11th day of Park and Rec

Today wasn't as productive. I focused more on how to present my project and what pictures to take. It's really challenging because I need permission to take pictures of the students. As usual, I helped students with their homework and gave my daily lecture or advice in life about respect and good manners to the kids. I also talked to then about lessons I learned at school that are good to know in my near future, but it didn't really apply to the kids because they're still young. I really want to keep volunteering at the program. I like working with kids and giving them advice on life. Anyways, I faced another challenge today. Today I experienced some violence with one of the kids. I'm not going to say any names, but one of the kids hit me with the zipper of their jacket and I didn't know how to handle it. I was trying to get their attention and tell them that they shouldn't do things like that, but they were ignoring me due to all their anger. I tried talking to them calmly, but it still didn't work. That's definitely something I will continue to think about when working with kids.

Time logged for this session: 3hrs

Total time logged: 25hrs 30mins

10th day of Park and Rec

Today I had a talk with the head staff about employment at their program. They have a summer program in Hillside, Westlake, and Gellert and there are many different jobs to do, I'm thinking of applying. I helped the kids like I usually do; helped them with their homework, talked to them about their day, and helped then clean up. We didn't go upstairs today, but the kids played this game called Four Corners. One kid would sit in the middle of the court with their eyes covered while the others picked a corner of the four corners of the court. Then the kid in the middle would pick a corner and the kids in that corner would sit in the middle. The last two kids would "Rock, Paper, Scizzors" to win and the winner sits in the middle. I noticed that one of my challenges are that I have trouble disciplining the kids. I noticed one of the kids cheating, but they wouldn't listen to me when I would tell them to stop. That's something I need to work on.

Time logged for this session: 3hrs

Total time logged: 22hrs 30mins

9th day of Park and Rec

I got to talk to a lot of the kids. I purposely planned to talk about video games with one of the kids to experiment my physical project. I talked to the kid that had a red card and asked him what games he plays. He told me that he plays a lot of violent video game such as Call of Duty and Grand Theft Auto. I've also seen how he plays with other kids and how he acts when he's angry and, with no offense, he gets pretty loud and violent. I still need to interview more of the kids to have enough to support my paper topic. I also talked to another kid that told me that he watches Family Guy and plays a bunch of violent video games. I've seen how he plays basketball with other kids and he is very aggressive. I'm going to ask my mentor soon for permission to take pictures and video for my presentation. 

Time logged for this session: 2hrs

Total time logged: 19hrs 30mins

8th day of Park and Rec

It's been a while since I've been to Park and Rec due to how busy I've been with school and family. I arrived feeling welcomed by the kids that I always talk to and the friendly staff. I thought about how I could work better with the staff and kids while I was gone and I was able to do it. I started playing with more kids and tried to offer the staff some help with what they were doing. Such as me helping the staff separate the jewel beads from the regular beads for the kids to play with. The more I talk and play with the kids the more I figure out about their personalities, behavior and more personal feelings. For example, in relation to my paper topic, I talked to one of the kids about the TV shows they watch and video games they play. They said that they've played a lot of Mature rated video games and watch TV shows that aren't suitable for their age. I'm not implying any negative assumptions or bad intentions, because I did the same as the kids did when I was younger. I also looked at their cards which show how they've been behaving lately. Green cards mean "good," yellow cards mean "mutual," and red cards mean "bad." I noticed that the kids that watch and play games that aren't suitable for their age are the kids with red cards and one of them even had a double red card. Although, it's not a very valid thought because there are some kids that watch and play the same video games, but are able to maintain a green card. I'm going to ask my mentor soon if I can have permission to film some of the kids for an interview. 

Time logged for this session: 3hrs

Total time logged: 17hrs 30mins

7th day of Park and Rec

I showed up early enough for the kid's snack time today. It gets messy since there's a lot of students. Today I was able to help a lot of the kids with their homework. I helped Adam and Marley with their Math and English. They seem to have a some trouble with multiplication. I had to constantly explain how to easily multiply two digit numbers. After homework time I gave advice to the kids about how important school is and how you shouldn't hesitate to tell on someone if they're bullying someone. I also told them how you can save someone's life by telling on someone. After that I played one on one with Adam and best him 5 to 1. Then all the students played dodgeball and they get really competitive. I was a bodyguard for one of the kids because she wasn't finished with her homework. Then we went to the computer room and I just threw the football around with this kid named Marquez. 

Time logged for this session: 3hrs

Total time logged: 14hrs 30mins

6th day of Park and Rec

I feel bad because I never arrive during homework time for the kids anymore, so I can never help them with their math. They always depend on me to figure out their math problems, but sometimes I just can't figure it out. Especially Bella and Marquez, but it seems like Maquez is just lazy to do his own work so I don't help him ask much as I used to. Anyway, the kids had the choice to stay downstairs or go upstairs to the playground today since it was really cold. I stayed downstairs and played a basketball game called "HORSE" with Gabriel and Adam. Gabriel thinks he can beat me and Adam thinks he can beat Gabriel, but not me. But of course, I won because I'm too good at basketball. I also played this game with the kids that took me a while to get. You have to get in a big circle with no space between you and the people next to you and you're supposed to spread your feet so the ball can go through your legs. The objective is to make sure the ball doesn't go through your legs by blocking it with your hands, kind of like reverse Hungry Hungry Hippos. It was fun, but killed my back. Instead of going inside the computer lab I just stayed outside with the Rec leaders and talked with them until it was time to leave. 

Time logged for this session: 2hrs

Total time logged: 11hrs 30mins

Peer Edit Draft Review

The student that corrected my paper said a lot of good things about it, but of course, there are some stuff I have to fix. They said that I need to remove the space between my name and page number on my header. They also said that they lost interest at the end of the second body paragraph of my essay. I plan on working on these specific things for my next draft and also work on fixing my sources because turnitin stated that I did them wrong. I'm going to ask my friend to revise my essay because she's currently in college and should be able to give me better feedback. Honestly, I put in about a week's worth of effort on this essay which was a mistake because I felt really rushed on trying to finish it. I ended up working on it until the day it was due and stayed up late trying to complete it. I've learned my lesson, though, I'm going to revise my essay today and try to perfect it before my teacher reads it.