Volunteering

So, I have not posted anything because I have had a very non-exciting week. Pretty much I just have been home reading for the CSET and preparing my self mentally to take the exams. Stephen has cancelled his first two games of the season unfortunately because of the weather; however, today it is a very beautiful sunny day and hopefully we have a nicer weather without rain this week to enjoy some baseball time. Strangely, I'm sort of looking forward the baseball season to begin with a bang. I guess I will just have to wait and see how baseball is for my husband's first year as a coach at West High.

Anyways, so this week I started my volunteering hours at Washington Manor middle school in San Leandro. So far, it seems that regardless of certain efforts teachers will make their communication seems to fall throughout the cracks at times. For example, I thought this week on Monday I was going to meet with the principal and a few teachers to discuss my volunteering job at the school; however, the principal called in sick so I immediately thought I guess I will try to re-schedule till the principal goes back to school. When I finally did got in contact with the principal a few days later, he informed me that I was supposed to meet with the instructor that is in charge of the EL students. He did apologize for not making it clear to me. We rescheduled the meeting for Thursday of the same week at 8:30 am. I felt so excited but apprehensive of what to look forward my experience. I woke up really early and went to the school. Got there around 7:15 am. After talking to the principal's secretary, she guided me to Mr. Murphy's classroom (the EL teacher). The secretary gave me the classroom number and even gave me a little map of the school so I would not get lost. So, I followed the map and knocked on the door. There was a class in progress which made it a little tough to talk as they were supposed to be working on an assignment. So, in the process the teacher was talking to me regarding what he wanted me to do and showing me a computer program for the school where grades and progress reports are input. I thought to my self good I will help him in the classroom as I help the children that need help when need it. Then he proceeded in assigning more things to do throughout the day. I immediately told him that I was there to just meet with him and talk about my work as a volunteer and was not planning in staying that very same day. Again another pitfall in communication. Gladly he said it was okay and to come back the very next day at 9:00 am as he has a break between periods. He told me I would be working with two Spanish speaking students and a volunteer tutor that works with students that speak English as their second language.

On Friday, I decided to not drive on my own and instead commute with Stephen since we were going to the same school. It was a little tough waking up so early but did it anyways. I remained in Stephen's office till 8:55 am before I headed to the teacher's classroom. Once I met with Mr. Murphy for the second time, he told me that I would be heading to another class room to meet with Mr. Salinas the volunteer. Since class already had began, I could not properly introduced myself to Mr. Salinas but immediately he told me to sit next to him while I observed how he interacted with the two students. While the other students followed the teacher's instructions, we worked at a very soft voice level with the two students; however, our focus was on one of the two since he seem to have a harder time understanding or making sense of certain English words. I felt that I was being helpful as I totally can relate to his struggles a speaker of a second language faces. I myself, went through a different process since I started school as a elementary student so I was placed in ESL classes first before I was placed in regular classes. Not sure if this particular student has taken any ESL classes or if it is different because of the school district. Hopefully, I can communicate more with Mr. Salinas to gain more information regarding his level, etc. By the way, Mr. Salinas is a cute old sweet man. I feel that I will learn a lot from him as I can see his dedication with the students and the patience he shows through words and his attitude. Throughout the day, I was assigned to the student that needed the most help so I was to follow him throughout the day. To my amazement, he was a very sharp little boy and all he seems to need is a confidence booster. I can say from personal experience that learning a new language as well as all subjects that are new to you can be extremely challenging. School is already though for children as they face different obstacles but throwing the language barrier can make any person feel like a confidence buster. At the end of the day, I had a good time not only observing how teachers accommodate these students but how they also deal with the obstacles that they face daily. I will be going only Fridays for the next two weeks since I have to prepare for my CSET exams but after I get done I can volunteer more days of the week. For now, the teacher seems to be thrilled to have me as a volunteer so I'm hoping to learn as much as I can from this awesome experience.