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| Service Learning Journal | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� The purpose of this assignment was to write down my experiences I had with volunteering.� It is supposed to be as detailed as possible in order to get a really good idea of my experiences there.� I wrote in it every day in order better portray all the information.� This basically shows everything that I have done from the beginning with volunteering, and in the future, it could be used as a kind of example to anyone who would like to do something of this nature as well. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Monday, October 29, 2001 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ������� ��� This was my first day of volunteering at a site.� This particular site was the main operating center for the after school programs.� It turned out to be located in the back of the Air Power Park in Hampton.� This told me that not a whole lot of money was being put into things that were not considered essential.� Each of the five or six employees that worked there in the back of the building had a desk with a computer, printer, and an Internet connection.� These were the only things that they needed to do the things that they had to do. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ������� ��� I was introduced to all the people there.� Everyone seemed to be really nice.� They all welcomed me very warmly.� The person that was in charge of everything was a man named Kieth.� However, the person I actually was working with was a woman named Patty Bye.� She was the next in charge from Kieth. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ���� ������ When all the hellos and everything had been said, I was told what they desperately needed help with.� None of the people were very good with computers, and they needed a newsletter to go to all the sites, and calendars of events for those sites that didn't have the computers to create them or the knowledge with computers to create them.� So I sat down with Patty and we started to work.� She already, for the most part, was finished with the event scheduling, so using Windows programs I went through and showed her how to use them and how to input the information.� The schools we did calendars for today included, Burbank Elementary School, Booker Elementary School, Cooper Elementary School, and Mary Peake Elementary School.� As I was doing this I noticed that there were many activities for these kids to participate in.� A lot of those things definitely would interest kids in that age group. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� When we completed the last school, she had to leave to do some other things.� She kept thanking me for coming and helping out and was thrilled to hear that I was coming back tomorrow.� I think that this is going to be a very good experience. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tuesday, October 30, 2001 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� Today I was contacted by Linda Craig and told that a school was in need of a tutor, and she wanted to know if I would be interested.� I was actually thrilled to hear this.� I told her yes but that I had some more things to complete for Patty at the office.� So we got the details worked out, and I will be going to tutor at Machen Elementary School on Monday of next week.� | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| I got to the office at about eleven and found out that Patty had an emergency and was not going to be there.� She had left some of the other calendars that we were going to work on, if I wanted to continue without her for now.� Well after I had completed those calendars for Booker Elementary, and Bassette Elementary, Peggy Lewis (one of the other people in the office that seemed to have about the same job as Peggy) pulled me aside to get my advice on some things.� She was inquiring about an informational brochure she wanted to make that would attract more parents to place their kids in some of the after school programs at certain sites.� I gave a few suggestions including taking digital pictures of the different things offered, and just describing the programs and so on.� She liked the ideas I had to offer and wanted to know if I could help her with it.� I told her that I would like to but the next two weeks were pretty busy, and I would when I got time. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� When I got done talking to her, I headed on home. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Wednesday October 31, 2001 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� Well today I was supposed to go help start the newsletter that Patty had informed me of earlier in the week but I had car problems so I didn't make it. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| �Thursday November 1, 2001 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ���� ������ I showed up at the office around eleven o'clock today.� I figured today was probably the day that I was going to start on the newsletter that we had talked about earlier on in the week.� She explained to me that she wanted something that would inform the sites of things that were going on, certain changes that were taking place, and create a family type environment.� She had an idea of the things that she wanted to go in it but once more she had run into the problem of computer skills.� I began by showing her the different ways that she could go about piecing it together.� We finally decided to use Microsoft Publisher's creating tools.� I figured the easier the better.� For the most part today was dedicated to teaching her how to use the software.� We only put together some of the titles and stuff like that.� We would finish the rest tomorrow. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Friday November 3, 2001 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Today is going to be the last day that I will be here before I go to tutoring.� We still have a few things to accomplish here first before that. Yesterday, I showed Patty the procedures for entering the information.� Now today all we had to do was enter the information.� Some of the things that she included were employee profiles.� Like a "who's who" I guess you could say.� I thought that was a good idea.� This could be a regular thing so maybe a different employee could be talked about every month or week whatever she finally decides to do.� Another thing she put on there was new news.� Which included things like this partnership they created with INSYNC.� The employees may not know anything about it.� They can request tutors and things like that but if they didn�t know then obviously they wouldn't.� The newsletter turned out to be very informative and attractive. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Now that I am done helping out there, I definitely enjoyed it.� I met some really nice people that had great personalities.� Hopefully I will be continuing on in the future, with helping there where I can.� They are doing the work they do for a great cause, helping the community.� Even though it is a paying job, it is not like they are selling something for a profit. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Monday November 5, 2001 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� Today I am going to go to Machen.� I am extremely excited to be able to help out the kids there.� I believe that this is going to be a great experience. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� The school lets out at about 2:30 so that was about the time that I arrived.� I wasn't located to far from there, so it wasn't too much of an inconvenience. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ������� ��� I went into the front office to check in for security reasons and to see where they wanted me to go.� The whole atmosphere of the school seemed gleeful.� Anyway, I was directed to the cafeteria to meet Janice Baker.� She is the site leader for the program at Machen.� When I entered the cafeteria, I saw that the younger kids were there.�� Everyone was at different tables eating the snacks that were provided, and doing the homework that they had to do.� The man that was watching them said that I could just help any kids in here with their work until Janice came in and directed me where to go.� | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| �������� �� �So I helped a few of the kids in there with thier homework. I found that most of them knew what they were doing but just needed a little encouragement.� I liked the interaction that I had with the kids.� It was almost indescribable.� Just the little smiles and things of that nature made it nice.� Now I can see why elementary teachers enjoy their job so much. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� Janice came in after a while and introduced herself.� She then gave me a folder that had three different student's forms in it.� They showed their name, grade, strengths, weaknesses, and specific things that they needed to improve on.� She told me that there is one main child that will be here after school the most I would be working with.� For privacy reasons, I will just call him Joe.� Joe is in the 3rd grade and is just a little lagging in his studies as compared to his peers.� She also told me that he wasn't here, so I didn�t get to meet him today.� When we were done talking, it was about 3:45 or 4:00, which was time for all the kids to go outside for games.� This meant that I was done for the day. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tuesday November 6, 2001 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� Today I didn't go to Machen because it was Election Day and there was no one there. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Wednesday November 7, 2001 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ������ ���� I showed up this afternoon at about the same time that I did on Monday.� I went to the office first to see if Joe or any of the other students where here today.� Well, the only one of the three that stayed after today was Joe.� They told me which classroom he was in and also that I could use one of their conference rooms so that he wouldn't have as many distractions.� I headed on down to the room.� There were a bunch of students in there all doing their homework.� The teacher pointed Joe out to me.� I went over to him and introduced myself to him.� He seemed excited for me to be there.� He apparently had been anticipating my arrival.� He seemed very anxious to get started with his homework.� | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| �������� �� We went into the conference room that they had provided for us.� We sat down, and I tried to get a feel by talking to him about what he thought he was struggling on and just basically got to know him better.� The more we talked the more comfortable we both got.� I had to keep in mind that this was just as uncomfortable to him as it was for me.� I had to establish trust, I guess you could say, and it was going well.� | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| He told me that he had a spelling test Friday and that he really needed to study for that.� So he got out his word list for me to look at.� They were words like jet, sometimes, center, large, glacier, icepack, thousands, Titanic, and so on.� There were twenty-five words in all.� The first thing that I had him do was write the words down as I called them out.� Just like it was the test.� Then I corrected that and we went over the ones that he had missed.� When it seemed like nothing more could be learned, I told him to just take the ones he needed to work on home to study. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| We then worked on his math for the rest of the time.� He is currently in a chapter showing how to transfer the numerical numbers to words.� He, for the most part, understood this and needed only a little bit of guidance.� I also had to clarify some things about greater than and less than as well that he didn�t really get in class.� When we finished that, it was about time for him to go outside.� His homework was all done, so I just told him that I would be back tomorrow and for him to study those words at home as well. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Thursday November 8, 2001 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ��������� � I got there about the time that the kids were let out so it was extremely crowded.� I headed on to the room where I had taken Joe out of yesterday to see if he was there.� Sure enough he had come today.� He saw me, and a big smile came across his face.� This was that feeling that I was talking about a few days ago. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ������ ���� He didn't have too much homework today.� The main thing that we had to do was to go over the words that he had to study last night.� We went over those and he had done a good job of learning them.� He missed only one.� Since he didn't have any more work to do I decided to make up some math problems for him to work on, just as an improvement exercise.� We worked on that for a while, and I gave him some to take home and work on as well. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� Well there seemed to be nothing else to work on at that point, so, instead of just sitting there and looking at each other, he headed on back to the classroom. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Friday November 9, 2001 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� Fridays there is no need for me because it is basically a free time for them.� I hope that he did well on his quiz today though | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� I am enjoying this so far and seriously plan to continue this as my time between school and work allows.� It has been a great experience so far.� I would recommend that everyone try something of this nature.� It gets to be almost a stress relief too.� So overall I have thoroughly enjoyed my experiences with volunteering. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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