Allegre MATA 508 Final Exam 12/11/23 by Casey Allegre

Introduction

caseyallegre — 2023-12-05 00:54:25 UTC

Hello! My name is Casey Allegre and I am a senior Math/Adolescent Education major at Marist. I am in the MATA 508 class with Dr. Gathers where I had the amazing opportunity to work with the Liberty Partnership Program (LPP) at Poughkeepsie Middle School. I worked with sixth graders every Tuesday, where I would help them with homework and play with them in the gym. I specifically liked helping students with Math homework since that is what I specialize in. I am looking forward to sharing the experiences I had working with LPP during the Fall 2023 semester.

Insights

caseyallegre — 2023-12-05 00:55:07 UTC

After working with LPP, I learned how important it is to build relationships with students. I noticed how close the students were with the other mentors that would attend LPP every day, which made me value my time even more when I attended LPP on Tuesdays. I made sure to always ask students how their day was and ask them how their classes have been going. I found that creating these relationships made students more comfortable with me and this allowed them to talk to me about their personal lives or ask me for help with homework. For example, I had the same group of girls ask me for help with their homework each week because they knew who I was and felt comfortable enough to talk to me. I also learned that it is important to have multiple ways to teach students a specific concept, especially in mathematics. One time I helped a student with his math homework and he was not understanding it the way his teacher taught it. I used other methods that I had learned in my math classes to help him understand the concept, and it instantly clicked for him. I learned a lot from working with the students of LPP, but these were the most important to me.

Advice

caseyallegre — 2023-12-05 00:55:43 UTC

One piece of advice I can offer for the Fall 2024 MATA 508 students is that if you are nervous to talk to students, just remember that the students are most likely just as nervous to talk to you. I was very nervous when I first started at LPP because I wanted to make sure that the students liked me and that I was going to be able to help them effectively with their homework. However, as I spent more time at LPP, I noticed that a lot of the students are shy and do not talk to you unless you talk to them first. This made me want to form relationships with the students and get to know them more on a personal level. Another piece of advice is to remember that going to school and LPP may be the best part of the student’s day, so it is important for you to keep a positive attitude when working with students. Oftentimes the energy you give is reflected onto other people, so making sure that you show that you are excited to be there can make students have a more enjoyable experience. Working with the middle schoolers of LPP was an amazing experience and I am so glad I got this opportunity through my MATA 508 class.