time is flying

it's been over a month since i've written in the blog and every night when i come home i think, ok, today is the day, i'm going to get a few lines out. but where am i right now? the office, waiting for carla to cut her own hair so we can get out of here and go to the gym after a long day of young heroes.

young heroes - part of the city year continuum, providing a city year experience on 3 saturdays a month for dedicated middle schoolers january - may exploring social justice issues.

today's topic was racism/prejudices. i've come before because even though i'm not a team leader for the program or even on the young heroes team (the city year corps members that run the program), i've been to support my fellow corps members in what i consider an awesome thing.

they get up on saturdays and educate middle school kids about perspectives on life and provide a place for safe discussion on seemingly taboo topics like race. they force the kids and themselves out of boxes and into an open area where as long as things/ideas are said and received respectfully (you don't have to agree, but you do have to listen) then all is well.

in the morning we did a few exercises that brought up stereotypes in the media through an exercise called four corners. each corner of the room is labeled strongly agree, agree, disagree, strongly disagree. the facilitator reads a statement and then the participants silently move to the column/corner that they believe is accurate. so if the facilitator said, m&m's are better than skittles, i'd move to the strongly agree corner because that is what i believe. then there's a few minutes allowed for discussion within each group and then a larger group discussion where each group picks one representative to speak. then usually there is a time where the facilitator will ask if anyone wants to change places based on what they have heard and had time to absorb. usually people move. a few, not many.

then we did some snap debates. the facilitator reads a scenario or statement and tells each side to defend their point. and then the two sides switch. so sometimes you are put into a position where you have to defend that nazi germany was a good thing even though in your heart you believe it was the worst thing that could've ever happened in the history of the world. it pushes everyone to open up and discuss and think creatively, which is absolutely wonderful to see middle school kids doing that.

i've been coming on and off now for a while to these saturdays and its been incredible to see these kids grow and mature. even though sometimes they are still going balls out, its cool because they are growing up -- but with a mind that can change the world.

(i'm going to backtrack to some important things that happened in february and early march so keep an eye out for those!)

words on routine

we've fallen, most of my team, into a jaded state, where we don't really believe in ourselves and sometimes think of ourselves as the victims of the very system we are struggling to defy.

its disconcerting, but it must come with the routine of our every day lives. while each day holds the potential to be beautiful and different when taking into account each and every wonderful detail, i think of the larger, ok this block of time is literacy, this block of time my teacher will most likely send me out to make copies of things he didn't do himself, etc. and it gets me down. and then i don't even spend that much time with my small 5th graders anyway because when i do get into the classroom, i get sent out to make copies. that doesn't really make me feel engaged in any way, shape or form in the experience. sometimes i don't even go to class because i know i'll get kicked out to make 100 worthless math busy work packets for the 5th grade (two of each kind) which will take me forever because the machine ran out of staples or the machine itself isn't working or it overheats, etc. yes, this would take up my teacher's time during the day, but that's why he stays after... or is it? i know i'm not being fair sometimes and that teachers don't have all the time in the world, but i wish i were being used wisely as an instrument for the students and not for my teacher.