Blog #10 - The Discourse Community of e3 High in the Math Department

So it's safe to say that a great deal of people have a problem with math problems. Math in itself is a whole other language and what learning really boils down to is the experiences you had when you were taught math. 

Teachers....GOOD teachers...are far and few in between, so you better hope you get lucky in one of your high school math classes and gets someone who 

1. Knows what they're doing

2. Can explain what they're doing in plain English

3. Makes you feel like you know what you're doing

The discourse community I am choosing to follow and write about is the Math Department at a school I work at tutoring. There are about 5-6 teachers in this department, 4 tutors, and countless students. 

The school they work at is a charter school smack dab in the middle of Downtown San Diego. I know very little about charter schools. I tried watching a video on them but it just served to confuse me even more - maybe because they have relatively few rules and aren't governed by the state. This part of my project is crucial to understand so I, and my audience, can better understand what pressures charter school teachers face and how their jobs differ from the typical high school teacher. 

What is intriguing to me about this school, though, is that they are trying to implement heavy reliance on technology in the classroom and they are actively working to transition into a new wave of schooling that is project-based and student-to-student interaction- focused.

I plan on interviewing 2 Math teachers, 

one is the head of the Math department, has years of experience at this school and others,and  teaches various math classes. Let's call him teacher A.

The other is a freshly anointed teacher, straight out of grad school. This is his first "real" teaching job and he teaches only one class. He'll be teacher B.

I plan on examining the differences in their teaching styles and learning how teacher B is accumulating this knowledge and how he is making it work for his students and his classroom. 

I'll also be looking at how teacher A had to adapt his previous knowledge from his teaching experience and how he is building the culture within the Math Department that he leads now. 

For this project, I'll also be observing each in their natural habitats - the classroom. 

Throughout these interviews, observations, and research, I plan to learn a lot more about what it means to eat, breath, sleep Math and how teaching Math in a charter school molds people. 

Blog #9 - Industries with their own "literacy" gauge

So after our discussion in class about how different jobs have different criteria when it comes to being "literate" in the field I began thinking of certain areas in my life where my "literacy" has grown in over the past year. It's not that my level of reading, per se, has grown, but rather my level of comprehension on certain subjects. 

The thing I never really acknowledged about literacy before was that understanding what is said is basically 90% of the problem. I have no idea about car parts or engine problems; I suck at computer malfunctions - usually I just turn mine off and on again until the problem resolves itself...whoops; and stock market talk is just a bunch of mumbo-jumbo to me. 

BUT

I realized I have been growing more and more literate in another part of my life. I've taken up a hobby of sewing since this summer. 

And when I say "taken up" what I really mean is I bought a sewing machine and I just watch a bunch of youtube videos on sewing.

I've learned a lot, though, from what I've watched and I can clearly see myself making progress from the very first time I started watching people make clothes to now. They'd be talking about how to remember seam allowance, straight stitch, zig-zag stitch, change out a needle foot for one with a zipper attachment...crazy talk like that. 

I had no clue what the heck they were saying.

Over time I began assimilating into the lingo and making sense of it all. 

Now I know you have to start with pattern cut from paper and then trace it onto the fabric. 

You have to always be aware of what side of the material you're using is going to be on the outside when you wear it (that way you don't make nasty seams and knots where all the world can see!).

I've learned what it means to seam-rip, which is where you take apart old stitches (like from clothes you already have or something you really REALLY destroyed while sewing).

I know you sew right-sides-together so the seam stays on the inside and wrong-sides-together when you want to go for that frayed and weathered look.

I know what types of material are "slippery" to sew with - like satin or silk so when you sew two pieces together you have to hold them very carefully so they don't go moving all over the place and mess up the seam...

 which ones fray... which ones stretch so you don't have to sew in a zipper but instead you can just pull it over your head and voila...I know how faux suede doesn't need to be sewn after cutting because the thread won't unravel in it. 

But most importantly I've learned that there will always be problems when you're a beginner...

We are literate in a lot more areas than we realize and we are always expanding our knowledge. So even if you're a waiter, a mechanic, a doctor, whatever, you ARE intelligent and you have skills that others don't and won't ever comprehend. 

Blog #8 Learning to Serve Blog

The customer is always right, right? Wrong. Sometimes the customer is so wrong. Maybe it's the way they order something that isn't even on the menu, how they try to combine two items that are on completely polar opposite spectrums of the menu, how they want to personalize their meal and "just pay extra" so we can make it work, or simply in their behavior to service workers. Yes, as hard as it is to believe - customers are sometimes the ones at fault when things do not go smoothly at a restaurant.

I chose to read Mirabelli's book excerpt "Learning to Serve" and found that I agreed with so much of what she was explaining in her introduction about service industry jobs. I used to work at a smoothie place that also sold food and it was quite ridiculous to me how often customers simply didn't understand the concept of ordering food from a menu RIGHT IN FRONT OF THEM. They would repeatedly try to order items from other similar fast food branches and then, upon being informed that we do not carry or make those items, try to question us as to why we don't or even go so far as to claim "you used to carry it" or "you used to make it for me". Sorry sunny, hate to break it to you but you're getting us confused with someone else.

I've had customers try to break up parts of food or drink combos and create their own personalized version of an item. The thing is, this isn't their kitchen with ingredients on disposal - all menu items are priced a certain way and it's not up to you to just mix and match.

The worst problem, by far, was how they would react in all of these certain types of situations. Situations that they themselves created. Typical.

Times when their order would be messed up, however, and they had a right to (politely) complain was due 95% to that of inexperienced workers. And that should be expected! This industry has so many methods and procedures and shortcuts all going on at once that it gets very overwhelming for someone new to the job, let alone new to serving. You have to be quick on your feet ALL THE TIME, EVERY DAY and on top of that be in a chipper, darling mood even when you're being yelled at. It's a tough life.

Where I worked my coworkers were all very bright and educated. That wasn't the problem. The problem was that there were so many new people coming in and they needed time to learn the ropes. I feel like that's how it is for a lot of places in the service industry - there are a lot of inexperienced workers handling your orders. It's not that they're dumb, it's that they need more time to get things right and they also need to learn the lingo in order to get your food from paper, to production, to your pretty little mouth.

You try. You fail. You try again.

The way in which orders are communicated is very important in the service industry and it takes a while to "learn to read again", so to speak. Fluency comes with practice and is often the difference between a right and wrong order. Mirabelli writes that "literacy extend beyond individual experiences of reading and writing". It is very crucial to understand not only how a coworker will write down the specific item ordered, or how one will read the printed item, but also how the customer is going to order the item. You have to be able to have the knowledge to manipulate the POS screen (when orders are taken on an electronic screen) so that all of their specifications for their "personal appetites" are satisfied while giving them the right discounts/price increases so that neither the restaurant nor the customer is unfairly charged.

Communication is an integral part in serving food quickly, efficiently, and correctly and I am so glad Mirabelli wrote this article to explain to others (and not to mention confirm the beliefs of service workers everywhere) how hard it actually is to work at a food place and how difficult the language is to an outsider.


-Meghann