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Hey guys, so I participated in a program called JEP at my school. Pretty much what you do is take a class at my school and enroll in a "service learning project" and teach that material at a more elementary level to neighboring primary schools (usually they are underserved) because they are in Los Angeles.
A lot of the times teachers will offer a small amount of "extra credit" for completing the program. The program is 8 weeks long and varies depending on what you do. I did this program twice, once during Fall Semester and once this last spring. During Fall I taught an 8 week course to 5th graders on chemistry along with 3 other students. It consisted of 1 hour a week lesson planning (activities, subject, quizzes) , 1 hour a week teaching at the school, and writing a 1-3 page essay per week reflecting on the study or discussing problems in education,environment, and strategies to increase learning. We are graded liberally on the essays, attendance, and community evaluation. I did this project during Fall and received an A in the JEP grade (it does not count for credit, but usually teachers give extra credit if you passed the course).
This experience was extremely rewarding and I really enjoyed it. So much that I wanted to do it in the spring semester. The problem was that none of my classes were offering extra credit for JEP (not a problem at all) and therefore JEP does not allow you to participate in this kind of teaching. I was, however, able to land a Math Mentor position which was really awesome. The only dilemma was that I would be studying for my mcat+ full course load+ research+ all other activities. I had the busiest schedule I've ever had but still wanted to do this gig. I decided the most important aspect of this project would be teaching and tutoring the kids. So I decided to do it. The project was 8 weeks long and 2 hours a week on two different days. I would pretty much take handfuls of students at a time and teach them math and we all grew a nice bond. The thing is I didn't have time to complete the essays at all and despite full attendance + an A+ community evaluation I received a D in the project. Once again this does not go into my GPA or anything but when I write these experiences down in my Application this June I don't know how to go about this. If they call the reference all Jep will be able to say is "He got an A on his first project, and a D on his second'.
What should I do, do I explain this in the application? I did get a reference number from the teacher but don't know how sketchy it is to provide JEP reference for project 1 and Teacher reference for Project 2. And what JEP will say according to their records if a med school does decide to call.
Thanks for all the help!
A lot of the times teachers will offer a small amount of "extra credit" for completing the program. The program is 8 weeks long and varies depending on what you do. I did this program twice, once during Fall Semester and once this last spring. During Fall I taught an 8 week course to 5th graders on chemistry along with 3 other students. It consisted of 1 hour a week lesson planning (activities, subject, quizzes) , 1 hour a week teaching at the school, and writing a 1-3 page essay per week reflecting on the study or discussing problems in education,environment, and strategies to increase learning. We are graded liberally on the essays, attendance, and community evaluation. I did this project during Fall and received an A in the JEP grade (it does not count for credit, but usually teachers give extra credit if you passed the course).
This experience was extremely rewarding and I really enjoyed it. So much that I wanted to do it in the spring semester. The problem was that none of my classes were offering extra credit for JEP (not a problem at all) and therefore JEP does not allow you to participate in this kind of teaching. I was, however, able to land a Math Mentor position which was really awesome. The only dilemma was that I would be studying for my mcat+ full course load+ research+ all other activities. I had the busiest schedule I've ever had but still wanted to do this gig. I decided the most important aspect of this project would be teaching and tutoring the kids. So I decided to do it. The project was 8 weeks long and 2 hours a week on two different days. I would pretty much take handfuls of students at a time and teach them math and we all grew a nice bond. The thing is I didn't have time to complete the essays at all and despite full attendance + an A+ community evaluation I received a D in the project. Once again this does not go into my GPA or anything but when I write these experiences down in my Application this June I don't know how to go about this. If they call the reference all Jep will be able to say is "He got an A on his first project, and a D on his second'.
What should I do, do I explain this in the application? I did get a reference number from the teacher but don't know how sketchy it is to provide JEP reference for project 1 and Teacher reference for Project 2. And what JEP will say according to their records if a med school does decide to call.
Thanks for all the help!