Week 7

           This was a great week for me at Starke! I have finally figured out how to work with and manage our behaviorally difficult student. I have written about this student in previous posts, but he has many behavioral problems due to his rough past. He only wants to do what he wants to do and when he is asked to do something else or is corrected (behaviorally and academically) he overreacts by verbally and physically acting out. He also will get physical with other children if they do something that provokes him or something that he just does not like.

The teachers have struggled with managing his behavior and for many weeks I did not know how to even approach the situation. As I have gotten more comfortable in the classroom I have begun to step in more to help discipline students. I have noticed that this student tends to act out when there are big transitions in the day. These usually are when we get back to the classroom from breakfast, outside play, lunch, and during rest time. He has a hard time refocusing to do work or sit still and pay attention to the teachers during these times. He often will go off into another part of the classroom and wander or explore areas that the students are not supposed to go into (the teacher’s desk and around the computers). The teachers have gotten to the point in the program where they don’t know what to do anymore and are tired of having to deal with him not listening. I have tried to step in before and failed. He would not listen to me or would become more aggressive. However, I finally have figured out how to get through to him. I have to first give him a small consequence (losing 5 minutes of recess) and then if he still is not doing what he was asked to do he needs a big consequence (losing all of recess). Usually he still does not respond well so I tell him he has 1 minute to make his choice (losing recess or doing his work). He usually takes the full minute but then he will go do his work and stop disturbing the class. When he listened to me the first time it was a mini-victory that made my day. I felt like I was one step closer to being a real teacher.

This summer has taught me so much about myself, being a leader, and about teaching. I am so excited about student teaching in the fall now. I feel like I am able to manage a classroom and am ready for the challenges that teaching will bring. I can’t wait for school to start in just a few weeks!

Week 6

            This week the high school campers were at Starke on Monday and Tuesday.  Earlier in the summer Sarah-Michelle and I discussed possible projects with the vice principal for the campers to do while they spent their time at Starke. We ended up deciding on fixing up the grade-level garden boxes that the school has. Throughout the summer these little gardens became a little neglected and the weeds had grown very large very quickly. This resulted in some of the gardens looking like mini jungles. Our job was to weed all of the gardens and then plant flowers in the empty garden boxes.

            The first afternoon was really hot and we felt so bad for the campers out in the sun weeding. Unfortunately Sarah-Michelle and I were in school clothes and couldn’t really help them much so we tried to give them a lot time playing with the kids inside. However, on the second day we brought clothes to change into and were able to help the campers finish weeding the gardens. The gardens looked amazing compared to what they looked like before. After the gardens were all cleaned up we had some of the kids come out with us and plant the flowers. It was great to see the campers working one-on-one with the kids- they all had so much fun!

            This project was really important for the school and everyone at the school was so happy with the results! The garden gives the students something to care about and nurture. The students at Starke are growing up in very rough homes and don’t have a lot to care for. These gardens are a source of pride for the students. It will be great for the students to see that the gardens are still in good condition when they come back to school in a few weeks.

            The campers ended up really enjoying volunteering at Starke and working with the kids. We were a little nervous about how they would react to how the teachers interact with the students. At first it may seem like the teachers are really strict or even mean and yell at the kids all of the time. However, due to the students’ backgrounds, they thrive in a classroom of structure. They know that the teachers care about them when they are stricter. The students need to be in an environment like this. Of course the teachers also show affection towards the students and are nurturing towards them. This was a difficult concept for the campers to understand, but by the end of the week I think they were finally starting to understand.

            It was great being able to share my service site with the campers. I love talking about Starke and sharing stories so being able to show other people my site and give them the opportunity to interact with my students was a great opportunity!

The end of Siena

Well it appears that my time at Siena College with all the people I met there has come to an end. We ended our camp with the annual open house. People came to see what we had been doing with the teens and the mayor even came by. She declared it (insert name of our camp) day. So that was pretty cool. We had our last class which was basically just a picture sharing shindig. We used my laptop for the whole thing. The whole week was basically prep for the open house. Fatmata practiced her Garden tours and got them down pat. Everyone was rehearsing their stuff so they would be ready for the big day. Every morning that week I was working in the ACE office to get more hours.  Then I would go my site and do prep. On the day of I basically ran our vegetable stand. People bought quite  a few veggies  and even some bouquets. There was a bakesale happening too so I got some tasty baked goods. The day after the open house was the last day of the camp. We did a lot of debriefing. Fatmata and I took down signs and I finally got to see the movie that the film group made. As expected, it had nothing to do with the history of the site. But it was still good. Overall I'd say I had a good time in NY.

Week 6

So, before I talk about this week, there are some things that I didn’t mention last week that I would like to mention this week. About how organized the “creche” is: I was simply in awe! There is a group of volunteer doctors who work there. They kind of rotate by week. They also have various types of doctors, such as pediatricians, nutritionists, dentists, psychologists, etc.

Every morning, we had to do a “vistoria”, which is sort of like a check-up to check if the child had any bruises or any rashes, etc. This past week, one of the little girls had a long scratch one her stomach – turns out her sister had fought with her. Just a little reminder, she is two years old. 2.

Shifting gears, one thing that really impressed me was how the children are all under the same schedule. From 0 to 6, the whole “creche” does the same thing at the same time. For example, we put them to sleep at around 11:30~12. There are no children awake past that. In the whole creche. It’s really fascinating to see how they got that scheme going on.

One other thing that I thought was amazing was that the “creche” provides six meals to the children when they are having classes, and four when they are on vacations (which was this time of the year). So it’s breakfast, snack, lunch and dinner.

In the morning, after the snack, they are required to drink water, otherwise they are not allowed to play. I find this extremely good, because I saw how these children were struggling to drink the water. Like, as if it were a burden to drink the water. After lunch, they drink juice, and after dinner they drink water again. They can only get up after they finish the juice/water.

Also, one thing that caught my attention was the fact that Suzana and Nilda were the ones to teach many of these children how to use the toilet and ask to use it. As I mentioned before, some children come with their diapers from the night before, which is outrageous! Some of the children still had trouble in how use the bathroom, but they really learn fast!

The creche serves six “periferias”, which are poor neighborhoods. People who live or work there are allowed to leave their kids. The only problem is that there is a waiting list, since the place can only hold 180 children.

Since they don’t have any profit whatsoever, I did a lot of fundraising. I raised about R$ 300 (approximately $140), and I got what we needed the most, which was diapers. In the end of my work, I was able to donate  from 800-1000 diapers! It was awesome, since they tons of diapers a day, and they can only rely on donations!

(these were the cutest diapers I've ever seen lolol)

On the next post I will tell you guys about my last day and this really special kid I met, Guilherme J

Andrea

Final YMCA SOS Entry- Week 7

Hello Bonners! It's so hard to believe that this is my 7th and final blog post! I officially reached 280 on my 6th week, but I love the camp so much that I decided to continue going until I return to Stetson! This week was a little different than the usual schedule, because we had several guest speakers come in and talk to the kids! We had the local bus service for Pinellas county (PSTA) talk to the campers about bus safety and make them aware of the bus service provided for the county. On Tuesday, our second guest speaker was a Pinellas county dermatologist that spoke to the children about always using sunscreen when going outdoors and how to avoid skin diseases. Our third guest speaker was from the Tarpon Springs Aquarium and he brought in a large snake and even a baby crocodile! The kids really loved that one! For our Wednesday field trip, the kids got to go see a baseball team known as the Threshers play at Bright House Field in Clearwater! It was a hot one, but they had fun! Then on Friday we had a cowboy/cowgirl dress up day for the kids which they had a lot of fun with! After all of the main events, they continued with their usual schedule which consisted of swimming, crafts, and indoor/outdoor games. It makes me so sad that summer camp is coming to an end because these kids have really been a light in my life for almost 10 weeks and I can't believe how much they have looked up to me and considered me as a role model to them. Summer camp at the Y is definitely an experience I won't forget and there's no doubt that I will most likely make this my SOS for the summer of 2015!
Hope everyone else enjoyed their service sites as much as I did! See you all in a few weeks! :)

Karaoke!

Probably the highlight of this week was spending some quality time with my coworkers outside of the Boys and Girls Club!  Sarah, Scott and Lauren are all avid Glee fans and we have all been talking about the idea of having a Glee karaoke night for quite a while.  And this week it happened!  We all got together after work on Tuesday and went to Sarah’s house, ordered a pizza, watched an episode and then jammed for hours into the night!

This is just another aspect of my Summer of Service and my community engagement in general that I did not expect.  I anticipated becoming close with the kids and building relationships with them, but I never really thought about building friendships with the other counselors as well.  And those friendships are probably the strongest ones I have made throughout the entire summer!  I just get along with this staff really well, including our supervisor, and we all plan to do something together again next week before we finish up our term.

Also, Scott and I are going head-to-head against Lauren at the Talent Show next Friday.  It will be on my last afternoon at the Boys and Girls Club and we were going hardcore to seal this victory.  A bunch of the kids are participating too, and Tenicia even asked me to rap the Juicy J. section of Katy Perry’s Dark Horse.  Scott and I have written a very impressive 13 song medley composed of favorites amongst the kids.  The rules state that the kids will decide the winner amongst the participating adults, and the adults will decide the winner amongst the participating kids, so we have to appeal to our audience!  Other talent show acts include Somewhere Over the Rainbow, Problem, Roar, Let it Go, and some dancing.  I am very pumped.

Thankfully I’ve gotten the chance to move around from the arts and crafts station for a little while, being assigned to help run sports usually once or twice a week.  Although I love arts and crafts and the interest level in it has been growing rapidly, it just requires a lot of extra set-up and clean-up time which can be frustrating.  And I feel like the kids are continuing to test their limits this week, especially since a groundskeeper at the lake we go to has decided to “join the staff” and run activities as a counselor.  He has not training, no plans, no respect for the curriculum we have set aside, and just takes a couple kids to do his own activity that is sometimes dangerous.  He’s teaching 7-year-olds how to throw cards at each other and balance bats and chairs on their heads.  It’s ridiculous sometimes!

It’s absolutely all worthwhile though and I cannot get enough of some of these kids.  Ak’tavia, Camari, Cincear, Kit Kat, Donavan – they are all such amazing kids that really make me realize how much of an impact I want to have with the Community Partnership for Children when I get back to Florida.  Working with kids and spending a lot of time with them can yield some really incredible experiences and I appreciate it every day.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Summer camp is an absolute blast!  I’m going to figure out how to post pictures on here because I’ve got a ton and I feel like I have a much better understanding of other’s people’s Summers of Service because they post pictures.  Expect some pics.

I apologize in advance that this blog may be a little more negative than usual, but continue to keep in mind that I am still loving camp and these kids are sooo much fun and soooo cute.

Things are starting to change a little as everyone (kids and staff) get more comfortable.  The kids seem to be testing their limits a little bit more, especially those in my group, the Blue Barricudas.  Since they’re the youngest, I understand why they can be more difficult with listening and paying attention, but some are just proving to be troublesome children.  Trevon and James, in particular, are very content with disobeying counselor directions and will often run as far from where we want them to be as possible.  It’s manageable, but strenuous work to keep up with them and keep them safe.  On the older side, the kids in the Red Jaguar group are at a pre-teen age where they want to be independent and show how cool it is to not listen.  The oldest camper, Raymond, was announced to be a Counselor-in-Training on the first day, but has since lost that opportunity as he often disobeys and does not set a good example for the other children.

There have also been a few issues on the staff side.  One full-time staff member named Porsha has been clearly not pulling her weight around camp and has been causing some discourse amongst the employees.  She even left during a camp day to go take a nap instead of running an activity!  And although many of the staff complained to our supervisor about her lack of engagement, she never seemed to receive much repercussion.  However, at the end of this week, she was fired from the staff.  Although we all felt bad for her, it was a nice change as it unified the counselors again.  Another part-time staff member named Maurice was also let go this week, and it does make us a little worried about being understaffed, but we have Summer Youth Employment Workers and regular volunteers as well to help ease the loss.

On a lighter note, this week’s theme at camp was “International Week”!  To celebrate this, Thursday and Friday arts and crafts activities were dedicated to making a piñata filled with five bags of candy!  The kids loved making it and it was probably their favorite activity from the whole week!

Also, before I forget, Sarah and I stayed behind from going up to the camp on Wednesday of this week to work on a Boys and Girls Club Survival Guide of useful information for next year’s Summer Service Scholars.  It was sad to lose a day at the camp, but it was a nice change of pace.  Only 2 weeks left!