Sunday, June 13, 2010

A Very Special Girl!!

Well, the first week of camp flew by, but it was great. I have such a great group of girls this summer...they have so much personality but are cooperative and sweet at the same time. I feel like I've been running non-stop all week though because I want so much to really do a good job and make sure that I am planning quality activities that are engaging, educational, and fun for the girls. But when you are on a limited budget with limited supplies and resources, that can be a lot of hard work! But fortunately, I had the help of one of the best assistants ever this week...Dezeray!!

Dezeray has truly amazed me this week. I think some of you have heard me talk about her in the past. She was my student my first year at Pearl C. Anderson when she was in sixth grade. She was in my book club all three years while at Pearl C. which is where we grew close. Last summer, she came with our Central Dallas group on Wilderness Trek, which she absolutely loved and considered to be a life-changing experience. She just finished her freshman year and is now 15, and has decided to spend the summer volunteering at Circle of Support with me.

I just can't say enough about Dezeray. She has been through quite a bit in her few years, but she has such a good head on her shoulders and remains focused on her goals and being an example for her friends and her siblings. She loves to learn and try new things and she has such a sweet spirit. While many kids her age have absolutely no desire to do anything unless they are going to get "paid", Dezeray jumped at the chance to volunteer with me at the camp. The first day I picked her up, but the rest of the week she insisted on catching the bus and train to get there, although it is about an hour and a half ride from her house to the camp. She said that she has to learn how to be independent and get around on her own because someday she will have a job and she can't always depend on other people to get her where she needs to be. Although she never had used the DART system that extensively, she figured it out and was early every day this week to camp. Dezeray is the assistant for sixth grade and has the job of helping the girls transition from class to class, to lunch, to afternoon activities, etc. and also helping the teachers in each class. She had to corral 30 rambunctious girls all week, which is very tiring, but she worked hard and did it with a smile. She was willing to help me with anything I asked, and believe me, I worked her. In fact, I think she worked harder than many of the paid youthworkers at camp (the camp hires several high school students every year to serve as assistants) and never complained. But more than that, Dezeray is making such an effort to get to know each of her girls and develop a relationship with them. Several times I caught her spending time with some of the more quiet and withdrawn girls, trying to make them feel comfortable and welcome. All week she would come up to me with her observations about different girls and why they might be acting in certain ways and how she planned to work with them on various behaviors. Her maturity and concern and desire to mentor these younger girls was so impressive to me. I am so glad that she is going to be helping me all summer and I am thankful for the opportunity to spend more time with her. She just has so much potential and is just so special to me. I am so proud of her for the way she respects herself and her family, for her willingness to work hard, for her willingness to be different than everyone around her, for her focus on her future, and for her sweet and loving personality. I am confident you will be hearing much more about Miss Dezeray and her accomplishments in the future! :-)

Friday, June 4, 2010

Great Kids!!

I've been a bit emotional over the past week or so as I've watched this year's eighth graders move on from Pearl C. Anderson to high school. This year's group was just extra special to me. First of all, they were the last group I actually taught. I had many of them as sixth graders for language arts the last year before I become librarian, so I had a special bond with them because of that. Secondly, there were several in the group that I knew even before Pearl C. Anderson, some I've known since they were in third grade at H.S. Thompson. All year long I dreaded when the eighth grade reading classes came to the library because, like most eighth grade classes, they were at a stage of being extremely difficult....playing too much and being too grown at the same time. There were definitely students in this group that made life hard for everyone at this school. But there were also LOTS of really good kids...really smart kids...kids with a lot of potential in this group who I am going to miss so much.

I'm going to miss Curtis. Curtis is one of the ones I've known since third grade when he was in our ASA and I also taught him in sixth grade. Curtis has always been an outstanding kid...polite, smart, creative, funny. And Curtis is a big reader so I saw him almost every other day in the library this year. I guess it paid off because he got a perfect score on his TAKS Reading test! And he got accepted to DISD's Middle College High School at El Centro, where he will be taking college courses for dual credit and graduate high school with enough credits for an associate's degree! I am so proud of him and know he is going to be very successful in life.





I'm going to miss Lea. Lea is the former sixth grade student that I blogged about earlier who has become an avid reader. In fact, we already have plans to visit the public library together this summer. I will miss Lea coming in almost every day to chat with me about books and about life. Lea has a really good head on her shoulders and isn't caught up in all of the distractions that get other young girls off track. She is so mature and that is rare. I'm going to miss her expertise on books for sure, though, but hopefully she'll still keep me updated on what's good!



I'm going to miss Carmen, Antoyrie, and Zhamarya. I had these girls in sixth grade...all are VERY smart and sweet. They also were in my girls' book club the past couple of years. Carmen is brilliant and has been accepted at Townview, one of the top high schools in the country. Antoyrie is going to spend her summer volunteering at the Science Place. These girls have always been good students, respectful and responsible and eager to learn and participate in positive things. These are girls I definitely have to keep in touch with...in fact, Antoyrie is going to come exercise/work out with me next week! :-)



I'm going to miss Chantecy. She is another former student who came in almost every day to vent to me about something, but that provided lots of opportunity for "mentoring" and chats about some important things. Chantecy isn't quite as focused as some of the other girls I've mentioned, though I do believe she has potential...but may need a little closer guidance to keep from getting caught up in the wrong stuff.





These are just a few in this class that have a soft place in my heart...there are many more. I just get so attached to kids, even the ones that were getting on my last nerve every time I saw them this year! At their eight-grade walkacross ceremony last Friday, it just really hit me how much love I have for this group and how sad I am to see them go. It's really hard to keep in touch with students when they move on and so I know that in many cases, I won't see these kids again. I won't ever know what becomes of many of them. At the same time, I felt guilty because I also realized how much I had taken for granted the time I had with them. I had three years with most of these kids. Did I do my best for them? Did I give them everything I had to offer? Did I make the best impact I could on them? Unfortunately, I can't always say that I did, and now I wish for a little more time with them. But they're gone...off to high school. And all I can do is try to keep in touch with the ones I can and pray for the ones I can't. And try harder to give all I've got to next year's kids so I won't have any regrets when I see them go.

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Summer Already!!!

Wow! It seems like I was just blogging about last year's summer camp and here we are at the beginning of another! Every year I really look forward to the close of the madness of public school for a refreshing break at Circle of Support summer camp where I have worked for the past four summers. This year, interestingly enough, the camp will be held at H.S. Thompson Learning Center, which is the elementary school down the street from Turner Courts where all my ASA kids used to go. I spent a lot of time visiting kids and volunteering there when I worked at CDM, so it's a familiar place. But what is so strange is driving down the street to where Turner Courts used to be and there is NOTHING. It is completely gone. That always leaves me with a strange feeling because on one hand, I have a lot of great memories of people and kids and the after school program and playing basketball and meeting people like Wyshina and Khris' family that have been a big part of my life. But on the other hand, I know that Turner Courts had a myriad of issues and problems and that a revitalization was needed. However, it doesn't look like much is happening in that area right now. But I digress. I was talking about summer camp.

I really feel fortunate every year to have this opportunity. I am more and more concerned all the time about the lack of options for kids during the summer in this area. Even though I did not grow up participating in sports teams or traveling to summer camps or enrolling in enrichment activities, the community I lived in was very different than the one these kids live in. My mom was home with us. It was safe and sheltered. We visited the library every week and I read voraciously, which was my way of learning about the world outside of Farwell, Texas. My family also took a trip each summer where I got to see lots of different places and environments. But the kids that I work with every day live in a much different world. It is not always safe and sheltered. Parents aren't always home. They have limited knowledge and exposure to anything other than the immediate culture around them. And while there are many positive things in communities like South Dallas, there are also a lot of negative things that easily entice young people into lifestyles that ultimately trap them right where they are at. That's why I have come to believe so strongly in just giving kids experiences as part of their education. I hate that there are so few options for parents in South Dallas as far as quality programming for their kids. There are a couple of city recreation centers and a Boys and Girls Club, and even though what they provide for the kids has value, I feel these kids need so much more. They need camps like the ones at CDM and the one I work for at Circle of Support. Programs that provide academics and enrichment, programs that allow kids to try new things and meet new people and just get glimpses of other lifestyles and cultures. Last year my 5th and 6th grade girls got to learn lacrosse, got to go kayaking, got to learn how to make sushi, got to learn about the history of blues music at the House of Blues....and so much more. All of these experiences add to their schema and enrich their understanding and help give them a foundation for dreaming dreams and setting goals for their life that extend beyond the limited opportunities around them. I just love being a part of that so much and wish that we could include more kids!!

Every spring I have the intention of doing a lot of preparation in advance so I can make my class super-powerful...and every year I find myself a week before camps starts with just a big collection of stuff I've gathered that I might want to use and then faced with task of figuring out how to work it all together. So now that today is the last day of school and camp starts on Monday, I will be spending the weekend feverishly putting together my plans, making copies, and getting ready for my favorite 8 weeks of the year! Hopefully I will have some interesting posts throughout the summer about all the things we are learning and experiencing at camp!