Breaking in our boots!

Lianne, Me, Izzy, Jennifer


Last weekend was all about living in DC :) We went to the H-street festival....took jumping pictures in front of the capitol...and spent Sunday exploring the Botanical Gardens. It was nice to have a weekend to actually explore and do whatever we wanted rather than move or service or whoever knows what else has been going on each weekend.

Due to a great weekend I started the week in the right direction. Due to Hart MS not being quite ready to place us with the kids because students are being moved around we spent Monday and Tuesday observing, but still full-time in the school. The after school program as we discovered is a complete "hot-mess" as our team call it. Oh and I'm the after-school coordinator point person on my team so I've got a lot of work to do. I have to collaborate with someone from a nonprofit called Communities in Schools and he is so unorganized making it really hard for us to do what we want. As of now the few students that actually stay in extended day start off messing around in the auditorium and then head to different classes based on their grade level where a teacher puts on a mini lesson. From there the students head down to the cafeteria area and we do homework help with them, but all these transitions only make for a lot of wasted time! Our goal is to minimize that and ideally take over after school where we will be implementing After School Heroes (Hart Heroes), which is like the Heroes program I did in LA, but after school and not on weekends to teach the students service learning and talk about things they don't get in the classroom such as human rights, drugs and alcohol, the community, ageism, and many more. I can't wait to begin! I will be administering who on our team writes which lessons working with Meaza to plan service activities for them. The 7th graders are showing lots of interest, but the 8th graders are another story. On Wednesday some of my team mates were chanted at by them during lunch "F-you City Year, F-you," but as you can imagine they didn't abbreviate! That was rough! The students quickly learned my name because apparently there is a Sam on the Disney show iCarly and they think I look like her with dark hair because I've been wearing my hair curly because of the humidity. I can't seem much of a resemblance, so it could just be because I'm white girl, but I guess it works. I'll take it!

Wednesday morning we got our placements. I will be working with 7th graders in Read 180 class (a class that is focused on a research based method of teaching reading) and math class. I wasn't so thrilled at first because it wasn't my top choice, but once I stepped foot into first period my whole attitude changed! I switched with the same students to their math class where I must have blinked because they had to have downed an energy drink for this one. They were bouncing all over their seats and yelling to each other across the room. It's really incredible to see how different kids respond to different teaching types. I spent most of the day walking around helping students. That afternoon I met with both teachers to discuss how I will fit in their classes and to make sure I don't step on their toes as I am entering THEIR classrooms. Luckily, both teachers want to use me as almost a co-teacher and want me to implement behavior issues on my own...I am looking forward to it!

Thursday went really well now that I knew my place a little bit better. I'm still trying to learn their names, but getting there! You won't believe the names I'm dealing with. I already feel so invested in these children's lives. First period, one student kept leaving and apparently he's been kicked out of 3 middle schools already THIS year! Yes, I found out they send tough kids to Hart, then a place called Choice, then juvenile hall...crazy! Another student didn't want to do her work because she's scared of two girls that threatened to jump her earlier this year and her parents kept her home from school for a whole week trying to get the police involved with their families. It's so crazy to think about how students can't learn because they feel unsafe. I can't even recall a time feeling unsafe in my childhood for my life....ESPECIALLY at school!

Second period rolled around and one girl was crying with her head on her desk. I pulled her out to talk and she was sad because she is changing out of my Read 180 class and all her friends are in there and she likes the teacher already. She didn't want to go to the new class, but I had to explain to her that it is because she is too smart for the class and the new class will be a challenge for her and help her with her writing. I introduced her to my teammate, John, at lunch because he'll be in her new class. I had her sit in the back of the class with me in math to do her work (she's one of the smartest in the class) and by the end she was volunteering and answering questions infront of the whole class and so much happier. It made me so happy! I truely am loving them already :)

Friday was a hands-on, get dirty service day. We started off the day with a unity rally, which was so fun to see everyone once again since we've all been at our schools. Then we split up to four different sites. I was assigned to Tyler Elementary School where we gardened with children. It was so refreshing to around young ones :) Also, I was the only one from Hart at this school and really enjoyed working with new people! By the end of the day we were caked in dirt and playing in the hose like 4 year olds :)

Saturday I adventured with Izzy (my roommate), Graeme, and Dana to the Silver Springs Farmer's Market, which was so awesome. Downtown Silver Spring is so cute and had a ton of great vendors at the market. I even got fresh homemade honey yogurt! Yesterday afternoon I helped my friend move (as so many helped me I need to pay it back) and passed out by 10.

Today was a really awesome day as well. I woke up to rainy weather and ran to the National Mall (only 8 miles from my apartment!!!). I ventured to the Jefferson and FDR memorials that are off the mall and I hadn't seen yet. I loved them! It felt so magical and peaceful. I ended my 12 mile run at the base of the Washington Monument to stretch and debrief. It made me feel so good and ready for the Half Marathon I have coming up next month in San Francisco. I grabbed breakfast at Starbucks to stay warm and headed back on the metro....did some grocery shopping, laundry, then out to Chinatown to see the movie The Town, which was phenomenal, with City Year friends :) Just ate dinner and feel exhausted and it's only 8:30, but all ready for the week. Off to get some rest so I have energy to fight off the cold/flu everyone is getting!

Love always,

Ms. Sam :)

Oh yea...a little surprise...Saturday night we discovered another roommate we have living with us known as Stuart Little! I can do bugs...not rodents! Hopefully we'll catch him tonight....wish us luck on this one ;)