April 21

This week I had a good time with my mentee.  I had not been able to see her for 2 weeks, and I found that I actually missed her.  Each time I am there we work on reading, this week I happen to see a book there that I had read when I was her age.  I think the book is Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Clearly.  We took turn s reading the book and we had a really great time.  We were cracking up, because the kid writing the letters to Mr. Henshaw is really sarcasti and funny.  Anyway, we had a good time reading and laughing.  I was really excited when she asked if I was here for a couple more weeks so we could finish the book together.  What was cool was it seemed like we finally clicked! 

Something that has been bothering me for a few weeks is the way people refer to my mentee.  Before I had even met her, the leaders and other mentors warned me of her attitude and how out of control she can be.  I have yet to see this girl they warned me about.  The girl I mentor is great and funny.  There are times that she gets a little agitated, but from what I have seen, it is when she feels that the leaders are being unjust.  To be honest, I do not blame her, sometimes I am just as annoyed with the leaders as she gets.  Often I can curb her, and so she won't speak out.  Thei where I get to the part that annoys me.  Every kid in the class, and each leader I meet expects her to have an attitude.  Its like because they expect trouble she gives it, or because they expect it that is all they see.  It makes me sad, and defensive of her.  I do see that, what I see is a classroom full of kids who act out, kids with tons of attitude.  What I see is my mentee not being allowed to change.  I want to find a way to chage this perception.  In my family there is a story of my uncle, who, when he was young, would get into trouble.  He would pull all the food off the shelves, could climb up anything and get into anything.  He would hide and watch his family frantically look for him.  Because of this, his parents and family would tell his stories to others.  They called him "John John the Adam Bomb," and thus they created what they did not want.  My Grandma, when she figured out what they were doing, decided to stop.  She and my Grandpa began talking about John in positive ways, telling good stories about him, stopped calling hims "John John the Adam Bomb" and by doing this helped change the kid John had become.  It is the same story with mentee.  If I can show that I expect a great kid, with great attitude, and do so in a postive mannar, then maybe I can help shape her.  But, I need the leaders to got on board with me, meaning I think I need to talk with them.  I, and the leaders, need to be the change we want to see in my mentee.

I hope it will work, I'll keep you guys updated :)

April 14

This weeks class discussion was sad but interesting.  I found it surprising how it has only been in the past 40-50 years where we have seen women being helped and protected and recieving rights.  What made it surprising was the fact that it has been going on for forever.  The clip we watched about the women who has been in jail for 25 years, was really sad to watch.  It was surprising to see the number of women how have been incarcerated due to reasons related to self defense.  I wonder if that is just really hard to prove.  I think there is room for much more improvement and greater rights for abused women.

I did not have BLAST this week because my cite was on spring break.

April 7

This weeks discussion in class were really interesting and controversial.  The reading we did in class on Wednesday was particularly interesting to me.  This document was the proposal made by the Native Americans, petitioning to have Kennewick Man returned to them.  He explained about the beliefs that he and his people believe in and how the government has violating their beliefs as well as the laws protecting Native American traditions and culture.  Although there were many parts about his reasoning that I thought were less then persuasive, nevertheless he made me think.  I thought about the things I believe in based on religion, and I thought about how I would feel to be constantly disregarded like the Native Americans are.  I took a moment to reevaluate myself and how tolerant I was of other religions.  It was a good exercise and helped to recognize that there are many religions, cultures and beliefs out there, that should be respected.

Week 3-5

I really have enjoyed being a mentor through BLAST.  I look forward to seeing my mentee each week, and am excited to learn something new about her.  She is fun, energetic and enjoys creating drama, she cracks me up.  I like where I am interning, the kids a relatively respectful and the leaders allow the kids to be kids.  Something that has caught my attention, is how the surveys I take via America Learns, are not really tailored to what I am doing with my metee.  The cite and organization that I work with is very structured and planned.  We spend the first hour working on homework and academic learning and then the second hour is spent outside playing games with the class, as a whole.  There is not a lot of free time, and the surveys I take ask me questions about the types and lesson plans and strategies I use to help my mentee.  The reality of it is the cite does not allow time for me to really teach.  Also, my student is not really struggling with her homework, I correct words she mispronounces but that is it.  It seems to me that the surveys I take are a bit out of touch with the amount of freedom I am allowed, to actually teach, as a mentor.