For the remaining weeks in the Cal State Fullerton academic school year I will be roughly working 55 hours every week, which makes this week’s task of fulfilling moral work obligations as so-to-speak “easy”.
Instead of simply stating the hours that I’ve worked, I’ll just go ahead and give a brief synopsis of what I do on a day-to-day basis.
At Fairmont, every morning I essentially watch the kids to make sure they’re not getting themselves into any kind of trouble (Kindergarten to 7th grade). As a result I often have rather interesting conversations in the morning at 7AM. I also deal with many instances of students telling on each other over issues that are often not that important. But dealing with behavior, especially at a younger age, and instilling confidence in kids that lack them is something that can fundamentally change a student’s life forever.
At the YMCA, depending on the day of the week I do a variety of tasks. On Monday, Wednesdays, and Fridays I run detention for about roughly an hour signing kids in. I then spend the remainder of the time mentoring and tutoring kids, mostly playing various card games with them. This week I practiced the cup song with various students and sang off-key to them in an effort to entertain them. On Tuesdays and Thursdays I help assist in an after-school “credit-recovery” health classes for students that are at-risk. After the class is over (at 5:15), I go back to implementing the mentoring and “after-school enrichment” aspects of the program.
At Santiago, I student teach, which means I’m essentially at the last step training to become a credentialed teacher. The teacher allows me to dabble my feet in the water in world history, teaching some aspects. In one of her U.S. history classes I merely observe, while duplicating what she does in her 5th period class. It’ll get harder and harder as we progress, especially towards next semester when I completely take over all aspects of the classroom (from implementation of lesson plans to delivery, grades, and all the perks of being a teacher without of course the pay). I hope I’m not speaking too soon when I say I’m most likely going to have to retire from the Y and Fairmont to be able to have the appropriate amount of time to be the best student teacher possible.
On the weekends I tend to study at Starbucks and engage in various acts of community service. This weekend I decided to opt out of both to finalize my first TPA (teaching performance assessment), as well as participate in a three-hour scavenger hunt in Orange. It was kind of fun, but required massive amounts of walking.
The End Result: At the end of the day I’ll always be actively looking for some work to do. I tend to get bored when there’s not much to do, and could classify myself as a workaholic in a sense. I thus give myself an A for the week.
And finally, after 42 weeks of Project Morality, I have calculated my average GPA for the entire year, and it turns out to be 3.11 (B average). That’s not bad, but it certainly can improve. Calculations Here.
I end with a rather somber song that got me through the “work” of my high school years.
Next Week: ADAM, TERESA, TRIET, & ALEX
