Not being the teacher

For 21 years I was the teacher who had to teach, prep, and evaluate student presentations. Today I got to just sit and enjoy. For two hours I listened to young people at YearUp in San Francisco make PowerPoint presentations on a variety of tech companies. They did an admirable job and I learned something too.

I have been tutoring on Thursday afternoons at YearUp for a few weeks now and today the students invited me to sit in on their presentations as there would be no tutoring session. I was delighted to go and see what they had learned and see all of them in action. Well, one half of the class. The other half was upstairs, presenting there.

They were poised, well dressed, articulate, and in all cases, but one, shared the platform with a partner. I could tell they had practiced the give and take of doing a joint presentation. A few of the teams even threw in some light-hearted banter. Probably to relieve the stress on their end. Many of the students stopped to introduce themselves to me and to chat for a few moments. It was a nice effort on their part and one I thoroughly appreciated, knowing how hard it is to train young people to make that effort.

Tutoring at YearUp has been a joyful experience for this former teacher. These are young people, 18-24, who have graduated from high school but want an advantage so have applied to YearUp for an extra year of training, much like what the students in the Marketing Academy received while in high school. They will get a 5-month internship at local companies, giving them experience to put on a resume. All good preparation for continuing with college and/or going to work. From today’s presentations, I would say they are on their way to successful futures.

Training vs educating

I would prefer to be an educator.  I would like to plan my lessons, walk into my classroom, present my material, give the students an assignment, and let them work.  I would like to walk around, giving advice, chatting, correcting, and getting a sense of how well my students are doing.  My yearbook class is pretty much this way, though I have a few trouble areas.  But nothing like my other classes.

I have kids who cannot sit still, who cannot listen, who cannot work without constant supervision, who constantly need me.  I have kids who do not come to class.  I have kids who come to class but don’t want to be there and refuse to do anything.  (This one young man is probably a whole blog post on his own.)  I have kids who do not bring their materials to class (like a flashdrive or usb cord for their camera) and so cannot work.  And these are high school students, juniors and seniors.

One student I have is constantly trying to figure out ways to get out of class.  He wanted to change classes but it was past the date to do so and he is required to stay in the class until the semester ends, which is only 16 weeks long.  He is absent, he wants me to sign for him to go on fieldtrips, he wants to call home to get something, he doesn’t bring his equipment, he doesn’t do the assignments.  He wants more time, he wants to email me the work (after the deadline).  He whines, he doesn’t feel good.  He’s hot, he’s tired, he’s thirsty.  It’s always something.  And, he’s a senior.

Yesterday, after not having the work for the week, nor starting the new assignment, he whined about about not wanting to work because it was a Friday.  I told him that in four years his teachers haven’t trained him very well.  He said it’s my job to educate him, not train him.  I agree, he should come to my class already trained to be a student so I don’t have to waste time training him but rather educating him.  Because, that’s what I want to do.  Instead, I have to do too much training.