EXP201.Davi.Fall05

Hello world, my first day

Wow!  My first day of service learning was not exactly what I expected.  I assumed that we would be working in a classroom setting and the children would be enthusiastic about learning.  Unfortunelty, my predictions were false.  I did my service at the Chesterbrook afterschool program located in the Chesterbrook housing projects.  I had no idea that Waltham, Ma, home of Bentley college, contained low income housing.  I was shocked when I arrived at the location, expecting it to be much luxurious and comfortable.  Instead, we were located in a building with two rooms; a recreation room and a computer room.  The kids ranged in all ages from first graders to high school freshman.  The children were loud, excited, enthusiactic, but at times unwilling to listen and coporate.  One difficult aspect of the experience was that children were constantly running in and out of the building, without anyone surpurvising them.  When it came time to perform the activity most of the children just wanted to go outside and play with their friends.  However, after extreme patience from the project manager Eddy, we finally got the children settled down.  Our objective was to break into small groups and make the largest possible tower out of twenty five straws.  My group won, but not everyone was willing to partake in the experiece.  One particular child, who was a male, refused to work in group of all girls.  He ended up quitting and returning to his homework.  When the project ended, we also had a difficult time recapping the objective of the lesson.  Most of the children wanted to go back outside and enjoy the weekend.  However, this was a good experience and I hope it goes better next time.

My experience with the kids

This Tuesday I was signed up for the service learning program at the elementary school. My job was to assist a fourth grade gym class. Earlier that day I had gone to the gym. When I got back from the gym I had a half hour before I had to be at Morrison for the program, so I decided to get some reading done for my government class. While reading I fell asleep. I woke up at exactly 1:45. I was supposed to be a Morrison at 1:30. I began to panic thinking I had missed it. I called Shaun’s cell phone number and he said he would send someone right over. I felt horrible. It was my first day and I had already messed up. We finally got there 15 min later than we expected. The 4^th class had already finished stretching, so we were up. Someone explained what we were going to do that day, and then split the kids up into groups of 5 or 6. Every group picked a corner, and then the assistants were to pick a group. My group was 4 girls and 2 boys. They were really cooperative when I was explaining the game to them. They thought up great strategies and worked well together. There was one red headed girl who was the leader, not because the kids wanted her to be, but because she was loud and had to be in control. She was annoying at times because she would not give the other kids a chance to speak their mind. When the kids wanted to do something she had not thought of, she would not participate. At the end of the game we had to have a group discussion. The red headed girl decided she did not want to talk about the game and made a witty comment, “um I don’t want to talk about this so… the game was great… are we done now?” I can tell already she is going to be my problem student. Other than that, the experience was great and I enjoyed the time with the kids.

My experience with the kids

This Tuesday I was signed up for the service learning program at the elementary school. My job was to assist a fourth grade gym class. Earlier that day I had gone to the gym. When I got back from the gym I had a half hour before I had to be at Morrison for the program, so I decided to get some reading done for my government class. While reading I fell asleep. I woke up at exactly 1:45. I was supposed to be a Morrison at 1:30. I began to panic thinking I had missed it. I called Shaun’s cell phone number and he said he would send someone right over. I felt horrible. It was my first day and I had already messed up. We finally got there 15 min later than we expected. The 4^th class had already finished stretching, so we were up. Someone explained what we were going to do that day, and then split the kids up into groups of 5 or 6. Every group picked a corner, and then the assistants were to pick a group. My group was 4 girls and 2 boys. They were really cooperative when I was explaining the game to them. They thought up great strategies and worked well together. There was one red headed girl who was the leader, not because the kids wanted her to be, but because she was loud and had to be in control. She was annoying at times because she would not give the other kids a chance to speak their mind. When the kids wanted to do something she had not thought of, she would not participate. At the end of the game we had to have a group discussion. The red headed girl decided she did not want to talk about the game and made a witty comment, “um I don’t want to talk about this so… the game was great… are we done now?” I can tell already she is going to be my problem student. Other than that, the experience was great and I enjoyed the time with the kids.

My first day

My first day with the kids was really something. When we were on our way to the school there was a tree on the road blocking the way, one of the guys that was on my team had to get out of the car to move the thing.

I was working with 4th graders and they were all really excited to be there. I had four kids on my team. The first thing that i did with my team was i took them i got very serious and i told them i was going to ask them the most serious question that anybody would ever ask them. They got silent and i think they got a bit scared, adn so i looked at them and i said "what is your favorite icecream?" They all laughed and relaxed and answered the question.

We were playing a game called lava walk and they didnt work very well together at first. They were all talking at once and they weren't listening to each other. I tried to get them to listen but they were a bit difficult. When they first started the game they struggled. I didnt give them any help i just said they needed to work as a team. After a bit they started working together and they almost won the game but one of the kids touched the floor so they had to start all over and another team won.

Ny team didn't complete the task, But i think they were working really well together. At the end of the day however when it was obvious that they were going to lose they all quit and i felt like they were falling to the ground on purpose just to get a laugh. The gym teacher also noticed this and called one of the kids over and asked him if he was doing it on purpose, i felt bad that the kid was singled out like that. When we were having the discussions they were all saying they were frustrated and that they needed to work better as a team.

Overall i had a good time. I think i got a good set of kids and i hope that the rest of the nine wekks are as fun as it was today.

-Jessica R

thoughts on the film

I believe that the people in both the films that cry and get annoyed the most are the ones that actually know what is saying becasue they are the ones that use that type of language.  When she says these things to them they imagine how they feel and how the person must feel when they probably used it against them.  I think they do not cry because they are scared or mad.  They cry because they are annoyed by themselves.  The person they see and hear is themselves saying these things and when they think about it.  Maybe people, images or suffering they started without any real reason, just to harm, is all they can think about.  the individuals that cry are the true real racist people and they can think only of cring to protect themselves. 

the first day

I just got back back from fitzgerald School and the session was great.  some of the students had done 2+2=5 in fourth grade so a couple know what we were doing.  So we got to the school and we hear the principal say the announcements over the intercom.  it was like going back to my elementery school all of the people knew why we were there and they just told us to sign in and go to the class.  The class was big but it was good the students in most cases did have roles but they were not developed YET. I got a group of four girls and one boy.  The girls were all different i had like the mulitcultural group every person was different.( it reminded me of ALANA).  Then the game was described and immediatly two girls were like we shoul do this and that and basically set the rules for the game from the begginning.  So i was like so does evreybody have any suggestions and then they all started saying different thing so i being the "teacher" said if you have different ideas and suggestions why do you not put them all together and get a strategy that would work.  So they all lokked but i knew it did not sink in. 

Their first plan was to assign numbers to the eveybody one person starting with 1 and going in a circle.  not that good Maybe the first 10 number that happens then it all goes down hill from there. 

The first trial!  So they did do good but they did not complete the whole 50 numbers.  So we had a discussion of what went wrong.  They said we had to start over six times each time getting to 20 and the back.  "what happened"  They said everybody was going for the same number.

Time= not done six DQ

The second Trial! They decided that they were going to say.  But they were yelling. the number like crazy.that worked.

Time 2 minutes

The third trial!  This was the most successful but i did not know what they did and they do not know what they did.  They started by everybody getting the assigned number until 10.  then they were like ok look for the number and then say i am going to get it.  that was until 25. Then they could not find 30.  And me being the "teacher" just said calm down and look for it they found it.  OK then we were at the point that we needed two numbers 49 and 50.  So i was like calm down breathe and then you will find it..........  They did!!!

The time= one minute and fifteen seconds WOW!!!

Then i told them you know what happened when we did not finish right they were like we we pissed. So what did you do to beat te time every time.   Their response was " we worked as a team"  that was all.

Until next week Peace Edison

I Can't Wait

I can't wait to go to my Service Learning experience. I can't wait to see the people that gets put in my group. After hearing about all of the people that got suck with kids that are loud and not willing to participate just makes me want to go even more. If I could go every single day I think that i probably would. This sounds like so much fun. MAN! I JUST CAN'T WAIT!

My kids!

I was very excited this afternoon on the way to the Fitzgerald school. I am sure the people who were with me can vouch for that. When we finally get to the “gym” lacking 2 people all the children looked excited. I quickly found out that everyone had experience 2+2=5 even the one girl who had been at another participating school the year before.

          We broke up into four groups. I waited for everyone to pick a group so as not to have any decision in the group I took. I ended up with a group that I think will gel over time but not quickly.

          I sat down with five excited fifth graders. The first thing that was said to me by Mr. Mathematical was; “so there are two people missing and only four groups today so that means one person is going to get dumped from each team.”

          The other four looked worried as if they were going to be the one kicked off the team, even the girl who interrupted moments earlier stating that she wanted to be on her friend’s team.

          Moving on to the interesting part, at the end when we sat in a circle Miss Interrupt clearly stated her dislike of the “game.” Everyone else agreed. When I asked them why they did not like it, Miss Quiet said I think we did not like it because we lost not because it was not fun. Everyone else agreed except for Miss Interrupt.

          Miss Interrupt is going to be the only challenge in the group, she is that girl that everyone has is their class that thinks she’s all that but no one really likes but everyone does not want to be on her bad side because she will attempt to turn everyone against you. As for the rest of the introductions there is a Mr. Smarts and a Miss timid.

Chris LoDolce

The Honorable 2+2=5

     So far I am really looking forward to going to my service learning site at Chesterbrook.  When I went to sign my form, the professors asked  me which service learning program I was doing.  I replied and said that I was doing the 2 + 2 = 5 program and instantly they all became excited.  They all started to tell me of all of the great things they have heard about the program.  It seems that Scott has done a really good job in designing the program.  After hearing everyone's comments I now feel honored to be a part of this dynamic experience.  I hope that many of you will feel the same way soon.  We will continue to discuss our experiences and make interesting observations along the way.  This is definately something to look forward to this semester.

Stressed Out

  There are some parts of college that i find wonderful. Most of the days i have my afternoons off. I have a lot time off and i find myself doing nothing during that time. the problem with this is that i have a lot of work to do and i end up doing them the night before they're do. I have readings to do, papers to write, and research to do. I'm also having a hard time in math. yet every time i have an afternoon off i do nothing until the night before the assignment is do. I'm trying really hard to change this horrible behavior before mid terms rolls around and i fail out of everything.