Archive for February, 2009
Date: October 25, 2008
Place: #26 Bus to the Eastside Boys and Girls Club
It’s another early morning, and the sun hasn’t yet cleared the horizon where I can see it. I’m on my way to the Eastside Boys and Girls Club. It sits next to MLK Academy, one of the schools we’re working at. Like many of the places we do service at, Eastside needs upkeep and revitalisation work done, but the cost of hiring someone would be prohibitive and take money away from their main mission.
Instead, City Year can bring in corps members, plus what is usually a greater number of external volunteers. Supply costs may be borne by the site, supported by our own grants or, as in this case, come from our own stock.
Today, we’ll be painting light poles and window frames with Rustoleum, repainting a playground where paint has begun to peel, painting bleachers and stands at the baseball field, building a community garden, and placing a mural on the side of the gym. Yesterday we spent the first half of the day in prep work. The Civic Engagement team, which runs a lot of these types of projects, had already planned everything out, but we still needed to sand surfaces for painting, lay down primer, and mask windows.
Based on the few projects I’ve seen so far, I’d say we usually do one hour of prep for every 2-3 hours a project is scheduled to last. On top of that there is planning and cleanup after volunteers have left.
Date: October 7, 2008
Place: #97 North
We’re starting to settle into a routine. Now, for me at least, it’s about incremental changes to make sure I don’t slowly drown. I eat breakfast, try to get 7 or 8 hours of sleep, catch the bus with time to spare, and try to squeeze lesson planning into schedule cracks.
Today I was scheduled for an 11 hour day, and 10 hour stretches are going to be the norm on my time sheet, but it still feels like there isn’t enough time to plan, think, and pay attention, not to mention relax.
That slow stretching has caused its first casualty. On Monday, we learned that one of the corps members would be leaving, deciding the program wasn’t right for them. They’re the second to leave, the first because recovery from a knee injury would limit his participation.
Date: September 27, 2008
Place: #93 bus North
So much of my understanding of what these children should be reasonably capable of is tainted by a faulty memory and a unique education. When I find a 7th grader who has trouble multiplying fractions, it’s difficult to say how worried I should be since I don’t precisely remember how capable I was. There’s also the need to discover how deep their need goes, whether it’s a temporary brainfart,
I love my love and hope
that she loves me, for haps
she may feel something less than love
but still does careFor though I love her dearly, dearly so
and if did find she holds me somewhat less
would love her still
to be in loved is such great bliss
as is to love as well.
a misunderstanding of how to multiply fractions (say), or a problem with the basic understanding of fractions. Today and yesterday I’ve spent the entire last tutoring sessions with kids who lacked a grasp of the basic rules for the problems they needed to do, never mind what their current exercise needed to teach. I couldn’t even deal with their homework, and that placed them even further behind.
Date: September 25, 2008
Place: #93 bus North
There were two major parts of today. First, the corps covered mandated reporting. Since five of the six teams deal directly, routinely, with school aged kids, and the main focus of CY is school support, there’s a fairly firm policy in place. Regardless of state laws applicable where the site is located, corps and staff members are required to report any reasonably grounded suspicions of abuse of any kind.
On a lighter note, the entire corps received phones provided by TMobile for the length of the term. And Saturn, who is sponsoring the Civic Engagement team, will apparently be providing them with 5 cars so they can travel easier.