run" to find the other point. Jonathan was graphing lines in less than 10 seconds after a while! I next introduced him to "parallel lines have the same slope" while perpendicular lines have slopes that are "reciprocals with opposite signs". Example: y= 3x - 5 and y = 3x + 4 have the same slope, and are parallel to each other; while y = 3x -5 and y= -1/3x +4 are perpendicular to each other. Prove this! Jonathan did!
Jonathan could not find his homework, and so called Ms. Woodlief, his math teacher to get the homework assignment. I left Jonathan to do the work on his own, to which he finished in 10-15 minutes! I had no need to check it for correctness, because his confidence was "sky high" by now, and he simply said, "I know they are all correct"!
Thank you, Ms. Woodlief, who though a bit ill, assisted her student Jonathan on this Saturday, her day off. It would be wonderful if all Teachers were as dedicated to learning as our Super Teacher, Ms. Woodlief of King Drew Magnet School.
Courtney and Asia used the deep fryer to cook approximately 6 pounds of fish. They also cooked French fries and finished making 2 cakes. Asia and Katelynn had birthdays to celebrate, and as usual, we did just that. They blew out candles and we all sang Happy Birthday. Then it was on to the "fish feast". All had a wonderful time....the fish completely disappeared!
Shalay left to fulfill an obligation with her friends to go to Knott's Berry Farm, while the other students prepared to go to the City of Carson Community Center for a "Meet the Mayor" program.
We arrived at the Community Center to face a long line of people who were waiting to get into the huge Room A. I saw Don Dear, brother to Mayor Jim Dear, and he greeted me and the students. I told him we needed to say hello to the Mayor and he promptly moved us to the front of the line! Don Dear had been the Mayor of Gardena for 19 years, as he told the students, and was glad to try and pull a little rank in bringing us to the front of the line of seemingly angered people.
Mayor Dear greeted me, as a young lady steadied herself to take a picture of the Mayor and the students. It was a very happy occasion.
We then left Mayor Dear and all of the supporters of him, and ventured into the garden room outside of room A. There I saw Council Member Harold Williams and greeted him. He remembered me as the fellow with the Tutoring Program, and took pictures with the students. He then gave them a brief lecture on his Civil Engineering Status and what it took for him to reach his goals. He seemed genuinely interested in the education of children and encouraged all of them to stay in school and do their very best. He said he had attended Los Angeles Trade Tech College ( I did too, back in 1957, as did Jarrell last year)!
We then left Carson to venture to the Los Angeles Science Center, where we spent approximately 2 hours. We needed to research "minerals" for Courtney's science class; and other science facts for the other students. Jarrell had been to the Science Center on numerous occasions, and so he was instrumental in teaching and showing the students various facets of this wonderful learning institution. The students enjoyed the Life Section, with its Reproduction Section and its Heart Rate Section and Do Not Smoke Section. Homeostasis, with Tess, the giant Robot, was standard for us! Jarrell explained all as we went along. Then it was on to McDonalds in the Center for a treat and then it was on to the Fox Hills Mall for a little......roaming around!
We returned home around 8:00PM. I took some students home to get clothing to wear to Church on Sunday.....and that is where I am now.........Sunday at 9:00AM, waiting to usher at New Philadelphia A.M.E. at the 10:00 AM Service. Ebony, Ne-Ne and Christine spent the night, and they are getting ready for church.
Tess, the robot. She lets us all know about "Homeostasis" at the Los Angeles Science Center. The students learned an awful lot aboutthe human body!
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