LGR @ PENN

We must have broken every stereotype in the book—huddled in room 232 there we were: 53 Black and Hispanic highschool students with names like Destiny, Alycia, Maquanda, and Jahmir and ivy-league undergraduates from the local university. But instead of confirming cultural stereotypes or reflecting traditional power dynamics, we sat on Monday afternoon for two hours devouring Buffalo wings, laughing, arguing, and vigorously debating the definition of "laconic." Yesterday was one of those brilliant moments during my time with Let's Get Ready, when the collective hard work of me and my coaches comes alive—the words we had inculcated into our students heads again and again finally seemed to stick, some of the kids who in the past were the least engaged corrected my syntax, and the alluded to Maquanda rejoined a heckle I threw her that if she didn't bring her book to every class college might remain a dream with "I'm going to college regardless" and "you should know that…you always tell me that." It was a space of empowerment. It was less about us teaching them and much more about all of us reaching together—we were a team.
I reflect on our Monday filled with Verbal Jepoardy because I think that space was emblematic of the motivation and satisfaction me and my coaches get from this program. After all the turmoil of finding our way around the seemingly endless beauracray which shapes Sayre high school (where our classes are held); after tracking down students who simply decide to switch classes or to leave or not show up; after answering reams of phonecalls from parents or adminstrators with one question or another---Verbal Jepoardy reminded me, and I think, all of us, why we do what we do. I think as we become more and more invested in this idea of teamwork, as we begin to appreciate the responsibility with which we have been vested, a very natural, very human commitment begins to form. It becomes much less about spending a few hours doing some service work or completing the requirements for a class and far more about a sense of duty to the kids. It was good to get everybody in one room becomes I think that feeling of a mutual, collective push to achieve becomes really palpable when you realize that the kids in the classroom next to you are putting forth the same effort that you are.
On a more pratical level, things have been going smoothly. We have transitioned into review, review, review. Every week from now until the May 5th test date we have mini practice tests scheduled. We have also begun to really be critical of the essay form. I believe the essay is really the key to unlocking the verbal section—a thorough understanding of how an essay is written can help you navigate the critical writing section in important ways. In general, our two goals for the verbal section from now until the end of the program is essay writing and strucuturing and immersing the students in the exam, followed closely by vocabulary acquisition. For the Math Section, our least prepared students have really been struggling. We were forced to not only review the abstract, SAT II-like questions which the exam presents but also to go over the most fundamental aspects of Algebra and Arithemetic. Adding fractions, solving basic linear equations, simplifying algebraic expressions have occupied most of our time. The more advanced sections are well into reviewing material and practicing sample problems—we are focusing on getting to the middle portion of the section. Our most advanced classes, however, are actually using the advanced curriculum separate from the standard one.

Jason