During Spring Break, I had the opportunity to go to the Teen Coalition two days in a row in order to minimize time needed off from work, thus completing my requirement for attending three sittings. My main impression was that our services were not needed very much. I thought I would have many opportunities to help them with homework and school related activities, but to my surprise there were few students, none of whom were doing school work. First, I attended the daily meeting where students introduce themselves and say how they are feeling emotionally on a scale of one to ten on that day. I found the students to be very friendly, and many invited me to sit near them. This matches my experience substitute teaching, as all of the students are very friendly. I find both in substitute teaching and in this experience that students are generally very nice and not aggressive at all, so long as they are treated with respect. Prior to my substitute teaching and this Teen Coalition experience, I had a fear that I would be the target of the students and treated poorly by them. I am pleased that I have found the opposite.
The next most memorable part of the experience was the task that students were doing that week. The Teen Coalition was responsible for putting together seemingly thousands of surveys to give to the public schools about their sex practices, drug use, and other risky or violent behavior. It was very repetitive, and my task was to tear off old pages from old surveys and replace them with updated ones. Furthermore, I had to erase any writing in the surveys.
While monotonous, this mindless work gave me the opportunity to converse with the students. Conversation quickly changed to college and the process needed to get there. I was amazed at just how invested students were in their grades, showing up at Teen Coalition daily by their own free will. I gave them as much advice as I could about school and their next steps in their academic careers, something I wish I had done when I was in their shoes. I gave them lots of advice about the application process, when to apply, where to apply, and tried to ease some of their unnecessary stress about such things as being unsure of what to major in, or not having an extremely high GPA. I told them about requirements they would have in college, and I felt all of this advice and discussion about their future was the most helpful part of my visits. A few students I talked with most were even disappointed that I had to leave, telling me I should volunteer there in the future.
The most surprising thing I noticed about this visit was race relations between students. There were whites, blacks, Asians, and Hispanics as well as a student who may have been a homosexual. Their ability to put these differences aside and even tell jokes about them and continue to work together amazed me. It made me happy about the direction of this country for the future. I even got the chance to witness students of different backgrounds teaching each other about their cultures, such as a Cambodian girl teaching another student Khmer. Overall, I was surprised just how easy everyone got along, cared for each other, and respected each other. It amazed me that this occurred in an urban environment because in my rural high school, any differences between students resulted in teasing and harassment. The experience was a great one and challenged my perceptions of inner city youth.
Hi Jason,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your post, here, as it reflects a positive experience which I have had as well.
There are, indeed, students who are extremely conscious and ambitious in Lowell.
Like you, most of my experience comes from substitute teaching; and, like you, I've found that many or most of these students do seek advice and guidance from teachers, (although sometimes not directly).
Teasing and harrassment does occur, although I've seen more of it at the middle school level than high school, (that age). Of course, I could be wrong, too, as more of my substitute assignments have been at this level as well.
Hopefully, we'll see more social dynamics like the ones you've observed.
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ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading Jason's post and Rob's response here. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I work as a substitute teacher as well and I can relate to your experiences as a substitute teacher. I mainly go to High School and sometimes middle school. The youth that I met at Teen Coalition is very different from the type of demographics I am used to. However, I acclimatized myself to Teen Coalition right away. I could see that students in this age group here are about the same in their demeanor, their skin color and outer appearances are different. So far, I haven't had a chance to help anyone in terms of homework. I am a Biology major and I haven't come across a student doing Biology homework. But I have had ample opportunity to observe and interact with them. I was impressed when on one occasion there was a Police Officer, a Nurse and a social worker present at the Teen Coalition. They were all there to help these students in different capacity. That day, the students at Teen Coalition were getting ready to do a presentation on Lowell Community. They called it "Our Lowell" and "My Lowell". They were brainstorming as a group about their community and all the positive things that the community has to offer.
ReplyDeleteI think Teen Coalition is a great initiative and I have lot of respect for the staff that works there.