Service Learning Project 3

The third part of the project to lead was the hardest part. The times that we spent there were always so sporadic and unplanned that it was hard to organize a time to teach an activity. Despite this, there were a couple of spur of the moment activities that we lead. One day, the teachers of the 3 to 5 year olds were just waiting for lunch time and didn't want the kids to get out any more toys. Because of this I decided to help lead an activity. Every kid got a piece of paper and we glued popsicle sticks and foam shapes on them to make flowers. This proved more difficult than it seemed, mostly because it involved glue. A lot of these kids aren't the best listeners and like to get their way. Many of the boys wanted their way with the glue and made quite the mess. This activity taught me to have patience with the kids because the activity was for them and not for me. Another day I helped play a game with the school aged girls. The game was a dinosaur math game and it was actually pretty complicated. This also taught me patience because the girls like to make up their own rules and play how they see best. Overall, this was a really positive experience and it really taught me a lot about dealing with difficult issues.

Service Learning Project 2

Most of my time spent at the YWCA was spent interacting with the kids. One girl in particular made an impression on me. Joselyn latched onto me the first day I was there. She quickly recruited me to color and draw with her because she didn't want to play with the younger children. After sitting with her for maybe 15 or 20 minutes and talking about some things we like or had in common, she drew me a picture that said "Megan is Awesome" and she wrote "bffs" on there with hearts and smiley faces. It was obvious that she didn't get a lot of attention. I learned that she had a younger sister that was there also. Her sister was very outgoing and rambunctious, the opposite of Joselyn. I think the reason she latched on to me so quickly was because her sister stole the spotlight most of the time and she didn't get much attention. Interacting with all the other kids gave me the same impression. They really latched onto all of us that went there and it really seemed like they didn't get that kind of attention very often.

Service Project 1

Throughout the project at the YWCA there wasn't a lot of time spent just observing. The kids were very starved for attention and because of that they never really let us just observe. But from the few times that we were just watching, I noticed a lot. All of these kids that go to the YWCA have gone together for years. They're all really close and while that may be just be because they are young and have no prejudice, they all get along great. I also noticed how the siblings took care of each other. The older siblings really looked after their younger brother or sister. One girl that I was around one day name Joselyn was very smart. She like playing the harder board games that involved math and critical thinking. There was an interesting diversity among the children.