So we do not have reading for this week and I will be honest this blog post may not be my best one yet seeing as I wrote about 30 pages this weekend and read well over 100.
It is nearing the end of the semester. We have read many wonderful readings so far, and some not to wonderful (i.e. Why Johnny Can’t Write) for this class. As i reflect on the ghosts of readings past I am trying to see how i have changed as a student through this class. From Ms. Deborah Brant I learned to reflect on those people who i have been blessed to call sponsors throughout my life as well as those who I have had the privilege to be a sponsor for. This past weekend I had the great honor of being invited to one of my camper’s, let us call her Anna, Urban Impact Choir concerts. As the semester has progressed I have seen many ways that I have been a sponsor of her literacy. It all started back in the middle of summer when I had Anna at Pine Valley Bible Camp for one week. She was a very homesick camper who could barely sleep through the night without crying about missing her mom. It was at camp that I taught Anna to write a letter home. During rest hour each day we would sit near her bunk and work out a simple letter home to her mom explaining what she did that day and how much she missed her family. I did not realize at the time how big of an impact I had on Anna’s life.
Anna writes me letters about once every two weeks. She is nine years old and lives in the North Side of Pittsburgh. She does not go to a really good school and therefore does not get to do a lot of creative writing. It has been incredible watching Anna improve her writing ability just in our biweekly letters. They get longer, more personal, and better in terms of grammar and spelling. When I saw Anna this weekend, I was so proud of how much she has changed since I last saw her at camp. Not only is she taller and has longer hair now, but she is really developing into an incredible young person. She is learning more each day, and I have the unique opportunity to help her grow as a child of literacy.
So my question for you dear reader is do you have an “Anna” in your life? If so please write about it in the comments.
It is so great that even at our young age we can be sponsors for someone’s literacy, and since we are learning about it, it is interesting to see that you recognize that and can be proud of it. To be honest, “Anna” sounds exactly like the type of camper I was, and to have someone like you who was willing to comfort me really boosted confidence, so I can ensure you that “Anna” appreciates all of your help. For me, my “Anna(s)” would be my little cousins, who I attempted to “teach” when we were younger (mind you, they are about six-seven years younger than I am, so I had LOADS of information to share). I would show them how to write cursive, how to write letter in general actually, and also how to do math problems (that I actually probably couldn’t do myself, so my apologizes to them…however, they seemed to have turned out just fine). But as you seem to indirect say, this type of relationship only brings you closer to the person you are sponsoring, and I would agree with that. My younger cousins and I are like brother and sister (or sister and sister), the boy is in tenth grade and the girl is in ninth grade, and we share so much with each other. The relationship that we have with each other now has likely formed due to the relationship that we had before when I tried to be their teacher. Me being there to help them probably communicated the idea that I will always be there to help them. Think about it, I’m sure that everyone has had a teacher who they connect with on a personal level and go to for more than just homework help (life problems, fighting with friends, etc.), and I’m sure that teacher is still in your life (if not, I’m sure you have the happiest of memories when you think about them). I would say that the same idea applies to us, even though we aren’t teachers, we have shaped someone for the better.
I love this! I’m so glad that you made such an impact on someone and can see her grow and change into a great girl. This is one of the main reasons I want to be a teacher. I plan to get a degree in secondary special education and English education, but what I really want to do is work within special education to work with the kids who hate reading and writing. Whether they hate reading and writing because they have a learning disability that makes it difficult or because they have other problems at home or in life, I want to help my students find a love of the English language and literature. It seems that you have done this for someone already, and I’m ecstatic about it. Obviously I don’t know anything about this little girl, but you must be a great positive influence in her life.
I am a gymnastics coach at home and it absolutely kills me when I have to leave them to come back to school. I spend about twenty hours a week with my gymnasts through their practice schedule and have become something of a mentor to all of them. I love watching them grow and get more confident in their abilities throughout the four months I am home every summer so I definitely understand the feeling you get from helping someone and seeing the changes as they mature and learn new skills (whether it is writing style and sophistication or a back handspring on beam). I guess what I’m saying here is that I hope you continue to have an impact on someone throughout your life (I have no doubt that you will) because clearly you are someone kids looks up to!
This is so cute. I worked with Jumpstart for my first two years of college and was lucky enough to be in the same classroom for those two years, so I got to see a lot of the same kids. I was so shocked coming back in October and seeing how much those kids had grown and how much more they knew. I couldn’t believe it. I often fantasize about teaching in Pittsburgh and encountering them in ten or so years, which is totally feasible. I wouldn’t know what to do if I saw them but I just hope that they become geniuses and that I can see some imprint from my two years with them.
For the past year and a half I’ve been working with MGR Youth Empowerment, a nonprofit that provides art, health, and environmental consciousness programs to under-resourced youth in Pittsburgh Public Schools. I’ve worked with a lot of students in this amount of time, but I don’t think I have had a lasting impact on a particular individual.
The problem I experience is that I’m not at the school sites consistently, aside from our work in the summer, where I’m at a single site for six weeks. Throughout the school year I make occasional visits to any one of 11 different sites, depending on which teaching artist requests assistance.
Because I encounter these different groups for a small amount of time in their educational lives, I feel I need to be a super teacher for that session. I don’t know what that means exactly, but I try to be as interested as possible in the students. I always play a name-oriented warm up game so I can learn at least that and be able to address them as individuals. I make my rounds and ensure that I give one on one attention to each student.
As a student, I value personal connection and rapport with a teacher or professor. I want that person to know me as a person first, a student second, so I make sure to direct my efforts toward getting to know my students.