I am pretty comfortable at the stage I am now with my placement. I have been able to form a solid friendship with 4 of the student, which I am really happy about. I feel like for the students I am not longer “this stranger who comes to class once a week” but have now transition some of the students saying “ hey Selam, are you coming next week.”
Last week I had the most unforgettable event happen. I walked in to the classroom, said hi to the students and the teacher and sat down. However, it did not take me long to realize that Twain was not in the class. I asked the teacher. He told me he will probably not show up, as most of his friends from other schools will be on their Spring break and hence he would want to hang out with them. Just when he finished explaining, Twain walked in. He did not seem like in a good mood. The teacher saw him and told him “she asked about you as she walked in” and his response was “ ohh that is really nice. It is nice to have people who care.” Seeing that I was able to him better by just doing something simple like this was beyond me. I was really touched. I went ahead to ask him why he did not look happy. He told me that when he was at school last week, he had to baby sit his niece at the same time. So, he decided to bring him along but he was told to leave because of that. I gathered they could have a rule against it as it would be destruction. This is kind of a though spot to be. I did not want to say what they did was wrong, neither did I want to say he is right (even though that was what I felt like saying.) I just listened. So incidents like this where I feel like I am actually connected to their lives, makes me really happy and believe that I am doing the best I can.
However, there are still other students in the classroom I still have not been able to reach out to. I still wonder why. I thought it was because I was spending too much time with the people I know already. So I decided to go around asking if they needed my help. This did not seem to work as most of them just said “no I do not need your help.” Most of them say it with an attitude I am still not used to. So it makes hard for me to try again. But then, I say to myself “ do not get ahead of yourself, you have just been here for few weeks. Not enough time for everyone to like you.” I guess which is why I am planning to do this during the summer too. May be if I stay that long, all the students will be convinced that I am there because I care.
With the kids of youth I am spending time with, I think everyday is a different experience. So I still think there is a lot to learn form my placement. The problem is I feel like time is not by my side. I am trying to push Twain to work on projects so that he can get the 4 credits he needs to graduate. As for Stephanie, I helped her with her geography project and she is determined to graduate at the end of this year. I specially wish I had more time when it comes to helping Tiffany. Having been moving to different places in the past few months, she has not been able to really focus on her schoolwork. She has not showed up to school in like two weeks. She is only two or three credits from getting her diploma., so with a little push, I know she will be able to make it – only if she could come to school more often.
As I mentioned earlier in my blog, I am also doing my internship at the same time. Hence, as I am tutoring these students I am also observing to see where their problems in life come from to aid my research in stress reduction practices. My hope for the rest of the semester is to finalize my research and produce something that would of help to these students.
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