Blog #5 Post Service

During this service experience, I noticed many themes emerging.  I was reminded that when young kids are learning something new, it’s important to be understanding and empathetic to their feelings and try to put yourself in their shoes.  This is true for anyone, no matter what age, who is learning new things and you’re trying to help them understand.  With this in mind, it’s especially important to build kids up when they’re learning, and try to raise their self-esteem.  It’s important to do this at any age, but especially with young kids so that they can go through life having a good sense of self-worth and to treat others the way they want to be treated.  Anyone can have a low self-esteem, and no matter what age it’s important to try and improve it. 

The other big theme that occurred was the importance of eliminating distractions.  All types of noise can make it difficult for anyone to focus, but especially kids.  Children are very easily distracted by any movement or type of noise, and once they’re distracted it’s difficult to get them back on track.  This is why it’s important to help them find a place where they can get work done and learn new things without anything getting in their way.  This is also important for high school students, college students, and those in the work force.  If there is a great deal of noise of any kind-whether it be external, physiological, or psychological-it makes all kind of work or learning more difficult on anyone. 

Keeping all this in mind, this experience will shape my future interactions in many ways.  It will help me to be more patient, understanding, and empathetic to those who may be learning something new.  It will help me to remember that it’s better to build others up and raise their self-esteem.  If I do feel there is something they should change, I’ll be sure to make it constructive criticism so that they take the criticism better than if I just called them out on something.  Lastly, it will help me to remember to help others eliminate negative noise and distractions so that positive learning and work can be accomplished.  This will also help me when I’m trying to work and learn to eliminate noise so that I can be more productive. 

Blog #4 During Service

The third week Clare and I went to the Lydia Home, I had the opportunity to meet some new children that have been going to the Lydia Home for some time.  We just hadn’t been there the same time they had.  In some of these new children, I saw that some of them had some identity and self problems developing already. 

The Monday of that week was April 1^st.  When Clare and I got there, they were working out of their work books.  Miss Joyce asked me to work with Zay, a little girl who is in 3^rd grade.  She didn’t have assigned homework, so we worked out of her work book.  She had a lot of pages assigned and she did very well, but she was very easily distracted.  It took her some time to get through her readings because any time someone walked around the table, or someone else sitting at the table was talking, so wasn’t paying attention to her reading and was listening to them.  Later, she got to the point where she didn’t want to do anymore.  I knew that as soon as she was done with the page she was on, she was allowed to walk home.  I had to negotiate with her to keep working on the page until it was done.  When she knew that she would be able to go home, she worked hard to finish her page and got it done quickly. 

The following Wednesday, which was the 3^rd of April, Clare and I played Apples to Apples with some of the kids.  There was another new girl that I hadn’t met before named Autumn.  We played the game a little differently than I was used to.  Only one person was always the judge and each person had 5 cards and never drew until they were out of cards, and then it was a new round.  They all behaved very well, and most of them really understood how the game worked and played well together.  Miss Joyce even let us all play the game a little longer since they were behaving so well.  After we played, I worked with Autumn.  She is in 4^th grade, and we worked out of her work book.  She was doing pretty well, but at times she would say something like, “I don’t get it!  I’m never going to get it!” or, “It’s too hard!  I don’t want to do anymore!”  We were able to work through her problems and still got a lot done, but it really showed to me that when it came to homework she had a very negative view and some self-esteem problems.  I had to be very patient and work with her to get her to understand her work, and once she got past the negativity, we were able to accomplish a lot.

This week I learned that sometimes with children, negotiating is an important tool.  It is with all ages of people, and it’s important to be truthful when negotiating.  I also learned that some children have self-esteem issues, and it’s important to be patient with them and to build them up.  It’s important with everyone, and it’s important to remember that everyone learns at a different pace.  It doesn’t mean that if you learn at a slower pace that you aren’t worth as much, just that you need to take the time with those people and those children to be sure that they really learn what is being taught. 

Blog # 3 During Service

The next time Clare and I went to the Lydia Home; 2 weeks had passed since we had last seen them.  Our spring break and their spring break were on different weeks, ours was the week before theirs.  When we went back, it was the week before Easter, so they had some activities during the week that we got to be involved in.  It was a fun week, and I began to build friendships with some of the children.

That Monday we came back was the 25^th of March.  When we got there, we were told by Miss Joyce that some volunteers were coming that day, and they were going to set up an Easter egg hunt for the kids.  The kids were very excited, but Miss Joyce made sure that they would still get work done that day.  Miss Joyce asked me to work with Keidryn, who I had worked with the previous time I was at Lydia Home.  His assignment was reading, and he just had to read for 20 minutes with someone.  Keidryn is only in first grade, so he’s still learning to read.  We picked a book that worked on words with an “a” vowel, and he did very well.  I had to be very patient with him, and be empathetic to how he was feeling.  We were able to get through the whole book, which was over 60 pages.  Keidryn was very excited about that and proud to get through it all.  After homework was finished, the volunteers took the kids into a separate room to decorate their Easter bags, and two volunteers and I hid the Easter eggs.  We had to be sure that the hiding places weren’t too difficult, since most of the children there are very young, but we had a great time helping prepare this fun activity for them.  The Easter egg hunt was a big hit, with each kid getting around 7 or 8 eggs.  All the eggs had numbers in them, and when your number was called, you got to go up and get a prize from a big grab bag.  The children were very cooperative and listened very well to the instructions.

The following Wednesday was the 27^th of March.  It was a pretty quiet day, and I helped Jonasai with her homework like I had the first day we went.  She did well, but the biggest thing for me that day was that he and her friend Doniella talked to me about school.  They told me all about their friends, and the people they don’t like at school.  They told me about all the in-groups and out-groups of their class, and they disclosed to me about the specific boys in their class they thought were cute.  Since I had gone there a couple times before this, when Clare and I came in everyone knew who we were and were happy to see us.  Jonasai especially always tried to work with me and felt comfortable talking to me.

What I learned from this week was that it’s important to be patient and empathetic with kids.  Especially the younger ones who are still learning basic things like reading, writing, and math.  I also was reminded how in-groups and out-groups are present in all areas of life.  Even in kids that are in grade school.  Also, I learned that kids in grade school need to be able to disclose things to friends and family and people they look up to.  Even though their issues may not be the same as someone my age, they are still just as important.

Blog # 2 During Service

The first week Clare and I went to volunteer at the Lydia Home was definitely a new experience for me.  Since I’m the youngest in my family, I haven’t spent that much time around children, so I was quite nervous.  We had met with the director of the home, Miss Joyce, before.  She was very welcoming and helped explain what we were supposed to do.  Our job as volunteers was to play with the children during play time, and to also help them with their homework if they had any, and if they didn’t we worked with them out of a work book provided by the center. 

On the first day, we were greeted by a group of children, probably somewhere between 10 and 15.  They were all very welcoming, and some were as young as Kindergarteners, and others were as old as fifth graders.  The day was Monday, March 4, and we got there just as they were ending play time and starting to work with Awana, which is a church group that goes to the Lydia Home once or twice a week to teach the children about the bible and about God.  They were working out of their work books, reciting versus and looking up passages to answer questions about.  Clare and I teamed up to work with a fifth grade girl named Jonasai.  She had to help us understand how to work out of the books with her so that we could clear her to go on to the next page.  A lot of it has to do with reciting, which is related to remembering.  Reciting helps them to remember the versus so that they are able to understand what they’re reading about and apply it to their life.  I continued to help Jonasai with her homework that day, and sometimes we had some conflicts about what they answers were and the way in which she was doing her problems.  She had long division, and I noticed that she did an answer incorrectly and told her to look it over again.  She responded that she was doing the problem the way she was taught, and only got confused when I tried to explain it to her.  We eventually just moved on, because the conflict wasn’t that important to either of us and we were having trouble communicating and understanding each other’s different perspectives. 

That following Wednesday, we got there and Miss Joyce was very busy, so as soon as we got there the children were running wild.  Clare and I tried to persuade some of them to get started, but they didn’t want to and continued to misbehave.  When Miss Joyce came into the room, she was very upset and disappointed in the students.  She gave them a lecture about responsibility and listening, and that they should be responsible enough to know that it’s time to stop playing and start working on their homework.  Before she came into the room, the children had only been hearing but not really listening, and if they had been listening, it was only mindlessly listening and not really thinking about what they’re hearing.  Once Miss Joyce came in, they started to mindfully listen because they respect her.  After they calmed down, I work with a little boy named Keidryn.  He had a math worksheet that he had to finish before he could go and play with the other kids.  Miss Joyce put him in a separate class room away from the other kids.  This was a way to avoid all types of noise that could distract him and keep him focused.  I was able to work with him and keep him on track until he finished the worksheet, and he went to play with the other kids before we left.

With these things that I learned, in the future when working with kids, I know that I need to be understanding to the way and rate that they learn, and I also need to be sure that I communicate to them in a way that they are able to understand and know that I’m there to offer help.  The other thing is that with small children especially, it is important to try and eliminate all noise that could be distracting and keep them on track and focused on the task at hand. 

Pre-Service Blog

1. What are your hopes for the service-learning project?
I hope to learn more about interacting with children and getting to be more comfortable around them.  I'm the youngest in my family, so I haven't spent a lot of time with really young children.  I hope to learn all of their different needs and wants, and also learn creative ways to fulfill them.  I hope to learn how to communicate effectively with children, since communicating with children can be very different than communicating with other college students, teachers, and friends my age.  I also want to do whatever I can to help those kids who have had a tougher life than I have and need someone to care for them.  I hope to be a good role-model and inspire these kids to go on to college.
2. What are your assumptions about your service-learning site?
My assumptions are that most of the kids are very young, and have some different needs than other children since they perhaps have had more problems and issues at a much younger age than most.  I assume, since it is an after school facility, that some kids in school might be struggling and will need assistance on homework. 
3.What do you already know or assume about the work they do?
I assume they help kids with homework and also provide fun activities for children there who aren't in school or are very young.  I also know that they help with Bible teaching as well. 
4. What do you know or assume about the population they serve?
I assume they serve kids whose parents have to work long shifts or multiple jobs to support their families, so these kids may be less fortunate than I was growing up.  I know though that kids like to play and have fun, and that they also have homework that some may struggle with. 
5. What connections/interests/passions do you have for this site or the population it serves?
I like being around kids, but I hope to become more comfortable around them as well.  I plan to someday be a nurse, and the area of pediatrics has always been one of the most interesting to me.  I also plan to have a family some day, and so interacting with children now will hopefully make me a better mother in the future. 

My service community

This semester, I look forward to helping the community of children at a local after-school program.