Saturday Academy November 20, 2010

Today's Saturday Academy was very relaxed. Today the students were supposed to go to a nursing home and spend time with the elderly but something didn't work out so we stuck with the usual plan. The students were granted an extended recreation period. Next the student went a learned a lesson about careers and dreams. The instructor passed out folders with paper in them and told the students to write out their dreams in life and what they desired to be. She told them that every dream in their folder could come true if they put their mind to it. I thought that this type of encouragement was awesome and that more students all of age need to hear the same thing. After the lesson the students went to the computer lab and played educational games until it was time for lunch. I must admit that some of the games were catching my attention just as much they were catching the kids. The interaction during this time was great.

Visting Dominique on November, 19 2010

Today when I visited Dominique I was very disappointed to find out that he had been placed into in-school suspension (ISS). Luckily the principal allowed me to have some one on one time with him. We went into the school conference room and talked about the situation the happened earlier that day that earned him a day in ISS. I told him that he was way too smart and too well behaved of a student to be in ISS. I gave him some advice on how to avoid situations that would get him trouble and also how to avoid people that seem to attract trouble. We made a pact that if he stayed out of trouble the next week then I would come and play basketball with him one day during his recess.

Saturday Academy October 30, 2010!

Today's Saturday Academy was a great learning experience for the students and myself because the Columbia City Fire Department came and spoke to us. They gave the kids fire safety tips and let them explore the truck also. The students were very engaged and seemed very interested also. The fire fighters were very friendly with the kids and made it very clear how important fire safety is. Many of the kids left that day saying that they wanted to be fire fighters, so the impact that they how on the students was profound.

In addition to the firefighter presentation the students were taught a Spanish lesson by a volunteer from USC. The students seemed shy at first but they gradually warmed up to the the teacher. They were taught how to spell their names in Spanish and were also taught also praise and sentences to say. I think that the Spanish lesson was a great idea was it shows the kids a different aspect of a different culture. It also sheds light into foreign language as a subject in school because all of  them will have learn a foreign language during grade school.