Blog Post 2: Written

I now have about 4.5 hours logged of volunteer time with my service learning organization, the Lexington Public Library Village Branch. Once I get there and start helping a kid, time flies by. I am still enjoying my time volunteering with the kids. Those 4.5 hours have been split over 2 visits, and generally, I spend a lot of my time helping children with reading homework. Below is a picture of one of the books I helped a child read. He loved all the animals and colors in the book, and laughed every time he struggled with the word “would.”

Another subject I help a lot of kids with is math. Since I’m not super math-minded, I’m always afraid that I won’t remember learning the topic they are going over in school at the time, but I always end up being able to easily help out since the kids are young and the math isn’t advanced. We do lots of addition, subtraction (or as one child called it, “taking away from,”) multiplication, division, word problems, and some of the older kids even solve equations. During my last visit, I helped a 6^th grader solve his equations (like the ones below.)

Overall, the kids never cease to amaze me. I gain a new respect for elementary school teachers every time I am there because I repeatedly realize how hard it can be to explain a simple concept such as, “why an E is silent on the end of some words” or “how to find the greatest common multiple.” Since it’s been quite some time since I was a little kid, I often forget how a child’s mind works. I am always so impressed at how well they catch onto things and pick up so many concepts and ideas on their own. I absolutely love helping them, especially when you see that light bulb over their head after they have just made sense of something you are trying to help them with. Even though they still have many years of schooling ahead of them, they are already so bright and so wise.

Blog Post 2

     Whenever I have gone to the Lexington Public Library to volunteer with homework help, there is either an abundance of volunteers, or a an obvious shortage of them. Sometimes children will have to wait 30 minutes before their name is even called for help, or they are in and out within 15 minutes. The system as a whole is fairly unorganized, but I feel they are doing the best they can with inconsistent volunteer hours and not knowing how many children are going to show up from day to day. 

     All of the volunteers help with every subject, and with children of all ages. None of the volunteers specialize to help with a specific subject or age group. Whatever child shows up when you call the next name off of the waiting list is the child you help. Whichever subject they need help with is what you focus on for however long it will take to finish the given assignment. The older kids, ages from about 12-15, usually need help on math. The help I need to provide ranges anything from just double checking their work to explaining each step of a problem to them. Typical homework I see from the older kids that come in for homework help resembles the one below.

Although I do enjoy my time with the older kids, my favorite is helping the youngest age group of kids that come in (around the age of 5). Not only because their homework is much easier for me to help them with, but because of the tangents we end up going off on as well. The typical homework help with the kindergarten aged kids looks like the image below.

With the younger kids, I often find myself engaging in conversations about things like an extensive family history of various pets we've both owned, or why in the world I go to school eight hours away from my mom and dad. "Don't you miss the way your mom smells? I would miss the way my mom smells." That was an actual quote from a younger boy about the age of 5 or 6. If that doesn't hit you right in the feelings, I don't know what will. By volunteering at the library, it has only reassured my decision to go into the field of pediatrics as my future profession.

Written Reflection

           My time spent volunteering at the Village Branch of the Lexington Public Library has been a very rewarding experience for me. The kids I work with are great; they are both well behaved and willing to listen. The other volunteers are friendly and they work well with the kids. There is no shortage of volunteers or animal crackers. Overall, it seems to be a great after school program.

           Although many of the kids come from families lacking financial resources and/or time to devote to their children, these kids still have limitless potential. This program has opened my eyes to just how important education is, and how it can alter a child's future. For the sake of their privacy, I will not post the pictures or names of the students, but pictured below is one particular assignment that I helped a student complete.

                                          

          This assignment belonged to a little boy that I tutored a couple weeks ago. He was in the second grade and he was a lot of fun to work with. The packet had various tasks to complete, from writing numbers to summarizing stories. He was pretty good at math and his handwriting is very neat. When I told him this, he didn't really believe me. It seemed like no one ever took the time to tell him how smart he was. He seemed to be a great kid, all of the kids I work with there are. I truly believe he has what it takes to grow up and be incredible. If I get to tutor him again, I will not forget to remind him that he is smart and he can be anything he wants to be. I have done my best to be encouraging and patient with every student I tutor. Giving them my undivided attention for a couple hours is more exhausting than my other service project where I do yard work. It is far more rewarding though. I'm very privileged to be able to work with these students. I think the homework help program can make a tangible difference in their lives.