Last Week

This was my last week with the children and I got really sad about it. I have grow to truly care about these kids and I am sad to know that our time together has come to an end. They have really opened my eyes to their world and I am able to understand more where they are coming from. I think this experience will be beneficial for me when I am starting to teach. It has taught me how to relate to the students and a little bit about how they think and process information. Overall, I had a wonderful semester at my service learning!

Language

When I was helping the students with their homework I was also listening in on their conversations. A lot of them were swearing and saying profane things and it really shocked me. These children are only in 7th grade. I remembered back to when I was in 7th grade and we never talked like this. It kind of makes me sad because I think that a lot of of morals and standards are falling in our society. More and more things are being called acceptable and kids are learning more things at younger ages. I think it's important to try to guard children from this and maintain some of their innocence.

Fundraiser

For my service learning this week, we went out into the community. The students were fundraising for the next year and we went out and put flyers on every door in the surrounding community. I loved doing this with the kids because I got to see them outside of a structured setting. They became more of themselves and I was surprised to see how devoted and excited they were to do the fundraising. I love that the program is having them get involved in the community and is teaching them good morals and virtues. They are holding a bake sale as well and all of the kids are helping to bake goods. I thought this was an excellent way to teach them about fundraising and to get them out of a classroom setting and into the community.

Memories

This past week at my service learning, I had fun observing the children. They were finished with their homework and so they went outside for play time. It was amazing to see them jumping around in the leaves and just having a good time being together. Sometimes I wish that friendships could go back to how they were when we were children. They seem like there's not as many strings attached and that they are free to just be who they are and have fun playing with friends. Also I saw some of the girls talking about who they liked and I just remembered back to when I was that age. They are just like me when I was young and when I teach I should remember that I can relate to these children more than I think. Even though years separate us, I have been through some of the things they are going through. I need to meet them on their level and try to relate the teaching to their lives.

Children

Throughout my life I have had many opportunities to travel to other countries and go into schools. Here I got to interact with the children and talk with them. At my service learning, I also get to interact with the children and talk to them about their lives. I have come to realize that children all over the world are very similar. They all have the same needs and the same desire to be loved and cherished. Talking with the children in my service learning, I discovered that many of them are having troubles at home. I also encountered this with the children around the world that I talked to. No matter where you go, children are in need of nurturing and acceptance and love. And I really want to be an agent of this love and acceptance. I think I have such an amazing opportunity to speak into the lives of children and I hope that I can do this to the best of my ability whether it is here in the United States or in another country.

Service Learning

For my next service learning experience I was very surprised. We started by talking about what each of the kids thought about fate and destiny. These were all 7th and 8th grade students and I was shocked by their answers. Some of them were very adamant about not believing in fate and supported their views with experiences they had in their lives. Others explained why they believed in fate and destiny because it went along with their religion or their parent's beliefs. Overall I was shocked because at their young age, they were already forming opinions about very controversial, difficult topics. It shows how these children all have a voice, and their voices are valid and important and that if we take the time to listen, we can learn from them.

Blog 6

For my prop regarding school culture I am bringing in a picture of my old lacrosse team as well as my lacrosse stick. I really feel like schools are just like sports teams. The teachers are coaches that guide and encourage the students or players on in their learning. They push them to be the best students (players) that they can be. Many times there are more than one coach and this is like the many teachers that make up a school. The coaches work together to help the teammates grow just like teachers should collaborate with each other and offer advice so that all students can grow and benefit. The athletic director is like the principal, in that he oversees the coaches and the overall playing(learning) going on. When the team wins the coaches win, just like how when students do well and succeed, teachers succeed because they know that what they are doing counts and has made a difference in the lives of the people around them. The lacrosse stick is one of the tools that coaches give their players to succeed and represents the tools that teachers give their students to do well. These tools are time, attention, positive encouragement, feedback, and the resources they need to learn.