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!)

fulfilling the dream

(photo from the bulletin news, inc - article)
usually on MLK day, city year as an organization (across all sites) hosts a day of service. well, in boston, we are different and this year MJ and rachel (tireless corps members like myself) decided that it would be best to have a peace march honoring dr. martin luther king's legacy and as a kick off to the heroes program, both the city heroes (high school students) and the young heroes (middle school students).

the students in the heroes programs are led by diverse team leaders (from city year and the community) through lots of saturdays and overnights (depending on the program) that are about social justice issues. the programs provide a city year like experience and the idea is that they are part of a continuum that will eventually help to create the civic-minded leaders of tomorrow/future city year corps members. the students also participate in service activities that are related to that saturday's lesson. the programs are basically two service-learning programs run entirely by city year corps members from january to may/june.

the march was incredible because despite the cold weather, the auditorium of the middle school that we had the opening ceremonies in was packed. there were people filling in the sides of the auditorium standing. it mimicked our opening day ceremonies for city year boston very closely and i felt like i was reliving my own experience in a way. mayor menino was there to speak to the heroes and it was nice to hear that and have him there for them. he is very dedicated to city year and our cause as part of the national service movement. he was also present at our opening day back in october.

i didn't actually get to participate in the event because i was part of the look & feel crew. i showed up 2 hours early to the middle school (and yes, i was late because i couldn't find the right color of socks-- we're only allowed to wear neutral winter colored socks and all i could find were my baby blue hiking socks) to help set up what city year calls the look & feel.
1) are there enough logos representing all of our sponsors?
2) is the event properly branded (this goes beyond the logos)?
3) are the tables in the right place?
4) anything goes.

it was fun definitely, we also had to go out to the office and to home depot on a water run that took about an hour because driving in boston is not that fun. we didn't drive, but being in the back of a rented van lying down was fabulous since i haven't gotten that much sleep in the last couple weeks since we've been back.

i felt estranged from my team, because i was the only one from the team that was on look & feel and i think it was then that i realized how much i relied on them for support. they got to be power greeters for all of the super important guests (like mayor menino and the heroes) outside while i was running around inside with risers, banners that wouldn't fit frames, tables, tablecloths, extra cy logos, etc.

while everyone was marching, look & feel and the event crews were running around inside for the 40 minutes (even though it felt like less) resetting everything for the closing ceremonies. the principal of the school served lunch , but i didn't even feel like eating at all and plus i was helping to load up the vans and break everything down when the corps and the heroes and parents were eating.

then, hilla and i went back to the office to work on this week's exciting love & joy crew things for ATA (advanced training academy).

teacher breakfast

we had a breakfast with our teachers last thursday in which we discussed our roles on the team. each of the corps members stood up and said, this is what i do when i am not in your classroom. i feel like, i do a lot outside of the classroom. last week there were two nights that i left the office at 9:30 and then 10pm. this week, as of yet, has been much better due to the fact that i left on monday at 5pm! read that, FIVE pm, BEFORE SIX PM. and i was out of the city of boston by 7pm and sitting down to eat dinner (delicious, home-made dinner) before 8pm, which is when i would've normally left the office on a monday.

yes, city year is eating me alive. sometimes i don't like it. other times i am the one pushing myself to stay late and do work that i need to do because i am committed to it. but one of my goals is to not be at the office late every night and so far i have succeeded mostly.

my kids are enjoying the math that i teach them in the mornings, i did the 24 game on tuesday of this week and today i showed them how to recognize numbers that are evenly divisible by three. there is supposed to be a packet of math that i am supposed to teach them from, but my teacher hasn't given it to me so basically, i make up things on the spot and get them to compete against each other, or push them to come up with multiple solutions in groups at their tables. i am a fan of group work. i don't think they get enough opportunities to work as a group. as such, most of the math work they end up doing for me is done in a group.

i also made myself a new wallet (since my last one was either stolen or lost) out of clear tape with paper inside of it, so it looks pretty stellar from the outside (like a collage). it only took four hours, which i think is not bad, considering i haven't made a duct-tape wallet or anything of the sort in so long.