3rd job

I have a third job for a while - about 2 months, I think. Last Spring, I went to a little eggs n' hash browns type place to eat. I was there by myself, grading papers. The waitress asked me about the papers and I told her I taught math. She said she was in school to be a teacher (she wants Kindergarten, ugh) and that the math was really getting in her way. I gave her my number and told her if she ever wanted tutoring, I would charge $15/hour and teach her the math.
A couple of weeks ago she called me out of the blue. Her program is coming to an end and she still hasn't passed this test she needs called the Praxis. I would say the test goes up to about 8th grade math.
I looked at her test, and listened to her talk about the problems she had the most difficulty with, and asked questions until I understood what was blocking her progress. Well, to be quite honest, this poor woman has zero number sense. So I told her that if she felt at any point that I was condescending to her, let me know right away, and I began at the beginning. I drew her a picture of the number line and I could SEE her panic coming up. We talked about what she already knew, and I gave her lots and lots of positive feedback until she relaxed. I told her some things that I said would make sense the more we studied, but for now she just needed to accept these things as facts. Things like, there are as many numbers on the number line between 0 and 1 as there are on the entire number line from negative to positive infinity. Then we talked about our base 10 number system, and I showed her how the names of the place values correspond to the number of times you multiply or divide by 10. It took a lot of patience and a LOT of smiling and telling her she was fine so that she would relax. That will go away as time goes by and she sees that she is safe with me. Safety is a big issue here and it appears that's in no small part due to her idiot husband. He happened to be in the kitchen while I was talking about base 10. I was talking about money, since that is the best example of base 10 in our culture. I asked her what I would have if I broke up a dollar into ten equal pieces, what would I be holding in my hand. She had NO IDEA. It wasn't because she is that dumb. It was because she was panicking. I just slowed down, asked the question a couple of different ways, and waited. Well her dumbass husband, while she's thinking, walks by and says, "This isn't hard, babe!!!" in a nasty tone and with a frustrated look on his face. My head must have whipped around pretty fast and I probably didn't have a very nice look on my face, but all I said was, "She's thinking, it's ok..." in a really gentle tone. Whatever look I gave him inspired him to disappear for the rest of the session. I told her straight up that she needs support from him. She justified and made excuses, but I told her and that's all I can do. If I get the chance I will straighten his ass out.
I left her with homework and we set up the next appointment.
Attitudes and beliefs about math are so much a bigger problem than math itself. People have this idea that they should just be able to do it. That they should be able to look at something once and understand it. This is wrong. It's a belief that I blame on the male scientific community and the patriarchy in general. Here's why: Our school system was designed for white males. Since the inception of our educational history, the people privileged enough to move forward in their education have been the ones that take the least amount of time to understand the hard sciences. These (still) happen to be white males, and this is NOT a coincidence. It takes only a little bit of investigation to realize that it is a FACT that white males get more attention, more preferential seating, more help, and more encouragement than any other subgroup. FACT. They get more out of every teacher, regardless of gender or race of the teacher, than any other subgroup. Our patriarchy in action. Additionally, this population tends to be more privileged in general, having parent(s) that are available to help them, access to tutoring and other resources, and a structured household that values education. They have books, and parents/siblings that read, and have been learning an educated vocabulary their entire lives.
My best response to women (and it's always women) who display these beliefs is to turn in back on what they are good at. I said to this woman, "I would never expect to be able to go into your restaurant, watch you wait tables for a while, and then get up and do it myself without making any mistakes. I would expect a complete disaster." She nodded and I could see a little bit of understanding coming into her eyes. I said, "That is a learned skill that I don't have. So you have got to take it easy on yourself and give it some time. I will help you and you will be successful at this. But you can't have the expectation that it's going to come just like that." I could see her shoulders relax. It was awesome.
She only has a month left before she has to take the test again, and if she fails it this time, they have to pull her out of her program and she has to wait for the next available opening. Stupid University of Phoenix. She should have called me earlier but I know how hard it is to ask for help. After she takes and passes the Praxis, she has to take and pass the AEPA a month later.
My financial bottom line: This is an extra $30 - $45 per week for the next couple of months. YAY!!! And it's almost effortless. Adults are so easy to tutor. They do the work, they follow directions, and they try their best. If they don't understand something, they are usually able to articulate it. So it's like getting money for say, running errands, but it's even better because it's rewarding!
Anyway I am blogging instead of writing IEP's, planning for teaching at Pima this Saturday, and exercising. I have way too much to do in the next few days, and not enough time or energy to get it all done. I have to be careful because of my recent mood episode not to overdo it. Eh, it will work out. It always does. My co-teacher was not resentful. She was just glad I was back. The blower in the classroom is putting out a jetstream of 90 degree air. It is absolutely miserable in there. I told the kids that their parents need to call the district office and complain, because my pleas for help certainly aren't getting us anywhere. I really don't understand what the problem is. It's nice outside. All they have to do is block the vent. Oh hey, that gives me an idea... if I get there today and it's still blowing hot air, I'm going to duct tape posterboard over it. Oh, that is totally what I'm going to do. I'll keep you updated, dear blog.