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

First Day of School

The title says it all: Today was the First Day of School. First day for students, first day for teachers, first day for us Washington Reading Corps members.
Unfortunately, the fact that is was the First Day is pretty much the most exciting thing about the day.
We met our site supervisor, the principal, and the other teachers we will be working with. We got a brief tour of the school - I was surprised at how much room there is in the school. With 362 students, they still have spare rooms for reading specialists, Title 1, and other specialists. The largest class is 32 students, which is very large, but not unheard of.
We will be working with our site supervisor and other staff members over the coming few weeks to figure out where our role should be, as we are the first AmeriCorps/WRC members to be at our school. We will plan our tutoring times as well as other programs, hopefully including a breakfast reading club and an after-school group.
We will be spending the rest of the week getting settled, and Friday our whole NWWRC team is participating in a day of service for Patriot's Day. I wasn't even aware that "Patriot's Day" was an official holiday, but there it is, written in my calendar. As a National Service organization, it makes sense that AmeriCorps would participate in a day of remembrance and service. Are you doing anything to commemorate 9/11?

Day 2

Yesterday was much of the same stuff as Monday, and I was exhausted, so I didn't post anything. Did you miss me?
Today began with our community scavenger hunt. Our program managers came up with a list of things for us to find in the communities we are serving. Since I am lucky enough this year to be working in the same city I live in, I got to explore my town.
I discovered that I live only a few blocks from many of my team members, so we all met at the college campus to carpool. Five of us crowded into one car, and we were off, discovering exciting things about our community.
Funny thing was, all of us have lived here for a while.
But, while we may not have discovered anything truly "new" about this awesome town, we did get to drive around like mad and take pictures while we did it.
Some of my favorite things on the scavenger hunt list were:
-"Take photos of two of your favorite outdoor sculptures downtown." (Our town has recently spent quite a bit of money on public art. Most locals hate it. I love it because of it's ridiculousness. )

-"Take a picture with a rocket. Any rocket. Even a REAL rocket."

Now, here's where I did learn something new:
-In 2005, the Wall Street Journal's Market Watch ranked our town 4th in the United States for the most coffee shops per capita - 2.1 shops per person! ...Take a picture of your group at a coffee shop.

So, when people ask if Pacific Northwesterners really do drink a lot of coffee, I guess the answer is a definite yes. I don't even know how 2.1 shops per person is possible - but it is a college town, so I guess it makes sense.


This afternoon some of the group leaders got to get together and discuss what we would like to do in small groups the rest of the year. I think we came up with some good ideas, one of them being "how to actually live off your AmeriCorps stipend." $1050 a month doesn't really sound that bad at first, especially when you are right out of college and haven't really had to do things like pay rent, utilities, etc, on your own. I am scared to death I will miss a credit card payment or forget to pay my electric bill one of these months, and I've been doing this for a while.

There are also a lot of resources available to low-income people in this state and in this country. I had no idea how to take advantage of many of them my first year, and I am still learning now. For example, the local Community Action Agency/Opportunity Council provides assistance in paying heating bills. You have to provide proof of income and expenses, as well as a bill for your primary source of heat. I have not had my gas turned on yet, but when I do I will see if I qualify for this program.

I applied online for my Food Assistance on Monday and have not yet heard from DSHS. I will be calling them tomorrow to find out what the hold up is - their website says your application should be processed in the next business day. I gave them three days, I think that's fair. Hopefully by this weekend I will have my EBT card and can eat something besides tuna and beans.

First Day (version 1.0)

Today was my first day back in AmeriCorps. I'm calling it "version 1.0" because tomorrow is the official first day. Today was a "group leader" orientation, for those of us who have been in the Northwest Washington Reading Corps before. Most everyone else was on the team last year, so they all know each other, and then there's me. I did this three years ago. Wow.
We did a brief review of what we will be doing during the remainder of the week, because as small group leaders we will be facilitating some of the training. There are something like 80 members on our team, which is crazy and awesome at the same time. So small groups are pretty necessary.
We discussed the "Pillars" of the Washington Reading Corps. These 5 pillars describe what we as WRC members do. It's easy to say "I'm a reading tutor," but tutoring is only one of the five pillars.
We briefly went over the other four pillars, and we will be going over them in more detail with our small groups tomorrow.

The Five Pillars of the Reading Corps are:
Tutoring
Sustainability
Community Partnerships
Volunteering
Family Involvement

Although we can easily describe our jobs as "reading tutor," the other four carry just as much importance as the actual tutoring.

-Sustainability: We are trying to create programs in the schools that will last much longer than our year (or two) of service. Ideally, we want to create a system of volunteers so the program can continue without AmeriCorps support.

-Community Partnerships: Our goal is to create a strong connection between our schools and the local community. This includes training volunteers, creating community partnerships such as sponsoring events, and having events such as literacy nights at our schools. This is a big part of being in the WRC. My first year I spent a lot of time talking to community organizations and businesses, getting them to take part in one event or another. I hope to have even more success this year.

-Volunteering: We are, essentially, volunteers in the schools. We are lucky enough to participate in a program where the government supports us while we do this, but we are still volunteers. No one is getting rich in AmeriCorps. In addition to working in our schools, we do a lot of other service projects in our community. We also recruit volunteers to come into our schools as tutors and mentors.


-Family Involvement: According to The National PTA, when parents are involved, students achieve more and have a more positive attitude towards school, regardless of socio-economic status, ethnic/racial background, or the parents’ education level. Often, low-income and non-English speaking parents are unsure of how to become involved in their child's school. As WRC members, we organize family events, provide reading materials for children to take home (often in their native language), and many other things to include families in the education of their children. 
During my first year, my team was very successful in the Family Involvement Pillar. We organized some of the best family events our school had ever seen, and had a great time doing it. I hope to have similar, and better, events at my school this year.


So, tomorrow is the first "official" day of training. I'm looking forward to meeting my team members and learning more about how my year is going to go.