First Day at the UPSM

Blog- 2/12/2009
It was my first day at the University Prep academy (UPSM for short from now on). I had little idea of what to expect. I knew that being a charter school, the UPSM would have less of the severe trouble makers who refuse to learn.
Before the day officially kicked off, kids had filled the room and Ms. Smylor was already interacting with many of them. I was impressed and touched to see the teacher talk to one student who seemed particularly down. She made sure he was alright.

I had forgotten just how bustling a middle school classroom is before (and after) the morning bell! And they all were curious about why I was there. After a warm-up problem it was my turn to introduce myself to the students. I had read that middle school students still absorb most of what the hear/see, even if they don’t show it all the time. Sure enough, they did. Some had remembered me from my _brief_ visit to the school the week before. One student had seen me talking to the Spanish teacher and correctly assumed that I spoke multiple languages! Of course they all wanted to hear something in a foreign language, and because they are all learning Spanish / Chinese, I went ahead and let them choose (with a tongue-in-cheek warning regarding content) what I would say.

I also tried to lean on my background in the automotive industry to get them interested. I explained how there’s math and algebra in everything they do and enjoy. I also wanted them to get a sense that they all do “math” in some form or another all the time and just don’t even know it. Shooting a basketball into a hoop, figuring out how many yards to the next first down.

I could tell which students were the rowdy ones who seek attention constantly (only about 2 in each of the two class sections). When one would be a little too rowdy with questions while I was introducing myself I would simply ask them their name and ask them a personalized question relating to what I was talking about. My hope was that it would make them immediately feel more engaged in what I was talking about as well as feed them some of the attention that they were craving. The little tactic worked pretty well.

I also made sure to ask them if anyone was interested or has thought about going to college someday. I was THRILLED to see every one of them raise their hands. I jokingly told the few unwilling to raise their hands that I’d have to have a talk with them and they raised their hands. I could tell they were as interested in college as the others, but didn’t feel like raising their hands.

The rest of the class period revolved around a group activity. I floated around and made sure everyone was making their data tables and plots correctly and offered to give help or answer questions if they had them. I also noticed that Ms. Smylor was actively encouraging teamwork so I followed suit. A simple “ok well, you look you know how to make the table, are you sure your partner knows?” helped get group members communicate when they needed a boost.

I was very surprised to see that many of the rowdier ones did the problems with ease! I will keep an eye on these to see if they fall into the ‘rowdy because they know the material’ group.

All in all, the kids were very sweet and I am really happy to have the chance to work with them. I told them they could call me Mike or Mr. Diaz but I think the teachers would like them calling anyone ‘older’ than the students as Mr./Ms. One of the students called me “Mr. D” which I personally thought was great! I'm excited about the job and look forward to the next session.