Today was our first day in P.S. 111! It was great! We walked around the school and then saw our office, which is an old locker room. It's a great space and we have our own bathroom. It may seem small but we have a secure place to keep our things and work on lesson plans for the programs we'll be running. Other teams have a closet sized space for their office. After getting the tour we observed a couple classrooms. I watched kindergarten, second grade and a fifth grade room. We didn't interact with them much until 5th grade when Ana and I helped with an experiment. A lot of students said hi to us in the hallways and every time we walked by a classroom we'd hear: "There's City Year!" It was really great to hear the excitement in their voices.
We sat in on their lunch period and I hung out with a group of 3rd graders. One girl talked for 5 minutes straight but they were all really excited and had a lot of questions. She latched onto my arm and told me she didn't want me to leave when they were going out for recess. The group was really diverse, as is the school. The one boy at the table was from Ecuador, one girl from somewhere in Indonesia, and another girl from Bangladesh. They were quite entertaining and it's great to see such diversity. I'm sure they'll have great stories. In the 2nd grade classroom a boy read a composition in front of the class and the teacher congratulated him. She said he had come from Mexico last year and couldn't speak any English when he first arrived. It's already inspiring.
It was something of a realty check being in the school, though. I know I've been sheltered but it really surprised me that a recurring fascination was my blond hair. A 5th grader even felt it and asked why it felt so soft. I knew that I would stick out a little bit because I'm white but I didn't realize how my blond hair would be such an attraction as well.
I can tell that I'm going to have a lot of stories throughout the year just after being there one day. The kids were hilarious. Sadly, two of the teachers we observed were... rough. They were quite short with the kids, even a little sarcastic. But the 5th grade classroom was observed was great. The kids were really into the science experiment and the teacher had strict, but fair, expectations of them. I realize that everything is different when there is an observer in the classroom so we'll see how the year lays out. It was a great first day though!
We are going back to the school tomorrow morning for more observation and then we'll be at the Basic Training Retreat in New Jersey Wednesday through Friday. It should be fun, an experience that will take me back to Camp Concordia, I'm sure. Then, the following week we'll continue observations and have our Opening Day Ceremony. Full-blown school is coming soon!
Monday, September 21, 2009
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
The Power of the Uniform
Tonight, I had one of those experiences that I'll probably remember for the rest of my life. For me, it's usually the simple things that stick with me. There are a few stories from Beaners, an influential teacher, and a couple of memorable moments that I will probably always remember. (If you're ever wondering what they are, ask me. I love talking about them because they are probably the most influential events in my life.)
It all starts with trying to get a library card from the New York Public Library. If New York City is a Zoo, the library would be the monkey exhibit. I had gotten out of training and thought I would quickly walk down to the library. One of the rules in City Year is that you're not supposed to jay walk when you're wearing your uniform. Well, the library was about 25 blocks from training and stopping at almost every street corner mean that the walk was not quick. Anyway, I made it into the line to get my library card. As it turns out, I let one person go ahead of me and got cut in line by another woman. It took 30 minutes of standing in line to get to the desk and when I got there, the man said his desk was closing. He gave me the form and told me to meet him at the other desk. By the time I finished filling it out, everyone had gotten ahead of me again. I decided to fill out the application online.
Here's the real story (finally!). =)
I got off the subway at our station and passed a man with a cane about to go up the stairs. He looked pretty unsteady and was carrying a bag in one hand. I asked if I could carry his bag up the stairs for him. He obliged and we made the 20 minute trek up the stairs. Robert talked to me the whole way up. I learned that he was in the service for 15 years and served during the Cold War. Well, we got to the top of the stairs where there's a fruit stand maybe 5 yards away. Unfortunately, for this man, that is quite a distance. He asked if I could buy him some fruit and told me to pick something out for myself. The lady at the fruit stand knew him and gave me a free banana for helping him.
I then accompanied him across the street to a convenience store to buy the paper. He then insisted on buying me a cup of tea at the donut store on the corner. When we first sat down, another man came in off the street and approached me, saying that he had heard of City Year (I was still wearing my t-shirt) and he told me that he appreciated everything we were doing. But I sat with Robert for half an hour while we drank tea.
Luckily his residence was on the way back to my apartment so I carried his bags back for him (which took half an hour to walk one block). Robert lives and works in a Christian housing facility for people who would otherwise be homeless. He started living there after he returned from the Veterans Hospital. He was never homeless but lives there to help out with the day to day functions and oversight of the apartments.
All in all, the trip took over 2 hours but it was completely worth every minute I spent with him. When we got back to his apartment, we stopped to pray. He thanked God for me and prayed that He would keep me safe.
I apologize for this incredibly long story and I probably lost everyone after the first, boring paragraph. :) But this is exactly the type of impact I wanted to have when I came to New York. Fortunately, the community and its members are also having a huge impact on me as well. I'm going to learn a lot more than I initially imagined.
It all starts with trying to get a library card from the New York Public Library. If New York City is a Zoo, the library would be the monkey exhibit. I had gotten out of training and thought I would quickly walk down to the library. One of the rules in City Year is that you're not supposed to jay walk when you're wearing your uniform. Well, the library was about 25 blocks from training and stopping at almost every street corner mean that the walk was not quick. Anyway, I made it into the line to get my library card. As it turns out, I let one person go ahead of me and got cut in line by another woman. It took 30 minutes of standing in line to get to the desk and when I got there, the man said his desk was closing. He gave me the form and told me to meet him at the other desk. By the time I finished filling it out, everyone had gotten ahead of me again. I decided to fill out the application online.
Here's the real story (finally!). =)
I got off the subway at our station and passed a man with a cane about to go up the stairs. He looked pretty unsteady and was carrying a bag in one hand. I asked if I could carry his bag up the stairs for him. He obliged and we made the 20 minute trek up the stairs. Robert talked to me the whole way up. I learned that he was in the service for 15 years and served during the Cold War. Well, we got to the top of the stairs where there's a fruit stand maybe 5 yards away. Unfortunately, for this man, that is quite a distance. He asked if I could buy him some fruit and told me to pick something out for myself. The lady at the fruit stand knew him and gave me a free banana for helping him.
I then accompanied him across the street to a convenience store to buy the paper. He then insisted on buying me a cup of tea at the donut store on the corner. When we first sat down, another man came in off the street and approached me, saying that he had heard of City Year (I was still wearing my t-shirt) and he told me that he appreciated everything we were doing. But I sat with Robert for half an hour while we drank tea.
Luckily his residence was on the way back to my apartment so I carried his bags back for him (which took half an hour to walk one block). Robert lives and works in a Christian housing facility for people who would otherwise be homeless. He started living there after he returned from the Veterans Hospital. He was never homeless but lives there to help out with the day to day functions and oversight of the apartments.
All in all, the trip took over 2 hours but it was completely worth every minute I spent with him. When we got back to his apartment, we stopped to pray. He thanked God for me and prayed that He would keep me safe.
I apologize for this incredibly long story and I probably lost everyone after the first, boring paragraph. :) But this is exactly the type of impact I wanted to have when I came to New York. Fortunately, the community and its members are also having a huge impact on me as well. I'm going to learn a lot more than I initially imagined.
Saturday, September 5, 2009
First week of City Year!!
This past week was our first week of training. We'll be training for a month, hopefully to be fully integrated into the school by October. It's been really great so far, which I partially attribute to having a really fun group. We were divided into teams of around 10 people. It's similar to the way we'll be divided when we get into the schools. I ended up in the same group as my roommate, Ami, and we got pretty tight with our group. Next week we're reassigned to different groups to see how we interact with different people. It will be interesting to be with a different team but I like the emphasis they are putting on forming effective group dynamics. Other than that, there's been a lot of team building exercises and general training about the areas we'll be working in. For instance, we learned about Hunt's Point in the Bronx where four teams will be serving. Only 24% of middle school students meet city and state standards for math and only 26% meet the standards for reading. 84% of the students in the school district get free lunches. Although this is probably one of the worst neighborhoods that City Year is involved in, it's likely not much worse than Long Island City.
Overall, City Year has done a really good job at inspiring me. Some of the things that I initially thought were childish make perfect sense to me now. They use simple tools like one person raises their hand when the group is talking and slowly the rest of the group will raise theirs and stop talking. When I first saw it, it reminded me of summer camp in middle school. But with almost 400 people in one room, simple things like that help focus the group. The uniform was another thing that I was hesitant about. Then, they talked about how the kids, teachers, and community recognize the uniform and automatically assume positive things about City Year members. I think it will be a great feeling to walk into school the first day and have kids get excited to see me there, just based on the reputation of the organization.
Since I haven't taken any pictures in orientation, I'll post a few quotes instead. =)
"This world demands the qualities of youth: not a time of life but a state of mind, a temper of the will, a quality of imagination, a predominance of courage over timidity, of the appetite for adventure over the love of ease." - Robert Kennedy
"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others." - Marianne Williamson
Also, I'll post a few links to the youtube videos from City Year.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AiVKDXLlh9w&feature=channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1s1KJJ3Ir8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6baLf10vstQ&feature=channel
Overall, City Year has done a really good job at inspiring me. Some of the things that I initially thought were childish make perfect sense to me now. They use simple tools like one person raises their hand when the group is talking and slowly the rest of the group will raise theirs and stop talking. When I first saw it, it reminded me of summer camp in middle school. But with almost 400 people in one room, simple things like that help focus the group. The uniform was another thing that I was hesitant about. Then, they talked about how the kids, teachers, and community recognize the uniform and automatically assume positive things about City Year members. I think it will be a great feeling to walk into school the first day and have kids get excited to see me there, just based on the reputation of the organization.
Since I haven't taken any pictures in orientation, I'll post a few quotes instead. =)
"This world demands the qualities of youth: not a time of life but a state of mind, a temper of the will, a quality of imagination, a predominance of courage over timidity, of the appetite for adventure over the love of ease." - Robert Kennedy
"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others." - Marianne Williamson
Also, I'll post a few links to the youtube videos from City Year.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AiVKDXLlh9w&feature=channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1s1KJJ3Ir8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6baLf10vstQ&feature=channel
Coney Island
Ami and I took a trip to Coney Island one night. We went right around sunset so it was really pretty. I guess that this will be the last year for Coney Island. Next year (or sometime soon?) they'll be converting it into condos. It seems pretty sad to me because it's something of a New York landmark. Here's some pictures from the mini-trip.
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