The past week has been wonderful. Everything from working at St. Gabriel’s to having “family dinners” with the Robertson gang has been fun and exciting.
I have been having a great time continuing reading activities with the kids in our summer youth program. I just finished reading Wayside School Gets a Little Stranger with the 10-13 year old group. It was a huge success. I’m really glad that they enjoyed this book as much as I did when I was their age. Now we are about to begin a writing project. I hope to have every 10-13 year old write a polished five-paragraph essay about the book. We are going to work on this project in very small steps, including learning about essay structure, brainstorming about the reading question, generating an outline, writing a rough draft, editing and revising, writing a final draft, and typing up the essays in the computer lab. I think this will have to be a long-term, comprehensive project. My goals are to have every child have a firm foundation about essay structure and also to create a polished final work that they can take pride in. They were all very excited to read Wayside, and I hope some of that excitement will be translated into essay writing. Today I taught the “hamburger model” for essay writing. This was something I learned in elementary school, and it has stuck with me. The general notion is to think of the essay like a burger: the top bun is the introduction, the meat patties are the main ideas of each body paragraph, the condiments/cheese/lettuce/tomato are the examples and details in each body paragraph, and the bottom bun is the conclusion. Just like a burger is not complete without all the parts, and a burger would not be acceptable if the meat were on the outside and the bun were on the inside, etc., an essay must have all the right parts in the right order. I think they did well with the concept. We’ll see how the project develops!
The kids have also been doing other great work. I’ve continued to read picture books and do short art projects or worksheets with the 5-7 year olds and the 8-9 year olds. For example, we recently read a favorite book from my childhood, Tikki Tikki Tembo by Arlene Mosel, and learned about syllables, and we also read Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst and learned about synonyms and antonyms. Braveen has been teaching math, including area and perimeter for the older two age groups, which has been going very well. He also continues to teach karate once a week. Josh has been teaching Spanish to the younger age groups, which they love, and has been teaching history to the older kids. Every day is busy, and we are usually very tired by the end of the day (at least I know I am!), but I think that now our tiredness stems from a lot of teaching and learning, and it is a satisfying feeling.
The rest of my summer experience has been going well too. This weekend we had ten Robertson Scholars who are spending their summer in New Orleans come visit us in the Delta, and it was great! We showed them around a bit and had lunch together in Indianola on Saturday and we went to Morgan Freeman’s blues club, Ground Zero, in Clarksdale that night. It was a lot of fun. It felt great to have so many good friends together, and it was great to share summer experiences.
Sunday was also a fantastic day. We went on a tour of the Delta with Dr. Luther Brown, the director of the Delta Center for Culture and Learning at Delta State. He is really an invaluable resource for the Robertson Scholars. We went on a great tour to many historic places, such as Dockery Farms, a large plantation labeled as the birthplace of the blues. It was also just wonderful to spend a day together, learning about our location and having quality conversations. All of my experiences in the past week – working at St. Gabriel’s, touring the Delta, having fun times and great conversations with friends – have made me really appreciate my community summer. I can’t believe 3 ½ weeks are already past! Of course, I am very much looking forward to the 4 ½ still to come!
- Nina
Finally, a new update! (Haha :-) Glad to hear that all is still going well. You guys sound like excellent teachers!
ReplyDeleteKeep up the great work. These quotes from Mother Teresa will reflect your work.1) " God does not require us to succeed, he only requires that you try. 2)" We ourselves feel that we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop."
ReplyDeleteGandhi's quote " Infinite striving to be the best is man's duty. It is its own reward. Everything else is in god's hand."
We are all proud about Duke- Robertson class of 2012. Such a unique motivated group. We wish you all the best and continued success in coming weeks at St. Gabriel Mercy Center. Remember glass is always half full and it is never half empty.
From an educators perspective, I can say that you would make excellent teachers!! You are creative and resourceful and I wish new teachers were exposed to these ideas in college. Those kids are going to miss all of you so much. You have no idea of the enormous impact you have made--and continue to make--on those kids. You have all been blessed by this experience. And one day those kids will pay it forward, just as all of you have. Thanks for your willingness to share your talents and gifts with those in need. You have shown them love and there is no greater gift. Hugs, CJ
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