Tutoring Amauro

We recently started going over things a little differently. Instead of the usual me telling him ok, how do you spell this word, we’ve begun combining all aspects of the information that Amauro needs to know. Now Amauro has to identify the image and write down the name without any teacher involvement. It was a bit difficult. He would look at the picture then look at me and ask for confirmation. Without confirmation he could not produce an “acceptable” outcome. He couldn’t get past the fact that he wasn’t fully sure that it was an isosceles triangle that he couldn’t even write the words down. Legibility is still a big issue, not for the Math TAKS but most certainly for the Writing TAKS, which he has to take next week. As horrible as it sounds he won’t pass that one on his first try. Things are difficult because where we’re from we don’t see the use of knowing the difference between the many triangles. What’s the point in being able to identify the different types of angles? I mean when do you really say oh hey look at the clock, its at a 90 degree angle? You don’t and its hard to explain that to someone who doesn’t feel that it’s important in any way. I cant even lie, I hate math, I don’t think I’m the perfect candidate for making math sound like the coolest thing ever.

More tutoring

Amauro showed up just in time this week. We were to review mathematics in preparation for the TAKS test. It seems that TAKS prep is all we do, I mean he needs to pass and he is nowhere near the range where it would seem possible for him to pass. We went over some geometry. I noticed that it was the same exact stuff that we went over the first time I met him, and the second time. I was surprised because he still continued to have the same problems, he could not make his requests known on paper. He also had problem focusing. We were working one on one at the back of the classroom while the rest of the class was doing group work. He would constantly look over to his peers. Sometimes when the other students because a little loud he would disregard me completely, he would just zone out until I got his attention again. His teacher has discussed this student with me before, he has no outside service provided. He gets small accommodations in the classroom but he does not receive any special tutoring, or intervention aside form Saturday school. The area in which Amauro lives is low income. I am very familiar with the neighborhood because I live a block away. In some of these houses there are 10 people living in a two-bedroom house. I am not particularly sure about his specific living conditions but no one I the neighborhood is more than middle class.

Tutoring Amauro

I did my project at Arturo Salazar Elementary School in Dallas, Tx. The school is 95% Hispanic in a low socioeconomic area. My particular assignment was Amauro, a fourth grade bilingual student with learning disabilities. When I met Amauro he seemed like any other fourth grade student. Upon conversing with him I realized that a lot was going on in this child’s life. As I talked to my mom, his teacher, I realized that aside from his living situation he was also very behind in his learning. At 8 years old, Amauro couldn’t write the letters. I mean he can write them, but for the most part its illegible. I can’t even lie, its bad. I couldn’t even read it and my writing sucks. I didn’t expect this, I mean my mom teaches fourth graders, they’re supposed to know how to read, how to write. The first day with Amauro we spent 3 hours writing letters, like you do in like kindergarten with the sheets of paper with the really big lines and the dotted line in the middle. The final hour we spent reviewing words for his geometry lesson. It was interesting to see because he knew how to respond verbally to my demands but when he had to write it down he would freeze. We reviewed how to write down words like obtuse, angle, perpendicular, because he needed to know these words to pass his math test the next week. He knew the words, and he knew what they meant, he just couldn’t write them down on paper. I honestly thought the boy was crazy. For snack, he brought a bag of chips, a coke, and a jar of cherries. If that’s not weird I don’t know what is.

Butterflies...

Tomorrow I'm going to Houston to pick up my cousin. Here's some background. My cousin Giselle left Cuba two months ago and is living with my uncle in Houston. She'll be 24 by the end of this month. So I'm gonna pick her up and bring her over here for labor day weekend. Its gonna be a big scene change, not that she wasn't in shock after leaving Cuba. But in Houston, my uncle lives in the rich white folks neighborhood where you never see the neighbors and you live a quiet old folk life. My cousin Anne will be 18 in November, but thats a large age gap there. Another barrier is that Anne isn't so hot on her spanish, I think my aunt is even worse. So since you see no neighbors pretty much Giselle gets to talk to an old retired man all day, aside from her tedious English classes. Austin is very different from Houston so were gonna see, maybe she likes it. I'm excited, she's excited. Were gonna have so much fun.

But this isn't even the story...

Here's the thing. My uncle is a boss... and I have a puppy. A not completely potty trained puppy that barks, cries, and has accidents. If my dog were to even step on the carpet I feel that my uncle would die. All in all, Paz is not coming with me. I'm spending the night. Without him. For like a whole night. And I'm scared. I don't like it. It makes me nervous. Like to be away from him. Not too long ago I realized that Yheymi getting kicked out of Ethan's class didn't sound so ridiculous anymore. I completely understand. Paz is staying with my roommate Lidia and my best friend Alan, both of which would give the world for me. They understand perfectly what this means to me. They're always there when I need them, but still, I can't seem to feel that my poor baby is safe. I'd like to take this moment to point out that I'm talking about a DOG, but he's my dog, and I loves him.

You would think I'd be queasy because I have to drive to Houston all alone and we all know those Houstonians drive like maniacs or the constant worry at the back of my mind that Giselle will like hate it here or have a horrible time or maybe we get into an argument. There are a million of bigger things that I coulda, woulda, shoulda been thinking, instead I'm thinking about the dog.