Wrapping Up Part 1

Well, we're in our last week before Christmas break so I figured I would write an update of what's been going on lately. Since I've been slacking, there's a lot...

In-class support: My teacher came back from maternity leave last week. Things were really crazy with the sub so I'm excited she's back. My role changed drastically when Mrs. Lopez left because of the chaos in the classroom. Technically, I'm only in the class for support in reading and math. It transformed into behavior management. Well, attempted behavior management. I did what I could but the class was out of control. We went on a field trip to see "Where the Wild Things Are" which ended in the bus driver reporting one of the students to the Board of Education. I'm very thankful to have their regular teacher back.

After school: Our starfish programs are going as well as my behavior management techniques in class. Ok... not quite that bad. But it's been rough. I thin I've written this out before but the groups are broken up as follows: 4&5th grade boys (Group 5), 6th graders (Group 6), and 4th&5th grade girls (Group 4). After school for 5th grade and younger is called Starfish and 6th grade and above is Heroes. Generally, teams run either Starfish or Heroes, not both; but because we are in an outside organization, we are running it with the 6th graders upon the requeset of the Riis Staff. We've figured out that splitting the boys into smaller groups during the main activity combined with bribing them with free time is the best way to get them to behave. Unfortunately, we're still looking for material they find interesting enough to really pay attention too. Group 6 is our biggest challenge. After being split up for 4 years, Group 6 is the first year it goes back to co-ed. I know it's a strange age and I don't think being together makes it much easier but it's so interesting how much the girls change from Group 4 to Group 6. Our Group 4 still loves Starfish and gets into everything we do. They even came up with a remix to one of the dance moves we do. Group 6... it's hard to get them to pay attention for more than 30 seconds at a time. Even when we're doing activities they seem to like, there are certain students who refuse to fully participate. It's a struggle, but I've talked to a lot of other City Year people and they came up with some good ideas that we'll be trying in the new year.

Events: I don't think I've said anything about this yet. Ana and I were assigned to the events team. There are different roles for teams including: events, outreach, learning coordinator, resource and communication, and service team. Outreach is just like it sounds. Jason and Kate will be visiting schools, making phone calls or doing other events to recruit future City Year members. Learning Coordinators go over our lesson plans, take attendance and complete other tasks to make sure our lessons are following guidelines set by City Year. Resource and communication is left up to Jay who has done an amazing job in-kinding (or getting donations). He makes a newsletter to send to our sponsors as well. The service team will be creating service projects for us in our school. Their first idea was to do something with the playground. As it stands, it is a large fenced in area of blacktop. There is literally nothing else to it. After talking wtih our assistant principal, it looks like we may be able to paint some games or provide something this year. They are planning on redoing the playground sometime in the near future. So... as for events. Ana and I are taking care of that part. So far, we planned a teacher appreciation lunch and a canned food drive. Both events went better than planned. We had almost all of our food donated by local businesses like Costco, Subway and a bakery. The kids brought in over 750 cans of food for the food drive which was GREAT! They were so generous. We recorded the number of cans per class to determine a winner and ended up making gingerbread houses with a 6th grade class. It went so well and the kids loved it. If it wasn't illegal to post pictures of kids, I would... but it's illegal. We're kicking off next year with a penny drive, that they do annually, as well as a huge cultural festival.

Lunch clubs: I don't think I've talked about this either. During lunch a different club meets everyday. Right now, some of us are running clubs like, poetry, step/dance, performance, and board games. It's just a brief period of time since they also have to eat during this period but the kids enjoy it nonetheless. Next year, we're going to start a sports club of some sort. I'm really excited for this because I think some of the students will be really excited. Right now, the clubs are fun but many of the students are dropping out so they can spend more time with their friends. The limited amount of time and proper planning (there's no time!) means that the clubs are dwindling a bit. But sports, especially basketball, are easy to improvise and I know the kids will really want to join this club.

That's it for now. We have two days of work this week and then Christmas break begins! I'll be back in Michigan from Christmas Day until January 2nd so hopefully I'll see everyone! If not, Happy Holidays!

New York CARES!

So a while ago I was walking and saw a poster for an organization called New York Cares. It's a volunteer organization that links events or other organizations with people who want to volunteer. Overall, there are over 48,000 people who volunteer through this program. It's such an easy concept but so ingenious at the same time. I've volunteered for a couple of events through them. The first was with a group that played with developmentally delayed children for 2 hours so their parents could take a break or get other errands done. I played with an 8 year-old boy who ran around the gym for the last hour. We would run a lap around, weaving in and out of other kids playing basketball or bowling. We would rest against the wall and he would say, "Only 62 more."
"Oh man, I don't know if I can do it." "You can do it, Nicole. I believe in you." He was great.

A couple weeks ago, my roommate Ami and I did a larger event where kids from a homeless shelter made t-shirts for kids in the Congo. Besides the t-shirts, there were general arts and crafts, a writing station, a necklace/bracelet station and a photo booth. They had a dj and pizza and drinks and we took random dance breaks in which everyone was supposed to get up and dance. It was a really cool event that took place right in Manhattan in this beautiful ballroom. A few celebrities came, including Tate Donovan (who was on the O.C. and now on Damages on Abc(?)), Kyle Massey and his brother (they are on Disney Channel and Nickelodeon) and Corbin Bleu (the curly headed kid from High School Musical). The kids went crazy for the Disney Channel stars and it was really cool to see them enjoy the event.

I'm sure I'll do other projects in the future because it's such an awesome way to get involved.