Saturday, October 31, 2009

What A Week!

Happy Halloween!
This past week I went to the SERVES institute for Washington Service Corps. Nearly 1000 AmeriCorps members descended on Yakima, WA - the so-called "Palm Springs of Washington," (I've yet to figure out why they call it that) for workshops on everything from tutoring ELL students to lowering your ecological footprint.
I discovered it is impossible to sit down and write a blog after spending nine hours sitting in workshops. Impossible for me, at least. I am not a sitting-still kind of girl, so the past week was pretty much torturous.
Monday morning I woke up at 5:30 am (so begins the torture), picked up two team members and headed south and then east. After a long drive with several coffee breaks, we arrived at the Yakima Convention Center, just in time for lunch. When I asked one of the catering staff if the tortillas in the enchiladas were corn, she scoffed and asked if I was Vegan. Beyond not making any sense, that did not bode well for my future meals.
A big part of Washington Service Corps mission this year is Disaster Preparedness. Our opening keynote speaker was entertaining, but all I can remember is this: Live next to a Mormon, Have Chocolate and Toilet Paper in your disaster kit, and Women and Children First. Obviously, getting up at 5:30 and driving halfway across the state is not good for my mental capacity.
The second speaker was from the Red Cross and spoke about personal preparedness - having a disaster kit in your household, and knowing what to do in case of a disaster. We should all have some sort of disaster kit at the ready, and I know I myself am guilty of often thinking that's a good idea, and then not doing it. However, I would not do well if my power or water was turned off for any length of time. I have some lanterns and candles and that's about it. My new goal is to have some very basic supplies - water, food, battery or hand-crank operated radio, and first aid kit - in a disaster kit by the end of the year. Here is a list of the items the Red Cross recommends having in your family's kit.
Also, did you know that Washington State has the potential for more different types of disasters than any other state? Luckily we don't get hurricanes.

I took several great workshops that I would like to share with you, and I will over the next few days. I also have a new adventure to share - car repairs on an AmeriCorps stipend. Last night, my car would not start. The ignition tumbler will not turn. Unfortunately, this seems to be a common problem for this type of car, but not common enough to have a factory recall on. The car was towed to the local dealership, where it will hopefully be repaired on Monday. As a young, blonde, woman I am often very wary of dealing with mechanics and car dealers, but I do not have a choice. Luckily I am fairly educated on the subject of cars and it should be a simple thing to fix. One important lesson is this: Roadside assistance is WORTH IT. Whether it is through your insurance company or something like AAA, it is well worth the extra little bit of money to know that a tow truck will come save you when it is pouring down rain and your car won't start. (And you are wearing zombie makeup because it is the night before Halloween and live in a college town.)

Friday, October 23, 2009

No Pig Flu!

So here it is, Friday night. The week went by fast.
Monday I came home early from work - was not feeling well at all. I ended up staying home, with a fever and sore throat on Tuesday as well. Luckily, it was not The Swine Flu, just the regular flu.
Being sick messes up my whole life. Missing one and a half days of work somehow made the week seem longer.
I'm pretty terrified I'm going to get Swine Flu (I guess we are supposed to call it H1N1 now), and be sick for a long time. We are only allowed 8 sick days, and I've taken two and a half. And, children are walking petri dishes. They don't know how to cover their mouths when they cough, they touch everything, and they don't wash their hands. For some reason, I still love working with them. I am planning on getting the vaccine as soon as it is available, and hoping it won't be too late. Several of my team members (not at my school, thankfully) have already come down with H1N1.

Next week my whole team goes to Yakima to SERVES with the whole Washington Service Corps, which comprises about 1/3 of the AmeriCorps members in Washington State. We arrive on Monday and listen to people talk for the afternoon. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday morning we get to attend a variety of workshops covering topics from using the education award to tutoring ELL students to lessening your environmental footprint. I've been planning out what workshops I want to take and I am planning on a class on Volunteer Management, one financial management on the AmeriCorps stipend, paying for graduate school, living a sustainable lifestyle, and one on avoiding burnout. There are a couple others I want to take but they conflict and I am having a hard time deciding! I am looking forward to the week, and I promise to share the good stuff I learn with you all.

Tomorrow is Make A Difference Day, billed as "America's largest day of doing good." According to the USA Weekend's official website, last year 3 million people participated in Make-A-Difference-Day. Our local Volunteer Center is hosting a big event, with a breakfast beforehand. I will be planting trees with four of my team members, and am hoping that it won't be pouring down rain. Even if it is, I am looking forward to it. I am excited to be doing some service that is different - being outside and not in a school at a desk sounds like a nice change of pace. I've been thinking that I would like to do some environmental education work, so this will be a nice way to dip my toes in and test the water.

So, what are you doing for Make A Difference Day? It's not too late to find a project - if your town has a volunteer center check with them, or your church, your school, check your newspaper, or just look around your neighborhood to see if anyone close to home might need an extra hand.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

The Cycle (I ain't talkin' 'bout no bike)

On our Team Friday last week, we talked about the "National Service Cycle," as well as the Stages of Group Development, which both conveniently follow the same graph:




This graph and the "Stages of Group Development" were primarily developed by Charlie Ford, a private consultant for AmeriCorps programs. From my past experience in AmeriCorps, it is spot-on.

These stages describe what an individual in AmeriCorps might be going through, as well as how the entire group is working and relating with each other.

The first stage is Forming. As an individual, you are extremely excited to be starting AmeriCorps or starting another year of it. You have big plans (like writing a blog about it!) and know it's going to be awesome. As a group, you are excited to meet your teammates, and make big plans for the group (like 5 family events in the school year!).

The second stage is Storming. The thing about the Storming stage, and winter in the Pacific Northwest, is they come at pretty much the same time. Storming is when reality rears it's ugly head, nothing is going right, and you hate everything. You might apply for other jobs, cry on the phone with your parents, and eat way too much chocolate. You might. I'm not saying this from experience or anything. As a group, this stage is terrible. Fighting, anger, frustration.... I'm hoping my group has already had our little problems, and gotten through them. Fingers crossed.

Like the new green grass peeking it's head out of the snow (or, let's be serious - mud), Norming is when things start to get good again. As an individual, you begin to realize that this is really worth it. As a group, you begin to realize that yes, you can work together.

Performing! Doing what you came here to do! Getting things done! Kids are learning to read, your group is working together beautifully, life is wonderful.

Adjourning - this is when you realize that, just after it started to get good, your time in AmeriCorps or your time with this group has to come to an end - and soon. People get cranky, especially if they don't know what they are doing next. People get upset when other people get excited about the time being over. This part is TOUGH.

Then, it's done. Hopefully you stuck it out and are still alive to move on to the next step.

Know what? Sitting through this workshop was so much better the second time. Because it is SO TRUE. By the time I was in the middle of Storming in my last year, I had completely forgotten about this. They promised us it would get better! I should have listened.
I distinctly remember going to an interview at the Cingular interview (because I thought I HAD to get out of AmeriCorps), and it was windy and rainy and the power went out, so I had to reschedule my interview. Poetic, huh? In my "Storming" phase in a big storm, which prevented me from getting a job that would take me out of AmeriCorps? Well, I think so.

So, if you're storming: Remember, it gets better! I'm sure I will come back and read this entry several times in the next few months, to remind myself of that very fact.

If you would like to read more about the Stages of Group Development, check out: http://www.nationalserviceresources.org/stages-group

Thursday, October 15, 2009

The Wild Things Are Here!


After four weeks of planning (which felt, at times, like four years or four days), we held our first Family Literacy Event last night.

Our theme was the book Where the Wild Things Are, by Maurice Sendak. We planned to have it this week because the movie adaptation, directed by Spike Jonze, opens tomorrow. It looks amazing and I, for one, am really excited to go see it.
Our Family Night included two art projects, readings of the story in both English and Spanish, a raffle, and refreshments.
Since it was Washington Reading Corps first event at the school, we had no idea how many people to expect. I had a brief moment of panic yesterday afternoon when I was convinced that we were going to have fifteen volunteers and five families. As it turned out, we had 47 families attend, and that’s only counting the ones who signed in – I’m sure there were a few who got past us. Forty-seven families – most families consisted of three people, be it two parents and a student, one parent and two students, and even some families with grandparents in tow. So that comes to approximately 141 people attending our very first event! Very exciting.
We have a great community of staff members at our school – we had several teachers and students teachers attend and many of them helped out with parts of the event. Our librarian showed a short movie version of the book in both English and Spanish, and read the book in English. Our Principal Intern read the book in Spanish, which was very exciting for a lot of our Spanish-speaking students and families. Our PTA donated movie tickets and a copy of Where the Wild Things Are for the raffle, and my favorite local bookstore, Village Books, donated two books – Where the Wild Things Are and a bilingual (English/Spanish) book. Each family got a raffle ticket as they walked in.
Many community businesses donated food and supplies for our event, which is awesome. It is great when businesses, small and large, participate in community events such as this. They get great advertising and publicity, and we get things that we wouldn’t be able to otherwise afford. 

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Falling into Fall

I know it's been too long, friends, and I am sorry. I wish I could say I have simply been too busy to blog - and that is partly true, I have been very busy - but in fact, it's been a frustrating week.
I am loving working with students (finally) but the whole education system is, in my opinion, pretty messed up. We have spent more time giving these kids different assessments (tests) then we have spent reading with them, and we are more than a month into the school year! The district wants to implement a new assessment program, the Title 1 program uses a different type of assessment, every student in school has to take another kind of assessment so teachers know where they need support... all these kids do is get tested!
Additionally, our site supervisor has just been offered a new job in the district, so now we will be assigned a new supervisor. (Luckily we have already been working with her and she is fantastic, and knows a little bit about what we are doing.) I keep hoping things are going to settle down and then something changes, mixing everything up again.
There have been a lot of little things this week, that by themselves are no big deal, but altogether... well, it was a frustrating week, like I said. I feel ineffective and a little bit unwanted. No, not unwanted - everyone is really excited to have us at the school. I feel like no one wants to deal with us. Which is beyond frustrating.
When I have actually gotten the chance to work with kids, it has been great. I love getting to know the students, and I am still amazed at how excited each and every one of them is about reading. I have never been at a school where so many students were excited about books. I don't know what it is, but something good is happening. Even the fifth grade boys (who, in my experience, don't like anything) are getting excited about the books we are reading.

I am constantly reminded of how difficult these kids' lives are. These are kids with foster parents, who go hungry because there is no food in the house, who don't have warm winter coats. However, they refuse to let life get them down. Every day they tell me something good that happened to them, whether it's playing with their cousin, learning a new game, or being praised by their teacher. I am working with third graders who read at a kindergarten level, fifth graders who read at a first grade level, but each and every one of them is excited to read, even when they think it is hard. If we could all go after things like that, if we could all focus on the good things in our lives, how much happier would we be?

Today I met with the director of the Heritage Flight Museum. I am "officially" their new Volunteer Education Coordinator. To start with, I will be expanding the education programs they have on their open house Saturdays. In the future, I will be creating programs for school groups that come to the museum, and hopefully for in-school programs such as residencies and maybe even after-school programs. I am so incredibly excited for this opportunity, I hope it goes well!

Thursday, October 1, 2009

One Month In

Today marks the end of the first month of my second year of service. The beginning of my second month. I am still feeling good about deciding to sign up for a second term. It won't be easy, especially paying my bills in the winter months (when I'm sure my gas bill won't be small - it gets COLD here!), but I know I can do it.
Today was also the first day I got to spend tutoring. I work with third graders first thing in the morning, then first and second graders. After lunch, I go to a fourth grade classroom where I will be working with several students who are just below grade level. When I finish there, I go to the afternoon Kindergarten program for 45 minutes. After the Kindergartners go home, I finish up my day working with two fifth graders. It's a full day but it is so nice to actually be working with students. We will be starting a morning reading program in November as well.
One thing I have noticed while talking with my students today, something that really impressed me, was how excited all these kids are about reading. Every single kid I worked with was thrilled to tell me about the books they are reading, the books they want to read, and the kind of books they like to read.
The fourth grade teacher has asked us to work with his students on choosing good books to read - books at the right level, books that will help them be better readers. My team member and I were discussing how we are pretty sure no one ever talked to us about that when we were in school. A lot of these kids want to read what their peers are reading - even if those books are really too hard for them. It is exciting that they want to read Harry Potter, but if they are reading at a second grade level, Harry Potter is going to be way too difficult for them. They will get there, they just have to work up to it.
I have also been asked to lead a local Girl Scout Troop. I'm extremely excited about that. I was a scout up through Cadettes, in early high school. My troop kind of fell apart, but these girls are all sophomores in high school and want to see it through. I spoke to one of the girls today and she sounded very excited to have a troop leader who isn't a mom. (Because what 15-year old girl wants to hang out with her mom?)
In addition to the Girl Scouts, it looks like I will be volunteering as the Education Coordinator at the Heritage Flight Museum. I am absolutely thrilled to have been offered this opportunity. I will be creating education programs for open house days, school tours, and in-school workshops. Since I am trying to get my private pilot's license, and love to work with kids, it is the ideal opportunity for me. I have an official interview on Wednesday for the position, but I am confident I will get it. I can count the time towards my  required AmeriCorps service hours, and will hopefully stay in the position after my term is up. Simply getting to put "Education Coordinator" on my resume will be amazing.
This year, I plan on taking full advantage of the opportunities that AmeriCorps offers. I have registered for a Grant Writing class at the community college and will probably have the opportunity to write grants for the flight museum. AmeriCorps itself is a great experience, but there are so many more things I can do this year. I look forward to them!