Blog #5 (Post Service)

The themes that I noticed across my experiences were those of communication competence and negotiation. For communication competence, I learned that a sense of adaptability is needed in different situations, such as with the example of affiliation and changing my choice of words around so the child could understand what I was saying better. Another aspect that is needed to be a competent communicator is that of the great amount of involvement and commitment towards the relationship, along with a great amount of patience when working with children. Empathy is also needed to understand the child’s point of view and viewing the world from their perspective. As for negotiation, I influenced the children’s perceptions through the process of communication, and vice versa in that the children influenced my perceptions. Negotiation contributed to how effectively a message was portrayed, and in turn, understood. The children and I need a bridge of understanding that is necessary for proper communication to occur.

This experience at the Lydia Home will shape my future interpersonal interactions by helping me assess all possible concepts that are needed to achieve communication competence in children. I have lots of little cousins and family members who I now know how to relate to more efficiently, after having this experience because now I know some of the reasons why they have different feelings than we as young adults do. Therefore, I will apply affiliation, patience, empathy, and negotiation to help the children who I work with in the future and those in my family to communicate their needs and wants in the most effective way possible. I really got a hands-on experience by working at the Lydia Home and it gave me insight to future strategies and approaches I could take when dealing with different behaviors of children and how they perceive the world through different eyes than most adults do.

Blog #4 (During Service)

The third week at the Lydia Home was the last week we volunteered to obtain our 12 hours. It was a fairly more focused week, without as much chaos from the children as in the past two weeks. Although our service requirement had been fulfilled after this week, Mary and I continue to volunteer because the kids love working with us and because we want to go back and continue tutoring/spending time with the children. Overall, it was a very enjoyable experience and if I had to do it all over again, I definitely would, as well as recommend this experience to others.

On Monday, April 1, I worked with a 5^th grader named Jonasia first. I helped her with her math problems and corrected her mistakes on her worksheet involving order of operations. I could observe through her nonverbal behavior and language that she was getting very frustrated; her eyes were narrowing and she was pouting. When I was trying to help her, she made little eye contact with me and smiled less. This illustrates the importance of nonverbal behavior and how children use nonverbal messages to express how they feel. Jonasia usually smiled a lot and laughed a lot, always being talkative and having high eye contact. As soon as her mood changed and something upset these normal behaviors, nonverbal messages allowed this change of how she was feeling to be properly portrayed. I also worked with Keidryn, who acted in similar manners when I practiced reading with him, indicating that some nonverbal behaviors are universal.

On Wednesday, April 3, I worked with a 5^th grade boy named Raven. I worked on English skills with him, specifically nouns and direct objects. He was doing very well in these areas, so I rewarded him in verbal praise. The concept of evaluating is illustrated in this sense because I praised Raven when he would get an answer right by saying “Good job!” or “That’s a perfect answer!” This positive reinforcement was necessary for continued motivation and mastering of skills. Mary and I also played Apples to Apples with a few children, including Zay, Logan, and Autumn. The way that they acted during the game was very surprising; I thought they would act irresponsibly and crazy like the past few weeks prior to this day, but in reality, they were actually very well behaved. Expectancy violations were present in this situation, in that these children didn’t behave as I assumed they would. Children often exhibit this concept because they have minds of their own and are very unpredictable with their behaviors and actions.

For future interactions, I learned that it is important to pay attention to not only the verbal aspects of communication, but also to the nonverbal aspects. They either say more or equal to that of verbal communication sometimes, being important indicators of feelings and emotions. Evaluation and reaffirming children’s responses are vital concepts that need to be applied for positive motivation and results to show, as well as for proper skills to be learned and developed. I will make sure to let children know when they are answering correctly and doing a good job to increase their outlook on learning in general. As for expectancy violations, I now understand that children are very different from us and that what we expect of them may not be the behaviors we actually see. I will portray more signs of genuine dedication to addressing these behaviors and to correct them when I work with children, rather than by becoming all frazzled by the unexpected.

 

Blog #3 (During Service)

The second week that we served at the Lydia Home the kids decorated Easter baskets on Monday and had an Easter egg hunt. They collected eggs, with each egg having a number in them to determine the order in which they drew a prize. The kids were easily distracted by asking to play with my phone and one girl, Donielle, wanting to see pictures on my phone. Mary and I had to be completely on our toes because there was a lot of commotion that we encountered in this week, in multiple ways, which I will discuss next.

On Monday, March 25, I worked in the computer room with the kids to work on skill-building activities. They were instructed to work on a lesson and then to play a game that corresponded to that lesson to help reinforce the concepts they had learned from the lesson. I felt very in over-my-head due to the fact that the kids were very rowdy and were having a very tough time staying focused. Aside from this inattention, Mary and I played the Dr. Seuss matching game and Candyland with the children. Conflict was especially  present through the children’s over excessive fighting with one another over whose turn it was next and when one child would accuse another child of cheating. The concept of direct aggression was used to indicate how the children were wishing bad luck upon each other, or expressing maledictions. Ridicule was also present through the children yelling at each other in a variety of ways, including teasing to extremes. Another example of conflict is present through competition. By each child fending for himself and wanting to win as opposed to lose, high self-centeredness was shown by the children, instead of showing sincere concern and consideration for others.

On Wednesday, March 27, Mary and I played Legos with a child named Marreck and I helped tutor him on his skill-building book for the kindergarten level. I noticed he was very productive and willing to work diligently. His attitude had seemed to change for the better. Maybe this is because he wanted me to work with him, due to the sort of bond we developed when I was playing Legos with him. This introduces the important concept of friendship. By getting to talk to Marreck and interact with him while playing Legos with him, he seemed to connect with me on a different level, one that indicated friendship. An opposite-sex friendship was formed, allowing for him to ask questions about how I lived as a girl in relation to him, by his being a boy. He asked if Mary was my sister and said “Why are you staring at all of the boys? Because you like to see them naked?!” Clearly, since he was only at the kindergarten level, he was exploring these opposite-sex relations, still unsure about some aspects.

For future interactions, I learned that many children experience conflict in their own ways, just like adults do, needing specialized help to solve conflicts they experience. I will display more patience when helping more children discuss disputes they are having. Since I want to work with children, this is very important that I realize it takes time for children to develop the skills necessary to be good communicators, especially in dealing with conflict. I also realize the sort of friendships that can be formed between children and between children and young/older adults. Their young minds are exploring how each person is unique, especially when it comes to gender. In the future, I will understand this exploration aspect of children’s minds in terms of gender, by them learning to distinguish between boy and girl characteristics. This will cause me to just go along with what they are thinking, rather than by being uncooperative by not understanding where they are coming from, due to the fact that I will be empathetic to how children are just getting started cognitively.

 

Blog #2 (During Service)

The first week that Mary and I volunteered at the Lydia Home reminded me of the first day of any new experience. I remember I was very nervous and worried about what to expect. However, we were welcomed in such a positive way that all of these feelings of anxiety went away almost immediately. Miss Joyce, one of the leaders at the Lydia Home, introduced us to the children and the other volunteers there, as well as she showed us how to use their skill-building books and lesson plans. The environment created a very positive communication climate, in that there were many games around for the kids to play, as well as many smiling faces from the children. The friendliness of this place is what made it shine, even before we started working with the children.

It was Monday, April 4. I was assigned to work with a child named Logan. At first, I worked on letters and number sequences with him. He was a little stumped on a number sequence problem that was asking him to determine the order of the process of a snowman melting. Logan didn't struggle with numbering the steps to determine the order, but he struggled with what the last step was, due to that he had to draw a picture of what he thought would happen to the snowman after the snowman was completely built with eyes, a nose, arms, and a body. I used the concept of affiliation to change my choice of vocabulary to adapt my speech so that he could understand it better at the kindergarten level. I asked him the question "Do snowmen live forever?" Logan responded with "No, they melt." So, he drew a picture of a puddle of water. By simply adjusting my choice of words, he understood the concept of sequencing perfectly. I also slowed down the rate at which I was speaking so he could fully comprehend what I was saying. Logan accomplished a lot when I was working with him; so much that he had to ask for more work to do.

That same week, on Wednesday, April 6, Mary and I went back again. The children were completely out of hand and their behavior was unacceptable. Miss Joyce had to raise her voice and lecture them to get them to calm down. Some of the children were running around obnoxiously, being very loud, and one child dropped a crate of crayons, creating a mess that Mary and I had to help clean up. Within this disorder, the concept of the importance of listening was addressed. The children heard Miss Joyce tell them to behave better, but they didn't listen until she raised her voice. Many people are masters at hearing a message, but they do not necessarily listen. The children struggled especially with understanding and remembering some parts of the lecture, because Miss Joyce asked some children to state specifics of what she had just said, and some children couldn't recall any of this information. This is why it is very important for children to be taught proper listening skills.

In terms of future interactions, I learned of different ways to accommodate to children's needs, so they can learn in a way that is best for them. I had never really tutored children before, so it was difficult at first to adapt and use the concept of affiliation to speak in a way that makes sense to them. I will use smaller words and a more limited range of vocabulary in the future. As for listening, I understand that it is not easy for children to be good listeners, especially if they are younger. Along the lines of this, when I work with children in the future, I will make certain that they are actually comprehending a message and are able to remember it, rather than just hear it, or having the message go 'in one ear and out the other.'

Blog #1 (Pre-Service)

What are your hopes for the service-learning project?
My hopes for this project are to develop a great interaction with the children at the Lydia Home. I hope to help them and to meet their needs, as well as to portray different aspects of the many tasks associated with the after-school program. I am determined to help them have a fun time, as well as learn when it is necessary. I aim to be a role-model to the children.

What are your assumptions about your service-learning site?
Some of my assumptions indicate that it is very possible that some children come from families who struggle in certain areas of life. Income, parenting styles, and if the children's basic needs are met may all influence how some of the children act. I presume that some children may have behavioral problems and it will take more patience to please them, but again, these are just assumptions.

What do you already know/or assume about the work they do?
I assume that tutoring is present at this after-school program. The children that struggle more in school are benefited from the one-on-one interaction of how they are taught by mentors and tutors. I am predicting that there are adults designated for children who misbehave or cause trouble.

What do you know/or assume about the population they serve?
I assume the population is very diverse in ethnic backgrounds, cognitive level or ability, and personality traits such as sociability. I think that clothing may vary and in general the way the children portray themselves in terms of hygiene will also be quite different. The childrens' attitudes will also play a role in the influential factors that differentiate the children from each other in this setting.

What connections/interests/passions do you have for this site or the population it serves?
As a future career, I want to be a pediatric occupational therapist. I am majoring in psyche/pre-ot and I really love to work with children, especially when it overlaps with psyche. To see the children smile is my absolute priority, and I have a real passion for making children happier. I think this can be achieved through this service project at this site. It will allow me to connect with individual children and help them develop both cognitively and as a person in general.

This semester, I am looking forward to serving the children community.