Lunch and Learn

They're eating pizza (it's considered a veggie now!)

This week and last week I have been working at the high school level in a program called Lunch and Learn. It is basically tutoring during lunch time for US History. It works out to be about two hours every day. I work with groups of students (anywhere from 1 -10 students at a time), helping them prepare for their EOCT (end of course test), which is a cumulative test which they must pass in order to obtain credit for the class.


I am also only being paid to work for two hours every day, and have missed a few opportunities for full sub days, but am hoping that this is an opportunity to meet administrators in the school and make connections. I am working closely with one administrator who I was not familiar with before, and she has come in to observe me twice during the program.


The students are selected for this program based on a practice test which they take as a predictor of their achievement on the actual test. Because of this, these are not (generally) higher level students and (many) are not very motivated to learn. Most of them do not actually show up - maybe a little under 1/3.


Unfortunately, many students are in the program for a reason. They just do not know their US History, or are not practiced in thinking critically about information. For example (and I am not giving this example in an attempt to make fun of students, but this is a good example of the types of students I am working with). I was showing an example of a time line question:






While explaining the question, I prompted students to provide their own knowledge about the events in the time line. When I asked them to name the war in which the Battles of Lexington and Concord were fought in, two (of four) classes couldn't tell me. I prompted them with the next item, the Declaration of Independence, and asked them again. The students could not tell me what war we fought to gain our independence! One student offered WWI as an answer.











Whether they just aren't thinking deeply about the questions or truly do not know the answers, this shows that the students need the assistance which Lunch and Learn provides. I have been trying to focus on testing skills such as analyzing maps, charts, political cartoons, and graphs which contain US history facts and providing historical facts along the way. If I just throw fact after fact at them, they will forget them all. I hope that by attending Lunch and Learn, they gain some skills and knowledge, and are able to pass the EOCT.