It is interesting to watch younger generations respond to various forms of inappropriate subjects. While playing the card game BS, both students playing made sure to alert me that the real meaning of “BS” was “bologna sandwich”. It is interesting that some forms of violence and inappropriate language are used in video games and the internet but forgotten elsewhere. For instance, most of the kids in the homework session talk about Fortnite and other games that involved taking down other players, but I have yet to hear any use of foul language. This is a good thing, but I cannot quite figure out why this is happening, especially if the internet makes it extremely easy to access anything. Hopefully, this will continue for as long as possible.

To be honest, I don’t remember a single thing that happened when I volunteered on January 30th. All I have to share with you guys is that it’s very important to do your blog posts around the same time you do the thing.

This would’ve been my sixth visit, though, so I can construct a memory very close to the actual one by inference. It was a very cold day. I supervised the kids as they built things. I gotta say, the creative output has declined over the course of the year. These kids are running dry. Some days it ends up being a lot more like babysitting until the parents come and pick everyone up. Some of the kids are incorrigible, and I genuinely worry for their development if they already resent following instructions this much. Watching Mr. Vitucci handle them continues to be an invaluable learning experience. He picks his battles and supplies levity when things get out of hand.

— Hartek

My first week of BJM this semester was a wonderful start to future visits. I had been looking forward to it, as always, but didn’t realize just how much I had missed the commute, the environment, and the kids until I went. It was a much needed break from the stress of school work.

Ms. Stacy greeted me with open arms, expressing her excitement for my return. The feeling of belonging that one gets volunteering at BJM is remarkable. The staff and kids are always welcoming and eager. I was also welcomed warmly by my two favorite ladies from the craft room, Mrs. Sarah and Mrs. Patel, who were anxious to hear about my break and tell me about theirs. There were new kids playing in the craft room that Thursday, I only recognized two. Most of them were playing with blocks but the three little girls sitting next to me were drawing Valentine’s cards, it was Valentine’s Day after all. We must have made about 10 cards, each containing “at least 50 hearts!” as one of the girls put it. The fact that Mrs. Patel had given the girls more markers than they could handle resulted in many multicolor hearts, ranging from all the traditional colors in the Rainbow to every one in between.

The colors quickly became the subject of conversation as the girls (the boys sneakily joined in after a while) began a guessing game. Mrs. Sarah, Mrs. Patel, and I were to guess the kids’ favorite colors, but, of course, they didn’t pick the traditional colors, they were much too bright for that. So we sat there, with three guesses each, trying to figure out the intricate minds of 6-7 year olds.

“Green?” “Blue?” “Purple?” —- “No! Shiny red!”

And that’s how the rest of the hour went, accompanied by a chorus of loud giggles.

As always, my BJM visit revealed something significant about children and the value of devoting time to them. They are capable of doing such grand and clever things simply by having the littlest bit of determination and encouragement. The kids wanted to win the guessing game and make it last as long as possible, so they decided from the beginning to only pick detailed colors since those were not easy to guess. By the end of the game, no one was guessing colors like “yellow,” but more like “sparkly light yellow.” Rather than correcting this strategy (because, let’s be honest, the odds were far from fair), we encouraged the creativity which not only resulted in a very interesting and fun game, but made the kids beam proudly with their success.

All they need is a little encouragement, a little encouragement in their creativity, and they will invent the most stimulating and efficient of things, such as our Rainbow guessing game that simply started with a few hearts.

My first day back at the elementary school was pleasant. My usual volunteer space, in the Creator’s Space, was quieter than usual. Today I sat with a small group of kids playing apples to apples with the other teacher. He is a loud, sarcastic, Italian man, and seriously he cracks me up. While they played, I drew little cartoon doodles of fruit. These colorful animations caught the eyes of the kids and I could tell they liked them. I told them all to pick a food and I will draw it for them. They were beaming with excitement! Funny enough, the requested foods were green beans, a giant cherry, and a small strawberry. They loved them! It was cute to see how pleased they were from such a quick little drawing I made specially for them. It reminded me that even small acts of kindness can make someone’s day.

My first week back volunteering was a really pleasant experience. I was really happy to see the two teachers that I worked with after having not seen them for over a month, and they were happy to see them as well. The friendship I’ve developed with the teachers has been one of the most meaningful aspects of volunteering, as they inspire me with their dedication to teaching and their positive attitudes towards life. I look forward to another semester of volunteering!

I started my first day of fieldwork for the semester today at Beverley J. Martin Elementary. This semester I attend the A+ program on Tuesdays from 3pm-4pm, and today I was assigned to the art room. I recognized some faces and saw some new ones, but moreover I met more of the A+ staff. I find it important to make connections and talk to people who have experience and learn from them. In the field of education you learn a lot as you go. Today I was in the art room and was surrounded by markers, crayons, fabric and paper. It has been awhile since I’ve been in a creative environment. I found it quite shocking that some of the students weren’t interested in the task at hand, and one student even said “I’m bored.” I tried my best to try to give them ideas, but struggled myself to come up with something creative to suggest. Today I learned the importance of creativity in the classroom. I’m so used to being in an academic environment where I’m absorbing an abundant amount of information, and I’m not really challenged to use my creativity. I hope that throughout my time at the school I will be able to increase my create skills.