Day 5

Today was a lot like the last few days I've spent here at Classic City High School, except I got to work a little more with Emma and Taylor which I liked. Mr. Maudsley handed the class a study guide for the test they will have tomorrow and asked me to help anyone who needed help. He doesn't ever really give me specific instructions, like who to work with, so I usually work with the two girls at my table because they are the only ones in the classroom who seem to actually care about school.
I originally went in today telling myself I would try working with another student- one who seemed completely helpless and someone who would provide a challenge for me but within the first five minutes of class, I realized why I have been putting that off. The majority of the students in this class are so disrespectful and unmotivated it frustrates me so much. They are constantly talking while he is talking and playing on their phones. They interrupt him while hes speaking to ask to use the restroom and some just leave without saying a word. I keep wondering why they are even here because it seems to me like they're wasting their time. Mr. Maudsley seems to have given up on most of them as well which is a little depressing but I guess I can see why. This brought me back to the second book we studied in this class, Racialized identities: Race and achievement among African American youth. The author dscusses the difference between a "ghetto" African American and one that contributes to society. I feel that the majority of the students here would be considered under the "ghetto" category just because of the general dynamics of Athens and the surrounding areas that these students may live in. Many of these students come back from their lunch break high, speak out in class, and sag their pants like crazy. This "ghetto" identity could very well be directly related to why these students are so unmotivated when it comes to school.
Anyways, today went very well. Emma and Taylor seemed very prepared for their test and I felt like I almost didn't even need to be there because they understood everything. I'm looking forward to next week to see how they did on it!