Friday, October 12, 2012
At Family Learning center I don’t have a specific reading buddy, I mostly go around and help all the kids. I had one really awesome time on October 4th. I was helping a middle school boy named Benny to do his Algebra homework, and he at first was really turned off of having me helping him. But once I began to help him it was great working through his homework and seeing him understand! I would walk him through one problem and then have him do the next one and help him if he got stuck. Also we completely finished the worksheet even though he was not assigned the back of the sheet yet, but we finished it so he could be ahead for next week! He was really open by the end of the two hours and really understood the material, which was great! I feel like all the kids are more welcoming to me now that it is my third week. Also they are coming up to me for help instead of me having to go up to them and ask them if they need help. Since I have started family learning center I have really been exposed to a group of kids I was never exposed to when I was there age. I grew up in a really non-diverse county and growing up I always had everything I needed and was provided an outstanding education. To see these kids not having the same privileges I had growing up is very upsetting but I am happy I am able to help them grow and develop in the academic world! Also it has been cool seeing the kid’s switch from English to Spanish like it was no problem. It has shown me how their Spanish really is part of their identity, they will talk about things like "its a Mexican thing" or "its a Mexican drink". I have really enjoyed my experience and can’t wait to continue volunteering!
