Day 5

        Since Seattle Public Schools were having their Mid-Winter Break between February 20-24^th, there was no school and no Brain Train for students during those days. Instead, I participated in the Reflection Sessions that Seattle University Graduate Students organized for the volunteers at Bailey Gatzert. The first session I attended was called “Education Equity” and it made me more aware of the difference between the definition of equality and equity. We defined the educational gaps with a deeper knowledge of the roots and manifestations of educational inequity, gaps, and barriers because knowing and understanding these terms helps begin/further multicultural competence.

            A good definition that was brought up by the group leader of the session was an example of two students taking the SATs. They both have the same opportunity to take the SATs, one student can afford it and the other student has financial needs to he or a waiver fee accompanies her for the SAT. This represents the equality between the two students. However, one student can afford to pay for a SAT tutor and other services that help students on the SAT. The other student, who is not financially enable to pay for the SAT test, is also enable to pay for a tutor or other services. This represents equity because although both students have the same opportunity to take the SAT test, one student has a better opportunity to more resources to get a better score.

            This session relates to the Brain Train program at Bailey Gatzert because although all students have the same equality and opportunity to attend school to learn, they do not learn at the same pace and sometimes need special attention to fully understand all the concepts taught. Students have equality by going to school, but do not have equity in school. This is why the Brain Train program is a great program to balance out the equality and equity in public schools.

            The second session was called “Building Bridges across cultures” and it made me more aware of the ethnocentric tendencies and possible impacts on multicultural diversity. During the session, we went over common scenarios of how ethnocentric beliefs impact the young minds in school.ne scenario was about two boys, at the age of eight. One child asked the other what he was going to dress up as for Halloween, and the boy responds, “I do not celebrate Halloween, that is the devil’s day.” The other boy responds, “Oh, you are weird.” This scenario is common, especially in a diverse public school with students at that age. In a situation like that, one can only make the two students realize that the world is consisted of diverse people and to be open with everyone’s religion and beliefs.

            The workshop was very beneficial to me because it was a great opportunity to share and reflect on my experiences at Bailey Gatzert Elementary so far, as well as get to know other students who have been serving at the school. 

Day 4

Today was a productive day, as I began to help Alexia complete her homework packet. If she finished her homework packet, she would not have to bring it home to complete it so we were both determined to use the opportunity for her to finish her packet before Brain Train ended.

            “Are you excited to learn, Alexia?” I asked her, while she was eating her goldfish crackers and drinking her chocolate milk.

            “Yes! I need to finish the math part. I do not like subtraction. I like math though, it is very fun.”

            She was motivated to not only complete her homework packet, but was willing to learn. Her motivation to learn reminded me of Dan Pink’s video that he made about motivation. That people are motivated to do things not for rewards, but their drive and for themselves. Alexia wanted to complete her homework packet so she could learn more and practice more math problems. Alexia began to do her homework problems and had trouble with the subtraction problems. I helped with her subtraction by using my fingers to subtract. This method helped her a lot because she could visualize the numbers and how many were being subtracted. After she finished her homework packet, she thanked me for helping her and teaching her. This surprised me because this was the first time she said “thank you” to me for helping her.

            At the next station in Brain Train was the computer lab. I told Alexia to quickly pick a computer so she could start using the math simulators and she obediently listened, which made me happy because she did not run around the room looking for a certain computer like the last time we had computer lab time during Brain Train. After completing her assignments in the computer lab, the group headed over to the library to learn some more Math.

            Alexia was behaving so well until the group went to the library for the next station. She began picking up the deck of cards on the table and throwing them on the floor. This made me frustrated because she was misbehaving out of nowhere. With no previous indications of misbehavior, she began to run around the library frantically searching for a pencil. In a tern voice, I told her to quickly take a seat and try to calm her down. It took a good five minutes until she finally listened. 

Day 3.

Since the Wednesday after school program was cancelled due to early dismissal day for the school district, I continued my day three of volunteering at Bailey Gatzert on Thursday. The day began in the reading room where the students had to study sight words. If the students read the word wrong, they had to write it down on a piece of paper and configure a sentence using the word. Alexia was very excited to see me and quickly ran over to the table where I was sitting. Alexia recited the set of sight words five times with little mistakes. The most frustrating thing about going through the sight words was not having an eraser. First graders are always so picky about their pencils, and Alexia was one of them. She did not have an eraser so she was running frantically around the room trying to find an eraser. She would not listen to me when I asked her to sit down, which was very exasperating because I had asked her to calm down and sit down multiple times. After the fifth time of asking her, she finally obeyed.

The next station was the math station, which the students had to fill in the missing numbers to count to the number “100.” If the students were to finish early, they had a chance to play a board game. Alexia was one of the first ones to finish and it made me content that she was academically improving in her math because she did not need my help and she was confident in her answers. Alexia and her classmate both finished their worksheets early and had a chance to play the “Sum Swamp” board game. It was surprising that Alexia was sharing and taking turns rolling the die with her classmate because she usually wants to be the dominant student in the class. I was very happy to see Alexia sharing and being kind to her other peers.

The way the students are learning through the program “Brain Train” is similar to the production-line mentality that Sir Robinson provides to explain the education system. Students at Bailey Gatzert participate in the after school program Brain Train to improve their learning abilities and skills. They are taught in different groups according to their learning skills that illustrate the “batches” that Robinson also explains in his article. Some students learn at a faster pace than others, and Alexia is one of those students. 

Day 2.

            My second day volunteering at Bailey Gatzert was just as fun as the first day with Alexia. The first station we went to was homework completion. A group of the tutors stayed in the same classroom to wait for our kids to get settled into desks next to each of us. Alexia was the first student to come running in, so she could sit next to me on the desk. We had to help them complete their homework packets, after they finished their snacks of Teddy Grams and Chocolate milk. The batch of students was so calm eating their snacks, and did not want to be bothered by anyone. Very talkative and excited, Alexia asked me where I was from, what my age was, and what my favorite things to do were. I answered and asked the same questions to her, adding on a “how was your day?” Alexia happily answered my questions and quickly finished her snack.

            After the kids finished eating their snacks, a game of “heads up seven up” was played, and then the homework packets were distributed. Alexia started off with word problems, which she had some trouble with. She read the sentences slowly, trying to pronounce all the words correctly. The standard of the assignment was to draw a picture to illustrate the problem, write an equation, and solve. Alexia became distracted with her work and began to draw people instead of drawing out snowballs for the word problems. It was frustrating trying to get Alexia to focus and back on track. She solved the problems easily, but refused to write the equation down. I asked her over and over again, in a calm voice, to draw the correct pictures and she listened. It was amazing how obedient she was when I asked her to nicely do things.

            The next station was the computer station, and the students had to solve math problems on the computer program. Alexia was very familiar with the operations on the computer and enjoyed her time on the computer solving the math problems. It amazed me that she did not get any wrong, and understood the material presented to her. The program had sound to it and we had to both wear headphones so we could hear the sound effects and help our student if they were stuck on a certain problem. Alexia kept asking if I could hear the sound effects well and was nice enough to trade headphones if mine did not work. The effects of the arts and interaction on the computer with technology helped Alexia focus more because she did not disrupt the class or misbehave. Affirming Robinson’s claim, technology should be an emphasis in the classroom, and be introduced to children at an early age for growth and development. Alexia is a perfect example of this statement, because her attitude was calm and she was more focused on getting through with the math problems. 

Day 1.

           During the orientation for service learning, one of the coordinators at Bailey Gatzert was sharing her experiences she went through volunteering at the elementary school, both good and bad. She had mentioned a particular girl who is very intelligent for her age discourse, but always misbehaves and is disrespectful to her teachers and peers. For instance, instead of going to the bathroom when given permission to, she went outside to the field and ran around with the soccer players during practice and the situation went out of control. She would not listen to teachers, or she would always be the student who is never in line, but wandering around. The coordinator told us that the girl is a non-mainstream student who has two older brothers who act rough around her, which is a possible reason why the girl always misbehaves.

            Ironically, on my first day volunteering at Bailey Gatzert, I was paired up with the exact same child, Alexia. I was helping Alexia with the “Brain Train” program, which is a program after school that helps students in first grade improves their reading, writing, comprehension, and math skills. At the reading and writing station, Alexia read the words on the flashcards quickly and wrote them correctly, with no mistakes on her piece of paper. However, from time to time, she would look up at the ceiling and talk about off topic subjects, trying to redirect my attention away from helping her complete her assignments. Alexia cannot stay still, and I would always have to tell her, “sit up please, Alexia” to remind her to stop misbehaving. Although she did misbehave, she completed her assignment correctly with very few errors and in a quick amount of time.

            At the next station, which was math, the students played a game of freeze-tag to release some of their energy so they could concentrate better on their assignment. Full of energy, Alexia ran around the room trying to tag her peers during the game. The laughter and excitement the students gave off created a happy atmosphere in the room. When the game was finished, I had helped Alexia count to the number 100 by 2’s, and then by 5’s. Smart as she is, Alexia did not need my help and correctly counted to the number 100 by herself. Alexia is a very intelligent student, but she sometimes misbehaves to get attention from the teacher or her peers. I am looking forward to continue tutoring her throughout the quarter.

Profile of Service Learning Site: Bailey Gatzert Elementary School

Located in the neighborhood of Capitol Hill, Bailey Gatzert Elementary School opened in September 1988. Capitol Hill contains a mix of White, Asian, African American, Hispanic, White and Asian, and "Other" races. However, the White race alone is dominant in the neighborhood. An average income in the neighborhood is about $68,653 dollars. With a population of 40,078 citizens living in the area of Capitol Hill, around 324 students are enrolled in Bailey Gatzert. A mixture of Indian (2%), African American (43%), Hispanic (24%), Asian/Pacific Islander (21%), White (4%), and Multiracial (6%) is the ethnic makeup at Bailey Gatzert. The diversity of students and location of the campus has interested Seattle University to help advance the educational conditions at Bailey Gatzert.  

It has been announced on King5 news that Seattle University is dedicated in improving the conditions at Bailey Gatzert. Being a Jesuit University dedicated in helping the community, Seattle University has donated about $1 million towards the Seattle University Youth Initiative. The Youth Initiative is a program that organizes the University students into community projects as simple as becoming tutors or mentors at Bailey Gatzert Elementary School. My expectation for working at Bailey Gatzert is to make an impact on at least one student. I am hoping to help accomplish their goals by giving them advice and suggestions when they are confused about a situation they are in. Although they are elementary school students, I am hoping to spark an initiative or idea of what they want to grow up to become.