So starting off the project has gone overall well. I have to commute via metro transit to the site during rush hour. It takes me about 45 minutes to get there and 30 minutes to get back. The first night I was given a short overview of the tutoring program. There are about 6 tutors each night and about 10 kids that come in. The main responsibility is to aid in homework and to use the provided resources to build their academic skills. I have tutored a total of 3 kids and one of them (his name is Walter) I have tutored twice.
It was sort of overwhelming at the start. The kids are for the most part well-mannered and behaved. But its hard to get them to do homework and other skill-building activities when they were at school all day long and they just want to play games. I have mostly just played games with the kids. After the tutoring session we are to fill out a profile form for the tutoring session. This helps tutors that have returning kids by providing useful information about the child prior to the session. This last Wednesday I ate supper in the cafeteria at the site.
I feel like I'm not accomplishing much by tutoring these kids. I haven't been doing a good job of keeping them on task and I look at other tutors, and they seem to be doing well. Part of it is my inexperience with children. But I think I'm doing some good because I try to treat the kids with respect and I give them attention. One girl named Destiny came in and she didn't jive with homework. In everything, she was competing for my attention. She would get upset when I was helping Walt and not her. She would get upset when she did things the wrong way. But we sat down and made some crafts. I made here a paper card for her to take with her. Maybe she didn't think about it or realize it, but hopefully she felt loved by that card. Maybe she'll look at it in 10 years when she is having a bad day and it'll simply cheer her up.