I think I'm starting to get the hang of this

It was another good week at the NNH, but once again a little tiring.  On Monday, I had a good day for no particular reason.  We had centers as usual, but the kids seemed to behave better than they usually do.  I think part of it had to do with the fact that there weren't as many kids there.  Other than centers, most of the day consisted of playing tic-tac-toes, doing the limbo, and doing my first focus group.  The focus group actually went really well and I was able to get some good information on how the kids view NNH and the staff.

Tuesday was also a good day.  However, it was somewhat of a sad day for the kids because they found out that the education director (as well as my supervisor) is leaving NNH to take a new job.  Most of them were understanding of why she had to leave, although a few of the kids did take it pretty hard.  Oh, one funny story from Tuesday is when a group of kids asked me to come watch them put on "a show."  It was so cute because this group of boys and girls first did a ballet for me, then a magic show, and then they got me to do partner dancing.  This then turned into a round of the hokey pokey and Father Abraham.  I did another focus group with the older kids on Tuesday.  While it still went well, I think some of the kids were hesitant to fully express their feelings about some of the questions (some of the questions required the kids to talk about negative 

On Wednesday, we went to the pool again.  It was a day where I was able to play with the kids without having to worry as much about keeping up with other kids.  For most of our time there, I was in the pool taking the smaller kids to the deeper end, I was racing with one of the boys, or I was just hanging out with the kids.  While I can't be with all the kids at once, I think that they appreciate it when they see one of the adults out in the water playing with them.  Oh, and on Wednesday, I was officially initiated by several of the girls into a cheerleading/dance club.  Maybe I shouldn't have mentioned that I was a cheerleader when I was younger...

Thursday was a bit stressful later in the day.  In the morning, the kids studied India during international study day.  We had a woman from India come and speak to the kids.  While I wasn't able to hear what she had to say, I saw that she was dressed in traditional Indian clothing.  Also in the morning, I did another focus group with the youngest kids.  Even though I had to quickly push through the questions in order to hold their attention, they did a great job at trying to honestly answer the questions.  One girl, however, was so focused on the fact that we were going to go to the roller skating rink later that day, that she kept asking me about when we were leaving, what we were doing, etc.  After lunch, we did take the kids to go roller skating and it was crazy.  There were so many kids roller skating and we had some of the youngest kids there, so it was difficult trying to keep up with our kids.  Also, there were a number of kids who couldn't hold themselves up while roller skating, so I ended up hold a girl for about 45 minutes so that she wouldn't bust her head open.  By the end of it, my back was killing me.  However, the kids did have fun and they were able to just chill and watch a movie when we got back to NNH.

On Friday, I wasn't feeling very good, so it made it a little harder to enjoy going to Coolidge Park.  Before we went to the park though, the kids had academies.  We had three groups that consisted of yoga, Spanish, and learning about money.  I was in the group about money and investment, so I was able to watch the kids play a game about how to make good choices when spending, buying, saving, etc.  After academies, I did two focus groups before lunch.  I was pleasantly surprised by one group because it included a girl who tends to misbehave a lot.  However, she was so honest and really added a lot of great information for the focus group.  That definitely humbled me a little and it taught me that I need to be cautious in making assumptions about people.  The second group, however, was probably my most difficult.  It consisted of a number of kids who had learning disabilities, so it was hard for them to understand the questions as well as answer the questions.  After the lunch, we went to Coolidge Park, which was a very hot and sweaty experience.  However, after we got back from the park, we were able to take some time to say good bye to Chelsea and we celebrated her time at NNH with a party.  

Looking on this week, I would say that it was a growing experience in terms of learning more about the kids and their opinions about NNH.  Also, I feel like through my time with the kids at the pool, at centers, and the trips that we took, I'm becoming more comfortable in disciplining the kids as well as just hanging out with them.

Another week at NNH

I'm sorry I'm a little late in writing my weekly blog.  This past week was a good week, but it was also really tiring.  I'd been getting in bed later the week before and I think it finally caught up with me.  On a couple days, I had to go straight to bed after work to take a nap before I could function.  

Monday and Tuesday of last week were once again math and language center days.  I really do enjoy these days because I interact with all the kids, but it can be challenging if the kids decide to misbehave (there were a few kids who decided that they didn't want to do their math packets).  On Monday, NNH had a going-away party for one of the staff who has been a part of the program for 6 years.  Even though I've only been at NNH for about a month, I realized that his going would be a transition for everyone.  So on Tuesday when he left, it was interesting seeing the difference of him being not being there.  While I felt like I had a little bit more responsibility in terms of disciplining the kids since he left, I know that the challenge is good for me and will force me out of my comfort zone.  Oh, another thing I did on Tuesday was go to a board meeting.  I need to go to fulfill a requirement for a paper I was writing, but I really did enjoy hearing what goes on at NNH and how dedicated the leaders of NNH are to reaching out to the community.  Going to the meeting only gave me more respect for the work NNH is doing because I was able to hear their optimism despite how tight their budget is right now.  They seem to work well together and I was impressed with their enthusiasm.

On Wednesday, it was so nice to go to the pool.  Honestly, I think I look forward to Wednesdays almost as much as the kids do because not only do I get to hang out at the pool, but the kids are occupied for hours.  One funny moment at the pool this past week was when I looked over at the kiddie pool and this one girl was just standing there with her bathing suit almost completely off of her.  It was really funny because she was completely oblivious and shouted to me "look at me!"

On Thursday, the kids had international study day again and they studied Kenya.  I was in a center where the kids made the Kenyan flag with construction paper and other supplies.  After we had centers, we ended up going to Coolidge Park.  It was a lot of fun watching the kids go in the water fountains and I was able to take some pictures.

On Friday, we went on a field trip to the zoo before lunch (because it was so hot, we didn't want to go in the middle of the day).  My group and Ms. Chelsea had fun taking the kids around the zoo and watching their reactions as they got to see animals they'd never seen before.  After the zoo, we came back and we pretended like it was snowing and we watched The Polar Express.  It was a good time to relax, cool down, and have the kids occupied for a while.

So that was pretty much how my week went last week.  It was a lot of fun, but challenging at the same time.  I'm still thoroughly enjoying the kids, but I'm still learning how I can best handle certain situations where I have to take charge.

Rain, field day, and a golf tournament

So this week was a good week.  I'm glad that I'm getting used to the schedule and that I'm getting to know the kids better.  I think by now, all the kids that will be in the summer program have come, so I've met all of them.  This week, I was able to meet a boy named Michael, who is a really sweet kid, but doesn't talk a lot.  Also, I met these girls who are either cousins or somehow related.  Their names are Lovey and Shaniah and they are very easy to spot since their whole heads are covered in beads.  However, both of them have very different personalities.  Shaniah is a little bit more mature than Lovey and Lovey likes to pout a lot when she doesn't get her way.  Also, some of the kids who I met during the after school program finally arrived for the summer program, such as the Bass girls and a boy named Cordale.

I think some of the things that are most fun about being at NNH is not only getting to know the kids, but seeing their funny personalities and the silly things they do and say.  For instance, there is a boy named Sven who is just kind of out there.  He's a really sweet kid, but he just says really random things sometimes, which makes it that much funnier (he likes to shout out the word "toilet paper" from time to time).  There's another sweet girl, Unique, who is somewhat similar to Sven because she also says random things.  I think of all the kids at the program, the little Hispanic kids are some of the sweetest kids there.  Particularly, there are these two girls Sandra and Melanie who are just so cute and so sweet, it is almost hard to believe.  Quite often, these two girls have drawn me pictures (although they draw pictures for many of the staff) and have given me hugs.

As far as activities went this week, they were very similar to last week.  We had language and math centers, the kids played outside, and the kids went to the pool.  However, there was some variation on Thursday because it was rainy.  Instead of going to Coolidge Park, the kids ended up doing some fun centers for most of the afternoon.  Although some of the kids got in trouble, most of them enjoyed the activities.  Also, on Friday the kids got to listen to two men talk about their careers.  They got to hear one guy talk about his profession as a beekeeper and another guy talk about being a veterinarian.  I think the kids really enjoyed that.  In addition, the kids had field day on Friday where they played games such as extreme dodge ball, three legged races, and the high jump.  Unfortunately, I missed watching the kids do field day because I attended the annual golf tournament that is mean to raise money for NNH.  I really didn't do much when I was there except count score cards and help clean up after a luncheon.  While I was able to talk to some of the board members at NNH, I didn't really have as much time as I would have like to talk to people.  

So that's basically what most of my week at NNH looked like.  I would have to say in retrospect that getting to know the kids and the staff as well as going to the pool has been the most fun of all the things I've done this week.  I can't believe I've already been on my internship for four weeks now and that two weeks of the summer program have gone by.  However, I look forward to what God has in store for me this next week and the weeks to come.

The beginning of summer school

So, this week was my real introduction for what I'll be doing for the rest of the summer.  The way the schedule was this week is pretty much the structure of what it will be all summer (with a little variation). 

For Mondays, the kids come and spend a good portion of the morning doing some fitness exercises that are taught by a worker from the Sport's Barn in Chattanooga.  After that, the kids play a little more before they go in for math centers.  I found out that I will be in charge of a center where the kids do math packets that they do on their own (except with some of the younger kids, I will do counting exercises or another activity).  This portion of the day went really smoothly and there were basically no discipline problems.  After the math centers, the kids ate lunch, played outside more, and then began the language centers.  My job for this center is to stay in the library while the kids work on their summer reading.  While this sounds pretty simple, I did have some problems with kids concentrating and staying quiet while they read.  Also, some of the kids started arguing with each other and accusing each other of not reading.  So, that was a little stressful, but it could have been a lot worse.  After that, we just went outside and the kids played for the rest of the afternoon (the kids have quite a bit of down time).

Tuesdays are basically the same as Mondays because the kids do the language and math centers again.  However, instead of doing the fitness exercises, the kids worked in a little garden that is located at NNH.  It was fun watching them as they got dirty and did something they may have not done before.  After that, the kids played outside until the math centers started.  Once again, they went fairly smoothly, and I particularly enjoyed working with the youngest group, which had these two really cute girls named Unique and Sandra (she's from Mexico, but can speak fairly good English).  Also, the language centers went well, minus one group that got in trouble because they wouldn't sit still and read during the center.  While the kids played the rest of the time outside, I was able to talk with Rachel Gammon, the director at NNH, about the charity event that will be coming up this coming Friday.

On Wednesday, we had a fun day at the pool (it is so awesome, because I'll be going to the pool every Wednesday for the rest of the summer).  But first, the kids have to do review in the assembly hall before we go to the pool.  At around 10 or 10:30 am we broke up into bus assignment groups and we headed to the Booker T. pool.  For the rest of the day, I just sat around the pool and got in occasionally when I was too hot or when some of the kids lured me to jump in.  After we got back to NNH though, we watched The Little Mermaid, which was quite entertaining.

On Thursday, we had planned to go to Coolidge Park, but we ended up not going because we thought it was going to rain (although it didn't).  So, the kids played outside during the morning.  But thankfully, I was able to do some interviews with 3 of the staff, which took up a some time.  I not only enjoyed hearing about people's experiences at NNH, but I enjoyed hearing the different perspectives people had.  After lunch, the kids came in to do an “international study” where the kids went around to different centers to learn about travelling.  Normally, there will be an international person coming in and speaking about their experiences with living in a different country, but we didn’t this week.  I was in a center with a girl named Erin and we watched the kids while the went on the internet and looked up how they might get to a particular location and how they would travel once they got there. 

On Friday, we had what we call "academies," where the kids learn about different things/hobbies.  This week, we had three groups.  One group learned about saving, investing, donating, and spending from a group of people that came from an investment firm.  Another group did crafts and the other group learned the basics of Spanish (I was in this group).  After doing that, we gathered the kids and headed to Coolidge Park, where the kids played around most of the afternoon.  A group of us also ended up going across the walking bridge and most of the kids also got slushies.  Unfortunately, because it was a little chilly on Friday, the kids didn't get to go in the water fountain, so they had to make do just playing around (I was even pulled into doing a few cartwheels, which I'm pretty proud of).  Then, we headed back to NNH and I supervised a group of kids who had started a "drama club" (which is more like learning interpretive/inspirational dances). That is basically what I did for the rest of the day.

 Overall, I would say that this week has been a successful week.  Although there were a few challenges, I learned that, while some of the kids come from broken homes or homes where they may not get enough attention, the kids are great kids with a lot of potential.  Being at NNH has given me a lot of respect for those who work there and it has also made me want to volunteer there beyond the summer.  Also, it has surprised me how much I've enjoyed working with children.  It is kind of funny that I'm working with kids on my internship, because ever since I knew about the internship, I swore that I wouldn't work with children or research anything related to education.  I guess God had a different idea.