Tutoring at the UPSCA CEER

i.e., college entrance examination review. I'm not sure exactly how we came to be helping UPSCA out with this yearly event, but this is now the second year of Ex Libris UP sending a few of its members over.

For today it was Aragorn, Jeanne, and I who went to Payatas High School (oh, but it's called Justice Someone-or-Other High School now). Met up at around 11:30 at McDo Philcoa, took two jeeps to the place, arrived there shortly after noon.

Since we arrived an hour before the classes we were going to be teaching (Physics) were set to start, we were able to listen in to a short processing meeting where the tutors of the morning sessions (Chemistry) were sharing their experiences, comments, and insights.

The main problem, as we would find out for ourselves, was lack of time. With at least a year's worth of material to cover for each subject area, three hours just weren't enough. With exceptional students, of course, that amount of time might suffice, but not every student can be exceptional.

In any case, we found ourselves starting teaching after a little while. Aragorn ended up getting to handle the "cream" or "honor" section of only about fifteen students; I got a regular section of about thirty. Jeanne, well, she stayed to observe at my class, haha. (She ended up taking attendance, taking pictures, and butting in on my discussion only rarely.)

I only covered vectors (but not vector addition, which in hindsight is a pretty stupid thing to skip), kinematics (i.e., basic concepts regarding motion, 1-D and 2-D kinematic equations, interpreting a-t, v-t, x-t graphs, etc.), and a brief hurried tour of Newton's Laws and momentum conservation. May not seem like much, but I extended over the three hour limit for about twenty minutes.

The students were lively but not disrespectful. It was a little frustrating at times how I had to slow the pace down, but it couldn't have been helped, since they've only begun to tackle physics this school year. The session wasn't exactly wrinkle-free, but I believe I managed to adequately explain further all the things they seemed to have trouble with.

All in all, I enjoyed the experience, despite my throat hurting by the end of the session, unaccustomed to speaking as I am. Perhaps I enjoy explaining things that I understand well to others (and I may be good at it, too, or at least Jeanne thinks so and says that, bias aside, she did hear the odd murmur or ahhh of understanding). Maybe I do have some appreciation for kids, after all (well, they were in fourth year high school, but still).

I don't know, but I think I'll be coming back to tutor again. We'll see.