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  (click on photo)     All of our Lessons for November 2006... can be found here! click                      Tonesha page 5

November 28 -29-30, 2006... Tuesday  1:15 PM until 7:30PM Wednesday   3:00PM until 7:30PM   Thursday 2:15PM until 6:30 PM

New Students: Brianna  from Gardena High)

Students present: Shalay, Gregory, Brianna,  Tonesha, Tyneesha, Karesha, Brianna # 2, Kahmya, Michael , Ijau   (10 students and 2 Tutors)

November 28: 

Tonesha and I worked one-on-one again when she arrived from King Drew Magnet School at 2:00PM. Thank you, Eddie Gayle, for picking her up and bringing her over. We reviewed the work we did on Monday (The worksheet dealt with graphing inequalities, namely 3 equations to find the vertices of the  polygon formed by the inequalities, and the maximum and minimum of F (x,y).)

I picked up Tyneesha and Ijau from Curtiss Middle School at 1:35 PM and brought them to tutoring. As usual, the students told of their day's activities at their respective schools. 

"I saw Mercury this morning", was the saying I uttered to Karesha, Ijau, Tyneesha, as I delved into a little bit of Astronomy.

The Planet Mercury was in the news because it would be visible in the Eastern dawn one hour before sunrise. I eagerly peered to the East for a sign of Mercury, the closest Planet to the Sun. There it was, and I pinpointed it for future observations during the month of December. I found Ursha Major (Big Dipper), the Great Bear, and followed the handle of this "big dipper" to the first brightest star, Arcturus ( follow the arc of the big dipper to Arcturus, a giant star), and I continued along that path until I came to the brightest object in the Eastern sky, the Planet Mercury! I then went back to the "big dipper, better known as "the drinking gourd" for Negro slaves prior to 1865 (freedom day!), and drew an imaginary line through the two bottom stars of the dipper, until I came to that great star that sits over the north pole of Earth, Polaris.

Of course, Tyneesha and Ijau had to do a report, utilizing the news about Mercury, as extra credit work for Curtiss Middle School. I lectured them further by including 1. The speed of light of 186,000 miles per second 2. The Electromagnetic Spectrum of Waves (a previous extra-credit job) 2. The time it takes for light to reach us from the Sun, and the moon and far away Galaxies 3. The characteristic of some of the Planets, Mercury being the closest to the Sun, and hence boiling hot on the surface! It is amazing that some students do not know how long it takes Earth to rotate about the Sun, or how long a month is, or how many days there are in a year, or how to tell time, or anything about their ability to breathe and live on our Planet Earth! With constant lectures during "MY TIME", I am hopeful that they will remember all that I teach with regards to topics outside of their homework. Tyneesha receives a constant dose of "do this extra-credit assignment for me" work. To which she always reply, "but I won't get credit for it"....to which I angrily respond......"Who really cares about extra credit? I want you to do this Project for me.....in order for you to remain here". Tyneesha then gets right to work!

The other students arrived, and thank God, so did Kahmya my student Assistant. We did what we could to assist as many as we could. Brianna, a new student, presented us with Algebra Two homework, to which I suggested she gives us some "lead time" by calling us to let us know "where" she was in the textbook, and "what" she was studying. We, of course, are not teaching subjects on a constant basis like most teachers, and have to at least review the work. We are oftentimes hit with Chemistry, Algebra One and Two, Physics, Spanish, Biology and other subjects with a knowledge that we must be prepared to assist in all subjects. It is sort of  "mind-boggling" that students think we know all about everything, at the very tips of our tongues.....without having studied even the tiniest tidbit before we are "storm troopered" all of their homework!  We do what we can, and oftentimes find ourselves working problem after problem in the middle of the night!

November 29: 

Gynaa wants to take me to a movie after she passes the High School Exit Examination next Saturday. I her mother know of our upcoming "date", and told her Gynaa would be passing the Math portion of the Exam, being only a few points away on the previous times! Gynaa will come over this Saturday for our final showdown in her thick High School Exit Exam book. We have covered most of it, and will now do problem after problem...until we are sure she will pass the exam.

Gynaa and I worked frantically on the Exam, just like we had worked on several occasions during the past 2 or 3 weeks. 

Katelyn and Michael did their homework.

November 30: 

Happy Birthday, Jarrell! Jarrell was taken out to Friday's at the Long Beach Town Center, along with Kahmya, our Student Tutor. at 7:00PM. Of course, Jarrell, now 20 had served in the capacity on countless occasions, teaching many, many students about Algebra One and Two, Geometry and Electronics Principles. Jarrell is our "Resident Computer Expert" and keeps all of our computers operational and upgraded!

Ijau, Tyneesha and Kahmaya were picked up by Eddie Gayle. Katelynn and Michael were brought over by their parents. As soon as Tyneesha told me she had no homework, and told me what she was studying in school (The Density of Water), I immediately went into my own lecture on......The Density of Water and other Liquids.

Reference:     http://www.weteachfree.com/lesson_reviewF23.htm 

I grabbed my gram scales; my scissors, my centimeter ruler, a piece of cardboard, and some tape: It was time to repeat a lesson of the past, where students did the Specific Gravity of liquids to determine which floated in which.

Tyneesha and Ijau were taught units conversion between inches and centimeters; then they had to make a box of volume 27 cm ³ , the box being water-proofed with the tape. They learned about "Volume" as well as how to arrive at centimeters cubed with the use of exponents. The box looked pretty neat, with a measurement of 3 centimeters on each side.

The two students filled the box with water and placed it on the gram scales, after weighing the box and a piece of protective cardboard in case the box leaked. They calculated the weight of water to be approximately 28 grams. They then divided the 28 grams by 27 to come up with a Density of 1.1 for the specific gravity of water....not too far off the "true 1.0"!

A lecture went along to let Tyneesha know that if a liquid, such as oil, had a Specific Gravity of less than "!", it would float in the water;  and if a liquid had a Specific Gravity of more than "1", it would certainly sink in water!

Tyneesha took pictures of her project, and Kahmya assisted her with her report to be handed into her Science Teacher. Does this deserve extra-credit? We don't know, but hope it reinforces what she was taught on this day, November 30, 2006, in her Science class.

Michael came in to do his Geometry from King Drew. Katelynn came in to do her English work from Bellflower High. Ijau completer his "word search" homework....and soon Jarrell, Kahmya and I were sitting down to a nice meat at Friday's with waiters and waitresses and other diners.....singing Happy Birthday, Jarrell!

Jarrell was extremely happy, and ate it all up! Along with the Fajitas, and the appetizers and the lemonade! I then took Kahmya to her home in Carson, and Jarrell and I returned to Dominguez Hills.

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