An arts, humanities, and science summer immersion program for high school students; An award-winning student organization; A service-learning opportunity
Thursday, February 23, 2012
1st (of 3) Service Learning Entry (due sometime around now)
Reflections on Your Service Experiences (recommended ASAP after you go attend a service event) Keep your description of what occurred to a minimum. I want you to go beyond factual information and describe the implications of what you experienced, what barriers to progress (for the H.S. students) you experienced and how you sought/will seek to overcome those barriers this summer.
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Servie Learning Entry (1 of 3)
ReplyDeleteEmily Watkins
On Monday afternoons, two other FOCUS leaders and I go to Villa Del Rey and work with four BRYC fellows, three 2nd graders, and four 5th graders on a Pen Pal curriculum. Basically there is one FOCUS/BRYC leader to every elementary student, which makes for much needed one-to-one attention. So far in just two visits it is easy to see the personalities of each student and his or her learning methods. We have already picked out the kids who need special attention and those who excel on their own. Besides all of this factual information, there are very direct implications on how the kids behave and learn with direct links to how they are raised. Not being use to one-on-one attention, it is hard for some of the kids to open up or even care about the work we are doing. Once they realize we are not going to badger them and are there because we care for them (ultimately we want them to succeed not for our own benefit, but for theirs) the kids are less guarded. Each week, I have to sit with a 5th grade girl who does not believe in her ability and refuses to participate in the activity until after everyone else gets started. I can hardly get her to talk at the beginning of each session and by the end of this last session, she could not be quite.
This hands-on experience has shown me that the students who are coming through FOCUS may not be completely willing and eager – some will be active and energetic while others will take more patience and attention before they begin to trust outsiders. The major barrier I have encountered and will continue to encounter is the idea that I am an outsider who does not understand or care. Even in these few short visits, I have found the BRYC leaders – just like the FOCUS students we will be dealing with – work best when they are given responsibilities and the opportunity to be in charge. As a group leader, I am not going to spoon-feed them answers and solutions, but empower them to think for themselves; as a result, they gain the confidence to succeed on their own merit, not someone else’s. My role (whether at the elementary school or this summer) is the not stop encouraging no matter how estrange they may see me, no matter how closed off a student might appear, and meet and embrace each individual and his/her strengths!
Every Tuesday evening I tutor BRYC fellows in reading and writing at Carver Library, along with 3 others in FOCUS. The first week only two fellows showed up so I technically did not start until the Tuesday before Mardi Gras, meaning I have only tutored once. I was supposed to help Chauncey practice essay writing; however the prompt he was given was one of the awful ACT practice prompts that we all know and hate. No wonder he hates writing. As someone who enjoys writing I find those prompts to be about the least helpful thing on the planet, but he still had to do the assignment. Aside from a few writing errors, it seemed that his main problem was that he did not understand the long-winded prompt, and as I tried to explain it, I realized that I did not really understand it either. I wondered if his teacher felt the same way and just assigned it because it was a requirement, especially since Chauncey is a freshman. From my experience, ACT practice writing isn’t stressed until sophomore or junior year. I believe he should have been working on something that would pertain to what he was reading in class.
ReplyDeleteChauncey was pretty quiet for most of the experience, but I think most of that had to do with him concentrating on his work. After we had finished and both agreed that the prompt was inadequate he began talking about everything he deemed incompetent, like Deena and Snooki from the Jersey Shore and the New England Patriots. Needless to say, I hope I tutor Chauncey again, because he seems to have a good head on his shoulders. I just hope he comes with an assignment that can actually benefit his writing skills.
I have a chance to help with the Mentorship program for the Baton Rouge Youth Coalition every other Wednesday night. After my first experience with the kids involved with the program I can honestly say it is amazing. All I’ve heard about Baton Rouge minority teens has been negative and downright awful.. The Students in this group are the opposite of that and epitomize what students in a bad community should be doing.
DeleteThis past Wednesday was my first opportunity at helping out and judging from the other post I was not the only one who came away very impressed. Each student in the group seemed to have something positive to add to the discussions about politics, education , and community. The best part of the night for me was when I met two seniors in high school who were already accepted into LSU and were contemplating joining the Summer Scholars, a program I was apart of. They were genuinely interested in everything I had to say and all of the advice I offered even though I wasn’t much older than most of them. By the end of the night I had forgotten that I was there because of a class and was more disappointed that I would have to be leaving soon.
My first experience at my service leaning location was a great start to what seems like a really fun project. I was assigned to work in the Baton Rouge Youth Coalition’s community garden in Downtown Baton rouge and didn’t have many expectations about what I would be doing once I got there. As soon as I got to BRYC, I was welcomed by friendly staff into a humble and homey headquarters that felt very little like a coalition or organization at all. I then met the students, or fellows, that were also assigned to work in the garden and was pleasantly surprised by their casual and fun demeanor in the BRYC house. The mood was laid back, as if we were all old friends getting together to work in our brand new garden. The fellows had planned the gardening project themselves and therefore had a big interest in its success- they all had ideas about what fruits, vegetables, flowers and plants would be planted and how the garden would be taken care of. We began to hoe and till the garden and worked hard until our time together was up. During the whole experience, I was the most impressed with the clear and effective communication that was used between BRYC staff, fellows and volunteers. This made the experience run smoothly and made it seem like our goal was well within our reach. I can’t wait to see what the fellows and volunteers can create in the garden throughout this entire semester!
ReplyDeleteOn Monday afternoons, I head over to the BRYC house to work on the garden constructed by the fellows. When I first arrived the garden was overgrown and it looked almost impossible to plant anything. However, the fellows' attitudes changed the overwhelming garden entirely. It is these attitudes carried by the fellows that I enjoy the most. Unlike other service projects I have done in the past, these fellows actually want to be a part of BRYC and enjoy every moment of the program. We had a rough start to the garden, but through encouragement and confidence of a better future we were able to clear the plots of all the overgrown weeds. I think that this is one of the barriers that some high school students have trouble getting over. When faced with a problem, they look at it negatively as if it were impossible, instead of looking at what positively lies beneath it to benefit the future. This is something I would like to work on in FOCUS this summer, providing students with encouragement and letting them know there is a future for them and they are in full control of conquering whatever they may want it to be.
ReplyDeleteAfter working in the garden today, we were able to decide what seeds we wanted to plant. The look of accomplishment on the fellows' faces was indescribable. They had made it through the tough work of pulling weeds and fighting insects, and were now ready for the fun part. I am looking forward to watching this garden grow, along with the fellows and their college intentions!
This week at Dufrocq, we still hadn’t gotten around to doing the lesson plans with the kids. Instead, we went to an assembly about black history month. We sat with the kids in the cafeteria for about 15 minutes and helped them prepare for their presentations (reading two or three lines about a famous African American). Even at such a young age you could see that they’re excited and proud about their culture. I’ve always had trouble getting students to talk about educational subjects during their free time, but it was so easy for us all to talk about black history. Unfortunately, because we haven't been able to work with the students as much as we'd like to, the BRYC fellows haven't gained much experience through volunteering at Dufrocq. When we start going more in depth with the younger children, the fellows will start to grow and learn more.
ReplyDeleteFrom what I’ve seen and heard, most of the students in FOCUS will be black. Race will probably seem like a barrier for most of them. I started thinking that maybe a group leader could do a workshop about black history. We could also try to incorporate it into some of the seminars, like having some dance or poetry classes focus on African culture as inspiration. I don’t know how the seminars are set up, though, so that might not be possible. But from what I’ve noticed, young kids are very proud of their African American heritage and I’m sure high school students would be even more proud.
Service-Learning 1
ReplyDeleteBRYC Advocacy
Each Tuesday afternoon, I work with the Advocacy group in BRYC. The Advocacy group is made up of students in BRYC who want to influence the public policy process in Baton Rouge, and better their city.
My first impressions were generally surprise - and I was impressed! The BRYC fellows really know their stuff. I was surprised because the attitudes the students displayed are typically found in a college atmosphere, not high school. These students are 16 - 18 years old, and they want to impact their city NOW. It was interesting how when the discussion opened up on what the fellows wanted to improve in Baton Rouge, they all had ideas, and they were all engaged. In my college classes, people don't talk during discussion! I was definitely impressed.
A big event that happened surrounding the Advocacy group was the potential new charter school in Baton Rouge, Thrive, which went before the EBR School Board two weeks ago. The founded of Thrive, Sarah Brome, came to talk to us about the process. Honestly, it seemed as if Thrive was not going to be approved, because all the EBR School Board had on its mind was the new superintendent. We closed that meeting with many of the BRYC fellow stating they would like to help, and volunteering to speak on Thrive’s behalf, as they, obviously, know that the EBR school system is failing in many regards, and a charter school could help a lot of students.
This past Tuesday, we found out that many of the students attended the school board meeting and spoke – and the measure was passed! Ms. Brome attributes much of the success to the BRYC fellows. I do as well!
For the most part, I am absolutely impressed by the drive and motivation of the BRYC fellows that I have met. Their knowledge of the problems in Baton Rouge is obviously very great, but the amazing part is that they have solutions in their minds of how to fix these problems. Many of them are going out-of-state to prestigious colleges when they graduate, but I feel that even then, they will be dedicated to their city as they are now, and I think they will be a real force for change, now and in the future.
What does this mean for FOCUS? Well, I think that students like the current BRYC fellows, especially the seniors who have gotten huge college scholarships, would serve as impressive inspiration for other EBR students. I think it’s important to let students know that they CAN have an impact on their community. I’ve only been to the BRYC house three times, and I already think the BRYC fellows have impacted their community.
I tutor students. It's interesting to see the different levels of motivation and drive each student has. I've only really worked with two students so far, and each was pretty self-motivated. Judging by these students and others I've worked with previously, writing and reading are not generally seen as something to have fun and relax with.
ReplyDeleteIt felt good to get back in the groove of helping someone discover different aspects of writing. I didn't do it at all first semester, and this volunteering makes me excited about the summer, about being with students for a full two weeks and helping them have fun and learn and discover.
A problem that's come up is disinterest in the subject of reading and writing. I've been attempting to find different ways to engage the students so they'll care more, and so far what I've found is letting them lead in what they're learning helps, as well as actually listening. Sometimes I get overbearing when trying to help, and remembering the fact that these students have something valid to say always helps me step back and really listen.
Every other Wednesday evening, I take part in program by contributing to group discussions, interacting with all of the fellows as they update eachother on their different service projects, and help the seniors prepare for college mentally and logistically.
ReplyDeleteDuring program, I have been amazed by the different activities and commitments that these students have outside of BRYC, and enjoy hearing of their successes in and out of the classroom as they prepare for college. We had a great discussion this past week on the importance of college and how different presidential candidates approach the issue. Also discussed was the role of public transportation in the community and the upcoming election for continued funding of the Capital Area Transit System.
During my discussion with a pair of seniors on their preparation for college, I realized the many barriers that these students face on a daily basis. The worry of holding a job and supporting oneself and their family is an extreme burden for somebody reaching the highlight of their adulthood. Senioritis is experienced by many if not all students as they approach graduation and the summer before college, and these students were no exception. To be able to speak with them on a personal basis and encourage these two students to finish strong is pivotal to their success, as their eyes brightened when I said, "this isn't the end. It's only the beginning of your life as an individual."
I have gained a sense during our discussion that these students are more task- or track-oriented than I anticipated. This presents a possible barrier to overcome personally as I try to expand the minds and imaginations of these students and FOCUS participants over the summer. It is my belief that to show these students their is no given way to approach things is integral to their success as great thinkers.
I'm having a great experience working with these students. Program tomorrow will be fun as I get to hear more about their preparations for graduation, advise them on summer plans, and continue to discuss current events with these students.
I have been tutoring two girls for the ACT, and the first day I met with them we (arbitrarily) decided to go over math. But before we started, I was just asking them some things about the last time they took the ACT, what they think of it, school, other relevant small talk, etc. One of the girls happened to be extremely good at math, and the other girl’s strength was in the verbal sections of the test. Then one of them said the most wonderful thing I’ve heard in a long time; it was something to the effect of: “When I do the reading part if the story is boring I make up my own story. And then I don’t have time to finish answering the questions because I got sidetracked.” (not exactly what she said, but close enough. I wish I would’ve written it down.) How much does this point to ways in which these kinds of tests are nearly worthless in a lot of cases? What is more important—being able to think of a fun and exciting story that captivates both the author and audience? Or being able to determine that this boring sentence actually should’ve been placed earlier in the boring paragraph so as to more clearly illustrate the purpose of the passage… once all the commas are fixed, pronouns agree with their antecedents, verbs demonstrate parallel structure, the list goes on. This particular incident happened a couple of weeks ago.
ReplyDeleteLast night when I was going back through my highlights in Ravitch’s book and the one in particular that caught my eye was (again, I can’t quote it directly because I don’t have my book in front of me as I’m writing this) something like “studying literature is supposed to make students think critically about what they are reading. But is what they are reading worth thinking about critically?” I was immediately brought back to the tutoring trip describe3d above. All of this begs the age old question: “When am I ever going to need to know this? Why is this worth knowing?” The truth is that a lot of things that seem terrible in high school are actually important in regards to simply being an educated person, but where FOCUS comes in is exciting. We aren’t trying to introduce general literacy elements in FOCUS. And many of the things that we are going to do in FOCUS may not be covered in high school, and won’t show up on a high stakes standardized test. But the most important thing that we are going to (try to) do is to give the kids something to get excited about, think critically about, and want to know about. The most common attitudes about learning are to be disaffected and/or apathetic. And FOCUS fails in its entirety if the primary goal is not to overcome these. The fact of the matter is that receiving an educating doesn’t equate to knowing trigonometry and the dates and implications of treaties that followed multinational wars. Receiving an education indicates that that a person is able to look at the way things are and have a well-informed opinion about them; receiving an education indicates that a person is able to disagree with some things, agree with some things, criticize some things, laud some things, and understand why he or she feels that way. Receiving an education indicates that the person is able to, above all, think critically.
What I want for FOCUS is to be able to educate students in the sense described above. I don’t mean to vilify the boring and commonplace curricula that are in place in schools, because having standards of knowledge is important. But the point of FOCUS is to make kids excited about being educated. And, speaking for myself, although I’d bet it’s true for a lot of people, is that once you feel excited to learn something, you’ll quickly feel excited to learn anything (worth knowing, on good days, after a cup of coffee, when it’s not raining or hot outside…).
Service Learning (2 of 3)
ReplyDeleteThis week I attended the bi-weekly meeting of the BRYC Fellows. Fortunately I also had my first opportunity to see the BRYC House as last session was held in a different location. I came away, once again, really impressed by the atmosphere and the cohesion of this diverse group of students. As Dario mentioned in his post we spend a lot of our time as FOCUS volunteers counseling, motivating, and coaching these high school students on what the college process is like. While I’m sure upperclassman are better suited to help in such a capacity, I feel as if being a freshman allows me to add a different type of opinion; one that isn’t too far removed from high school but also not too oblivious to college life.
The senior BRYC Fellows were not at this last session and this gave a lot of the sophomores and juniors who I hadn’t heard from in the last meeting a chance to voice some of their concerns. One of the more eye-opening parts of the night was when one student spoke about being in fear of physical harm while at his high school. While I’m aware that this is a fact for thousands of high school students around the country it struck home that these people, who I now consider friends, have to be mentally prepared to deal with violence and school-work on a daily basis. I wanted to say to the young man that he deserved a scholarship just on that fact alone. I mean does my ability to ace an exam that I’ve been prepped on for weeks really compare to that kids ability to focus in an environment where he fears for his life? Before we rush off to make proclamations about what needs to happen to the LA public school system can we at least acknowledged that those special few who make it out of this busted system should be commended far more than me and my private school buddies whose high school is closer to Quiznoes territory than gang territory.
I've been working with the BRYC advocacy group. I've had a great experience meeting all of the great BRYC fellows. Being as I'm a freshman, I suppose we are all fairly close in age. It certainly feels like they are adult peers and not just "kids" or "high school students". I attribute that largely to this group of students' maturity. They are more adults than many of the college students I know. Getting to know everyone in our advocacy group, both FOCUS leaders and BRYC fellows has been a great experience. It really feels like we're all becoming friends. Being able to discuss the problems of Baton Rouge schools with this group has really given me a lot of insight to the issue. Sometimes It feels more like a treat than a service project to attend this group.
ReplyDeleteOur advocacy has changed directions several times but I am please with our new project to fight waste. I think this is a highly important issue that we all have a part in either solving or continuing the problem. While I wish we had more time to launch a bigger project, but I know we are laying the ground work for an idea that I believe will continue to grow. I am excited and hopeful to continue working as a part of the BRYC advocacy group.
Tutoring at Dufrocq has been a very interesting experience for me. I have done other tutoring for my education classes, so I am pretty familiar with being at elementary schools. Dufrocq is an extremely nice school, and I am always impressed by it’s quality. Even more than that, the Big Buddy program is such a great idea, and I can see how much the teachers and administration care about making their school awesome. The BRYC students help tutor with us in our pen pal program. They are very nice, but I do not get to talk to them much since we usually spend our time working with the elementary school students. I think it is awesome that the BRYC students spend their time after school doing service projects. I know when I was in high school, I wanted to go home after and relax. It takes a lot of dedication to go right from school to tutoring. The only barrier I have experienced with the high school students is the fact that they all know each other so they already have formed friendships. It is hard to all merge together as friends immediately whenever we go to the tutoring session together, and they all know each other from school and BRYC. Whenever we communicate, I do not experience barriers. We all are almost the same ages and it is just like talking to anyone else at school in my opinion. I think when we work with the high school students this summer, it will be a challenge to help the students feel like they can open up to us and talk to us like we are their friends. It is hard to just automatically jump into friendship with someone you just meet.
ReplyDelete(I typed this a long time ago, I just did not figure out the blog thing until now so sorry if the timing sounds weird)
ReplyDeleteI arrived at tutoring on Tuesday ready and excited. I had high hopes for volunteering and I've really enjoyed previous tutoring I had done. While I arrived a few minutes late due to being lost, I was not discouraged. One other Honors student and myself, though, were the only ones there.
We thought we were at the wrong library until other volunteer showed up. We waited thirty minutes for Will and a couple students he had to drive there showed up.
These were to be the only students that showed up that night, and with ten plus volunteers I was unable to help anyone that day.
I sat there for 3 hours, and we talked about tutoring, FOCUS, the school system and public school board, the h.s. we went to, and even traveling. Slowly the topics became more and more irrelevant.
Number one reason the students never showed up: no ride.
I failed at helping anyone that day. I think this showed me a little bit about "failing" schools and "failing" teachers. If the parents have to work, they cannot take their kids to tutoring. It was not any ones fault that help was not received that day. It was just the way it had to be.
My first day mentoring at Villa Del Ray, I found out I was supposed to be assisting high school students as they ran a pen pal program through BRYC. The activities started with a quick introduction. Some of the students were reluctant to join the group, like Tiphanie, who remained silent, and Montrell, who right away announced “I’m afraid and don’t like the girl with the blue hair. She’s scary.” I’m the girl with blue hair.
ReplyDeleteWe played a game where we asked each other questions. The adults and high school students asked typical questions, but the children’s questions were more poignant. The children were very interested in things like high school, college, whether or not we drove cars, what we were going to be “when we grow up”, and any idea of the future. In the ensuing conversations, they often referenced older family members, and their aspirations to be athletes or entertainers.
The plan for that day was to help the students write a letter to a sister program in Maine. There were only seven elementary school students and eight adults, including the high school students. Still, getting the students to focus was difficult. Some students did not want to interact for the activity, did not respond to prompting. Many of the younger students enjoyed the attention from authority, but balked at instruction. Some, like Tyran, were endearing but defiant. Others, like Montrell, blatantly refused.
I worked with Shaylan to coax some of the younger boys to write. She was patient, but reluctant to exercise authority. The younger children preferred playing to writing, and didn’t seem to grasp the concept of the letter recipients. Still, some progress was made. By the end of an hour, all of the students had at least a semblance of a letter, and when asked, Tyran could point out Maine on a map. Moreover, none of the students seemed resentful that we made them write for an hour.
One of the concerns I have for the next times we meet is that the students will not be intrigued enough by letters from people they don’t know. By talking to them, it is obvious that they value personal connections. Also, when we walked the students back to the cafeteria, they sat there while they were whistled at and shouted into silence. While the high school students don’t seem to want to take control as much as is necessary, I’m glad that they aren’t taking that approach.
I help tutor students in Math and Science at the Carver Library on Tuesdays. I understand that most people hate these subjects, but I think it is mostly because they fear what they do not understand. I’ve heard phrases such as “it’s just math,” “I won’t need any of this after this class,” and “I don’t get why we have to learn this” basically every time I’ve tutored people. I’d say this is my biggest obstacle when I try to help them. The people I’ve tutored so far have all been very smart: they can regurgitate all the information that has been thrown at them, but they have no clue what it means. Every week, they bring me their homework so that I can help them reproduce exactly what they’ve seen before. My approach is to take it slowly and try to make them understand problems instead of breezing through them. With the ACT, every question basically covers a completely new topic (especially in Math), so sometimes we only get through about seven problems in the two hour session. It is very frustrating when they do not understand the material, but I try to have as much patience as I can. It is tempting to just help them a little bit so we can move on to the next problem, but I know that is not my duty as a tutor. In the summer, I will need to be very patient with all the students so they can learn properly, no matter how frustrated I get. And at times when I want to bang my head against the wall, I will take a deep breath and work with the students to help their problems.
ReplyDeleteFor my service, I assist BRYC fellows with their gardening project at the BRYC House. We've been planting vegetables and flowers in their garden. It's fun getting to know the BRYC fellows. I think what strikes me as most interesting is how similar they are to us. We spend most of our class periods talking about the differences that we'll encounter between ourselves and the future FOCUS students (who are supposed to be more like BRYC students than ourselves). We spend so much time discussing differences in race, socioeconomic status, personality, behavior that I had built an image of a downtrodden, underprivileged teenager.
ReplyDeleteNeedless to say, this is not what I encountered in my service. The BRYC fellows don’t seem to be very different from us. We’re all able to joke and complain about the same educational things – strange teachers, ridiculous assignments, applying to college. All of the fellows I met plan on attending college, in fact (most of them even plan to go to LSU). I realize that the BRYC fellows aren’t the average under-resourced student – they have BRYC and their friends there to motivate them to do well and attend a university, a resource that not every student has. Only two years out of high school, I had already forgotten that most high school students are the same.
I think this realization will help over the summer when interacting with the FOCUS students. Trying to communicate with someone I was expecting to be vastly different from myself would have been much harder than communicating with someone not so different from myself.
The first day at Villa, we had no clue what to expect. We had been given no lesson plan or explanation of what we were doing, but it turns out that we were tutoring students as they participate in a pen pal program with Maine. We had about a full hour with the students whose grades ranged from 2nd grade to 5th grade. We didn’t have them write the whole time; we started off by playing a game of questions while sitting in a circle together. The program was geared not only to the elementary students, but also the BRYC fellows. The BRYC fellows were in charge of writing the lesson plan and thinking of games to play with the students. Of course, after school is over, most students don’t want to pay attention, and I was noticing that we were losing the children’s focus. When Shaylan introduced the game, she was reading the directions straight from the paper. She didn’t know how to keep their attention, and she was a little nervous; probably because she was losing their attention. We played another game called snowball where the children wrote questions on paper and through them at each other. Whoever picked up a ball had to read the question and answer it. They loved this game and wanted to play again. As the semester progressed, the children would beg to play this game, and we would play it instead of something else we had already planned. The first time we played the game some students were reluctant to share personal information or even speak at all. The more we played the more open they became, forgetting their nervous and emotional barriers. They wanted to share more and we began to get to know them better. Shaylan, who was there the most often of the BRYC fellows, also learned the children’s personalities and began to go with what they were feeling instead of following exactly as planned. Our program became more enriching for the children as we did this and participation increased. From this experience, I have learned, and can bring to FOCUS, open ideas and more flexible lesson plans. Hopefully we can modify our plans towards what the FOCUS students are feeling in order for the students to have a willingness to learn and participate.
ReplyDelete