Week 1 at Maxfield

Hi all,

Sorry it took me so long to finally put this up. It wasn't a normal first week at Maxfield Magnet, as you will soon read all about!

Initially, my placement process proved to be a bit difficult. I had an inclination to work with ACES because I had prior knowledge to this program. However, it was difficult to figure out how to get involved because their contacts did not respond to me initially. Once Tina gave me more specific information from an ACES rep that had worked with Macalester in the past, the ball got rolling quickly and I was placed in less than 2 weeks. I learned that although ACES, like many programs, is in dire need of volunteers, they will not sacrifice the quality experience for the students that ACES strives for. They did a thorough background check and I also needed references in order to get in the door, which says quite a bit about how they run their program.

When I arrived at Maxfield for my first day, an ACES representative was waiting for me to give me a short orientation and to introduce me to the other members of our group. The group is composed of mainly current undergrads from local universities. Each class has one paid instructor who actually works part time for ACES, but because I am just a volunteer, I will be serving as an aid for a group of fourth graders. Instead of having a “normal” day, February 15th was actually Family Night at Maxfield, so as soon as our program would normally commence, we ushered them down to the gymnasium to rehearse for their various performances that would take place later that night. Although my first day was spent more as someone who supervised the students I will be working with in the coming weeks, I gained some interesting insight into the way they interacted with each other. Initially, they were antsy and difficult to control, but that is to be expected for any kid who has just gotten dismissed from school not twenty minutes earlier. Once we got them settled in and engaged in their responsibilities for the next few hours, their focus heightened and they became quite attentive. This made me interested to see if this is also the case in the classroom in the coming weeks, where reading and finishing math homework will replace drumming and singing. Although Family Night was not an ACES event, I was pleased to see that all of the volunteers still showed up and spent time with their students, even if it was not following the structure of a normal day. I get the feeling that the ACES coordinators understand how important it is for these kids to experience constant nurturing, both from interaction with their parents at family night, and from the consistent support of the ACES reps. As we have seen in class, the more developmental assets one student has in their lives, the more likely they are to succeed, which coincides well with the bottom line for ACES: the eventual success of their students.

Dodge Nature Center - Week 1

As of Friday my placement at the Dodge Nature Center has been solidified. I frankly could not be more excited that this has worked out so well. After a rough start, with a few dead-end placements pursued, Dodge has really come through. I'll be working two mornings a week with the preschool, spending my time in the Spruce room (all three classrooms are named for trees - Willow, Spruce, and Oak). In addition, I'm pursuing training as a Naturalist, which will set me up for more opportunities to participate at Dodge.

As I drove up to the 320 acre preserve tucked in between Marie Ave and Dodd Road in suburban Mendota Heights, I was overcome with a feeling of nostalgia and anticipation. I spent a few weeks of my summers attending camp at Dodge when I was younger and it had been a good ten years since I had been to the property. On the one hand I was excited to be back, but I also found myself worrying that my memories were giving it more credit than it deserved, or that I would be disappointed. At this point I'm already fairly certain that those concerns were unfounded.

On the whole I've been extremely pleased with and impressed by the faculty and staff at Dodge. At my preliminary interview on the 10th, I sat down with Sue, the volunteer coordinator, we chatted for a good twenty minutes about what's been going on at the Center, new programs, the change of seasons and the impact that will have on the farm and the preschool and the gardens, and generally about our mutual love of Environmental Education. After those twenty minutes Sue looked down at the papers in front of her and remembered that she was supposed to be interviewing me. We laughed and moved forward with the necessary procedures.

From there Sue connected me with two individuals - TJ the intern coordinator and Marty the director of the preschool. TJ and I met directly after Sue interviewed me and my final interview with Marty was last friday. Beginning this coming Wednesday my main contacts will be the three Spruce room teachers, Joey, Heather, and Marlais. I'm not really sure what to expect yet.

The classes are team taught by two head teachers and an assistant. That means that the 18 preschoolers are looking at a student/teacher ration of 3/18 or 1/6, which is very impressive by anyone's standards. The classrooms are very inspiring spaces, designed with many different nooks with varied focuses. There's an art area, a reading area, tables for writing excercises, and even an indoor loft/play area. THe rooms are packed full of kids art work and all sorts of stimulating toys. As a part of my interview with Marty I was given a tour while the kids were running around outside. Apparently the kids are outside everyday, unless the windchill is out of control, so they come bundled up and ready to get dirty. The staff all have different training backgrounds, some with environmental studies, others psychology, and numerous other undergraduate focuses, though all have completed a degree in Early Child Education.

At this point I feel i've begun rambling so I'll come to a close. I'll just say that I am convinced the Dodge Nature Center is going to be solid fit for me and I can not wait to get started.

CLUES

I have recently begun volunteering at CLUES, which stands for Comunidades Latinos Unidos en Servicio (Latino Communities United in Service). It is an organization that works with Hispanic communities in the Twin Cities to provide culturally appropriate behavioral health and human services. I am working with the family services branch of the organization to provide childcare during a weekly parent education session at the Riverview West Side School of Excellence. This is a bilingual (Spanish and English) K-6 elementary school in Saint Paul’s West Side. The program offers Spanish-language meetings that focus on issues like school readiness, saving for college, and communication between families and schools. In order to provide incentive and make it possible for parents to participate in the program, dinner and childcare are offered. Through the Civic Engagement Center, several other Macalester students and I run the children’s’ activities for the evening. We facilitate activities in Spanish based on a suggested lesson plan provided by CLUES, which is designed to correspond thematically with the adult topic of the night. There are approximately 7-10 families and perhaps a dozen children, ranging from about a year old to upper-elementary school students.

I found the process for becoming a volunteer alarmingly simple. I emailed the issue coordinator for Spanish language service opportunities at the CEC and participated in an hour-long orientation run by CLUES staff that consisted largely of an introduction to the program and tour of the school. There did not appear to be any screening process; no one asked if I spoke Spanish or had experience working with children or teaching in any capacity; certainly no one ran a background check or requested references or even a resume. In all of the paid jobs I have held, and even a majority of volunteer commitments, there has been at least a semblance of an application process. Here’s why I find this so troubling: either CLUES is too underfunded/understaffed to more rigorously screen their volunteers (not a great situation but somewhat understandable), CLUES never thought of it (more concerning), or it does not occur to Macalester to make sure it is providing community organizations with competent, rather than simply willing, labor. Regardless of the source of this lapse, it reflects a lack of commitment to ensuring that the quality of services provided to this underserved communities is appropriate and that there persists a discrepancy between access to high quality childcare among parents who are not participating in supplemental after-school education session and those who are, suggesting a double-deficit system. However, while I do not know what the children for whom we are responsible or any of the other students at the school would otherwise be doing from 5-8 every Tuesday, I think that they could do far worse with their out-of-school time than to be left in the care of enthusiastic, if not particularly skilled, college kids.

This model attempts to facilitate a more positive experience for children within their microsystems, mesosystems, and macrosystems, and does a particularly good job improving relationships within the mesosytem. The program does integrate many levels of Bronfenbrenner’s ecosytem into its approach. As far as addressing the idea of developmental assets, the kids in the program are encouraged to explore their various interests through activities that attempt to reflect multiple intelligence theories about learning, as well as providing diverse opportunities for the kids to engage in physical activity, creative expression, and other areas in which they could develop competence. It also connects them to college students, though if only in a brief and superficial capacity, this relationship seems beneficial to their perception of adults as caring and sympathetic people who are invested in them. While it is fun for the kids, I feel like I might be getting more education out of the experience than they are.

MNIC

Finding a placement place was not as hard for me, as I had an internship with Minnesota Internship Center already. However, my internship was mainly based on research but the placement requires interaction with teen students so I had to find a way of integrating that in to my internship. Now I have 2-3 hours of a week dedicated to tutoring and interacting with students.I do that on Tuesdays. The students are mainly African Americans

I remember my first day. I guess I would say I did more observation than participation, which I think was good. The class was too loud. Out of 12 students, the highest number of attendance in weeks, may be one was actually paying attention. In fact, at some point a argument between a guy and some girls got so serious that they had to be kicked out of the class and taken to another room. All these incidents got me thinking " if it is this hard for the teacher to help them, then how can I, a stranger who just showed up today, help these teens?" Being from a different culture, I thought I was at a disadvantage in understanding there backgrounds and why they behave the way they do. However, I thought if I put myself out there and go and ask if I could help them with anything, may be they will want to talk to me. " No. I do not need you help" was one of the replies I got from one of the kids. Then I decide there might be a lot of sitting around rather than helping.

The second day was much better than the first. I decided to say hi as I came in to the class and Tiffany, who I decide to sit next to, looked at me and did not say hi back. They were having a science class, which I would be a great help at. But none of them wanted help. For some of them it is truly because they just want to do it by themselves, which makes me kind of happy because out of the 40 assets we talked about in class they have got most of the internal assets like positive identity and commitment to learning. The most amazing this that day happened when I had like an hour left to go and I had just finished helping Shady with her creative writing. Tiffany came and said “ I want to apply for college but I need help with filling the forms for finical aid.” I was so excited that she asked me out of the two other tutors that were there with me. I do not mean to sound selfish but I am happy to see that my greeting that went unanswered is now being the foundation for this interaction. I helped her apply to Saint Paul Community College and finical aid offices. In the process we talked about so many things, that helped open my eyes to the kind of life there kids come from. I feel like now I have a much better understanding of there situation that day one. Of course, I still have to do more interactions to get a much better understanding but this was an eye opener that we do not really have to do something that is rocket science to help these kids.