March 2008 Archives

Weekly Project Journal- Week 13

1. Description. What happened in your project this week? What did you do? Experience?
This week the main thing I did involved teaching kids what to do in case of a fire and coordinating a coloring activity along with it which had a sheet of a man stop dropping and rolling. The other main event included a very rewarding activity which was started because of work that I did with the children prior. I have been working quite heavily with children on geography and teaching the children about other countries. My superiors and fellow co workers observed this and liked it and so they started formulating lesson plans that have the focus of teaching these children about other cultures which I think is great especially when this is done at the young age these kids are at which is from 3-6. Last Monday we taught the kids about Mexico, on Tuesday we taught the kids about Laos and more broadly Hmong culture, and on Wednesday the topic was South Africa. Every one of these sessions is started by teaching the kids where the country is on the globe (The globe was actually brought in when I mentioned that it would be a good idea) and then it is followed by a story which teaches the kids on the particular country that is on the globe. It makes me so happy that my co workers were able to help me incorporate this program into the curriculum. I think it will really benefit the children.

2. Interpretation. What did you learn from your project this week? About the project? About the issue? About yourself?

This week I learned the power of what an idea can do. I had an idea and it was implemented. The children love it and it benefits them and gives them great knowledge and it really gets at the heart of what Neighborhood House is trying to do which is to encourage cross cultural understanding which is not limited to dialogue between U.S. citizens and non U.S. citizens but is open to all cultural groups and though the program started by highlighting the culture of groups directly represented in the Neighborhood House community it is not constrained to that model. The goal of this form of lesson plan is to learn a wide variety of cultures and countries. To be sure the children learned about the Middle East this week and had a Camel project to complement it.
In short I learned about my ability to come up with an idea and implement it. I learned that one of the best ways to help children of disadvantaged economic situations is to help them with a simple educational model that children can valuably learn from and I learned that the issue of immigrant marginalization can be combated by simply caring about the intellectual future of children and having a small idea to back up that concern.

3. Evaluation. How would you evaluate your work on the project this week? What grade would you give yourself? Are you accomplishing the objectives of the project? Your personal objectives?

This week I give myself an A because I came up with a plan to help children become as knowledgeable as they can about world issues at their age and it worked. I have every reason to conclude that the lesson plan that I devised with the help of my co workers and superiors improved the knowledge of the children especially since the same children have come back the next week reciting everything they have learned. As I reach the last week of my service I am overjoyed that I have accomplished my personal objectives of helping, in some small way, to improve the lives of those immigrant children that I work with. I am also successfully accomplishing my goal of fighting immigrant marginalization by helping immigrant children learn about the cultures of each other and about the culture of others. Knowledge like this is crucial for children to work with people later in life especially in this increasingly globalized world.

Weekly Project Journal- Week 14

1. Description. What happened in your project this week? What did you do? Experience?

This week I worked with the kids on two art projects where the goal was to learn how to successfully work with several colors in a picture at a time and even to mix them. One of the particular projects we did involved putting paint globs in the middle of a paper lined up vertically and then folding the paper vertically through the middle and slowly smearing the paint. The result tended to be the creation of multi colored butterflies most often. The rest of the time I continued to work with the children on their geography and I read to them several books. I read some Dr. Seuss books which are good for kids to learn how to pronounce and spell words that look and sound similar to one another. I then read them a book about the culture of South Africa, the goal being to ultimately educate kids about the value to be gained in treating all people from different backgrounds with respect and understanding. I then read an additional book that went along the same lines only that book dealt with a Japanese girl who had just moved to a town in America and was afraid to come out of her house because of the sheer unfamiliarity of the place and because she did not have many material possessions to give to the children next door who she saw always trading presents with each other. The end of the story culminated in the friendship of the neighbors with the girl when they assured her that they did not care if she had nothing to give them. Again I think the ultimate message of the book which is to be kind, respectful, and compassionate towards others was good, though I did think the book which was recently written was seriously out of date with Japanese society given that most Japanese citizens live quite well, have high standards of living, and are far from poor in terms of sheer quality of life and I am always cautious about teaching books that seem to make the arrogant assumption that every other country is poor except for America because I know first hand that that is not true in the least bit. The last book I read to the kids involved a young bear who was afraid of taking the walk through the pond and the woods to get to his school without his mom. His mom encouraged him when he brought up his fears about the long walk and eventually he was ready for school. The book was quite good for the kids on many levels because it taught them memorization, directions, and ultimately is preparing the children with the point at which the kids will take the bus to school without their parents. A last book that I read this week pictured animals in their natural habitats and then had another page next to it which had windows which could be opened that pictured an animal in them and the task was for the children to identify where those animals were on the page next to it. This was ultimately a good exercise for the kids in identification.

2. Interpretation. What did you learn from your project this week? About the project? About the issue? About yourself?

This week I learned from my project how important it is in the education of these children to teach them moral lessons in tandem with purely intellectual lessons. In order to combat the issue immigrant marginalization, the children do not only have to be intelligent and studious they have to learn how to be good citizens and to act ethically with others. The readings this week taught them how to do this by teaching the kids how to respect others. It was this lesson that I learned through my project this week that ultimately improved my view of the issue itself.
This week I learned that I have the ability to affect the education and moral outcomes of many of these children and I am grateful to have that opportunity through this project because if just one of the children that I have worked with has a decent future ahead of them I can feel a sense of accomplishment in relation to the issue of immigrant marginalization.

3. Evaluation. How would you evaluate your work on the project this week? What grade would you give yourself? Are you accomplishing the objectives of the project? Your personal objectives?

This week I give myself an A- because I gained a heightened understanding of my role at neighborhood House and that understanding helped me place my accomplishments in perspective. I think if I can help these children form a moral compass and some root intellectual faculties then I have accomplished my personal objectives of helping these children lead a better life as well as my project objectives of combating immigrant marginalization.

Weekly Project Journal- Week 13

1. Description. What happened in your project this week? What did you do? Experience?

In my project this week we taught the children how to mix blue and yellow to get green, red and yellow to get orange, and red and blue to get purple. The other project we worked on was to teach the children about camels. They learned that camels have humps in which they store water, an attribute that they need, as we told the children, because they live in the desserts of Egypt, North Africa, and the Middle East. We then worked with them on a camel project where they glued a camel and baby camel cut out onto paper and painted the ground with a gold paint that we got by mixing brown, yellow, white and a bit of green. I then successfully taught two of the kids the locations of 7 countries: Canada, U.S., Russia, China, India, Mexico, and Japan; information that they successfully retained. The reason one of the children learned Japan so successfully is that she has a teacher from Japan so in addition to teaching her where Japan was I taught her how to say hello in Japanese so that she could impress her teacher.
Again I experienced astonishment at how easily kids are able to learn and retain information and of course the child mind doesn't discriminate between rich and poor. All the children I have worked with are perfectly capable of really succeeding in life if they just are allowed to have the right access to a decent learning environment.

2. Interpretation. What did you learn from your project this week? About the project? About the issue? About yourself?

I learned yet again how quickly children can pick up information as long as someone takes the time to teach them and as long as they have access to the right education.
I couldn't help but think how much more ameliorated the issue of immigrant marginalization would be if Minnesota had an educational voucher system. It seems terribly unjust that children are more or less conscripted into the school that is in whatever district they happen to be born in and it seems terrible that poor children are essentially forced into the public schools of those areas because they don't have the money to spend on a private education after taxes. It seems only natural that people should be given vouchers to spend at the school that educates them best, leaving the schools with a poor educational system to fall out. Only in this way can immigrant children be assured the same good access to education that wealthier children have.
In regards to what I learn about myself through these experiences, I think I learn a great deal of how to teach and communicate with children and learn that I am actually good at it. I also learn more about the issue of immigrant marginalization and what works to combat it. I also learn and am always amazed by the ability of children to pick up information so quickly.

3. Evaluation. How would you evaluate your work on the project this week? What grade would you give yourself? Are you accomplishing the objectives of the project? Your personal objectives?

I give myself a B+. I have done the best I possibly can in this project. I have spread myself out in the organization taking on a variety of additional tasks in addition to the main task I had, and I have learned a fair amount about the issue and how to combat it. I also am accomplishing my personal objectives by trying and I think succeeding to make a difference in the lives of these children who will be able to learn a great deal of information going their respective school grades.

Weekly Project Journal- Week 12

1. Description. What happened in your project this week? What did you do? Experience?

These past two weeks I worked with the kids of Neighborhood House on a variety of different things. First we worked on a project of making elephants with the intent of teaching the children what the color gray is and how to make it. We taught them the story of the Little Red Hen and had them make a project on a sheet of paper detailing the story with the intent of teaching the children that benefits come only after one has worked hard. We also worked with the children on learning how to read a calendar and tell dates as well as how to write the letters of the alphabet. In addition we practiced a game with them where my co workers and I wrote the children's name on a paper card and asked them to find it thus working with them on their reading skills. This week I also read books from the tolerance series as a part of the lesson plan. As a result of all my work this week I gained a valuable experience of what kind of education can benefit the children of low income immigrants in the future and also what kind of educations is most likely not has helpful in that regard.

2. Interpretation. What did you learn from your project this week? About the project? About the issue? About yourself?

In the project this week I gained an understanding of just how intelligent the kids I work with are. Almost all the children caught on quickly in regards to all of the projects and activities we put before them. This tells me that the issue of immigrant marginalization can really be dealt with through giving children the right access to education because as long as they have that, they certainly will have the ability to make the best of that education.
In regards to myself I learned what educational techniques work best with kids and which educational techniques I would abstain from using.

3. Evaluation. How would you evaluate your work on the project this week? What grade would you give yourself? Are you accomplishing the objectives of the project? Your personal objectives?

I would evaluate my work on the project as a B. I am achieving my objectives in regards to what causes immigrant marginalization which I have already worked out through my interviews and I am accomplishing my personal objectives of making a positive difference in the lives of the kids I work with by giving them the best education I am able to give.