May 9, 2014 Culminating Reflection

For my Capstone Project, I volunteered at the Boys and Girls Club Paradise Valley. I chose this place because there are up to 50 kids that attend there and I thought it would be a great experience to volunteer and supervise and assist the kids with whatever they needed. In the future, I want my career to be involved with working with kids. During this project, I had to learn how to communicate with the kids and interact with them because I was new and I didn't want to be a stranger to them. It was difficult communicating with them at first but once days started to pass by, they got used to me and communicated with me. I wanted to build a relationship with the kids and not be strict with them. What I did was at times I would try to act like a leader to them and show leadership skills so they know how to behave and listen and other times be a friend to them and play with them and have fun.

What I gained from my Capstone experience was that it is not easy working with kids. You have to think things through, especially what you are going to say to the kids and learn how to approach them to get them to pay attention to you. Also, I learned how to have better patience by being more calm and understanding and watching how my mentor would deal with the situation. I learned to understand that kids are way younger than me and their mentality is by far different. They do certain things because they yet have to learn how to behave. I also learned how to handle situations when doing projects because things would get hectic and in the beginning I would not know what to do because there was too many things going on. When I first went to the Boys and Girls Club, I was nervous because of how the kids were going to act towards me. I was not able to communicate with them because I had poor interacting skills. I began to talk to them and got out of my bubble and interacted with them later on.

The challenges I have encountered during this experience was dealing with patience with the kids. I have always had a bit of patience so I was not able to handle it in the beginning. Once I began watching how my mentor dealt with the situation I started to do the same and it would work. Another challenge I faced was leading activities and hands on projects. It was difficult getting the kids to listen to instructions when I would be doing a project with them. Many kids would ask me multiple questions at the same time and I would not know what to do. I learned to have leadership skills and made them behave properly by asking me a question one by one. Once time passed by, they would listen to me more which was great because I was not getting frustrated and impatient. Also, they would leave everything a mess and it was hard for me to get everything organized like how it was before. What I did was politely told them to clean up after themselves and they payed attention and did what I had instructed them to do.

April 30, 2014

Yesterday I went to the Boys and Girls Club and unfortunately, it was going to be my last day. For yesterday, the kids just did their homework. After they were done, since it was extremely hot, my mentor decided to play with the kids and poor water on them. I assisted with the game by lining up the kids and making them go one by one. The game was very simple and easy. We had a bucket and a ball, the kids had to throw the ball in the bucket and if they were able to do that, the person that is sitting on the chair got water dumped on them. Many of the kids got wet because it was easy to make a score and they were really hot so they wanted to make it in. If no one would make the ball in, the kid that's sitting down in the chair would sit until someone makes a score. I thought it was really fun and a nice way to interact with the kids and seeing their reactions when they got water dumped on them was just priceless! I enjoyed being with the kids and I'm glad I was able to do this experience. I learned interacting skills and gained a bit of leadership skills because it's difficult controlling the kids and making them listen to instructions. After we had our fun, we played other games. Later on, they all came to me and hugged me and said bye. I'm most likely going to come back and visit them!

Time logged for this session: 2 hrs
Total time logged: 33 hrs 30 min

April 18, 2014

Yesterday I went to the Boys and Girls Club and on Wednesday the kids usually do an art project but they didn't because they were misbehaving that day. So, yesterday the kids got the privilege of doing art and cooking. Not that many kids wanted to do art as much as cooking which I thought was weird. The art project was to make a Easter bag and decorate it. I instructed the kids on how they were supposed to do the bag and it was simple so they weren't asking questions and it wasn't hectic. I made an Easter bag myself so I could do it with the kids and so they could watch how they're supposed to do it. When we were done, I helped the staff with cooking because many kids wanted to cook since we were making mac and cheese bun burgers with fries. The food turned out to be really good and everyone including myself liked it! Later on, the kids were coloring their egg and decorating it by putting sparkles and drawing on it. Some kids were mixing the colors and surprisingly the colors would turn out better than if they didn't mix it so their egg would come out really nice!

Time logged for this session: 2 hrs
Total time logged: 31 hrs 30 min

April 9, 2014

Today I went to the Boys and Girls Club and since it's Wednesday, the kids did art. One of the staffs and I split the kids in half so one half went to one table and the other went to the other table. Not all the kids wanted to do art so the ones who did stayed in the room and the others went outside to play. The art project they had to do was simple, the only instructions the staff and I told the kids was how to paint, not make a mess, and if they needed help to ask us. The kids were able to draw anything they wanted. When the kids were done, they made a bit of a mess but they helped and cleaned it up so we didn't have to tell them because they already knew. I'm glad the kids are getting close to me and listening to me because in the beginning they would barely listen to me. But anyway, it was nice seeing them paint whatever they wanted to paint.

Time logged for this session: 2hrs
Total time logged: 29 hrs 30 min

April 4, 2014

Today I went to the Boys and Girls Club and once I got there I started to help the kids with their homework. When everyone was done, they were going to do a science experiment. I helped one of the staffs with the experiment and we separated half of the kids and put them into two groups. The first group went up and I was passing out the cups and soap that were needed for the experiment. The staff brought the dry ice that she had bought and put it on the table. She placed water into the cups and the kids added the amount of soap they were supposed to add. Then, the staff placed the dry ice inside and steam and bubbles began to come out which I thought was really cool. I've seen that experiment before but I didn't know how to do it. After they were done, the kids were really fascinated by it and then the second group came in. The staff and I did the same routine and at the end the two tables and floor were extremely wet and soapy. We were supposed to do the experiment outside but it was raining so we did it inside. At the end, even though it was a mess, it was cool to see and know how to do the experiment. I enjoyed doing it with the kids and seeing their reactions!

Time logged for this session: 2 hrs
Total time logged: 27 hrs 30 min

March 31, 2014

 Today at the Boys and Girls Club, the kids had to do p.e for 30 min. They ran laps and I was telling them how much they had to do and I watched them to see if they weren't cheating. After the kids ran, they played freeze tag and I explained how the game went and this time they were barely interrupting and they actually listened to the instructions and what I had to say. I've noticed that the kids are getting closer to me and are talking to me more because I go there almost everyday. They aren't shy with me anymore but sometimes they have a problem with listening but that's understandable since they're just kids. It was 4 o'clock so it was time to do homework and many kids needed help so I helped them. Since it began to rain, the kids couldn't go outside so we stayed inside and watched frozen after they were done with their homework. Frozen is a really good movie so we were actually watching it besides the kids that were in trouble and were supposed to be reading. I'm going to be going to the Boys and Girls Club a couple of days more because I enjoy being there with the kids!

Time logged for this session: 2 hrs 30 min
Total time logged: 25 hrs 30 min

March 26, 2014

Today at the Boys and Girls Club was an event called Academic Award. The plan for the event was to bring the kids parents and give them awards but my mentor didn't have the awards because the teachers haven't done the awards so the event was cancelled. Once I got there, it was p.e time so I was instructing the kids to run laps and run/walk back and forth. Later on, they played the game capture the flag and I told them the rules and they actually listened whenever I would say something. After having them do p.e, they had to break a pinata that was meant to be done on Tuesday but there was no more time. I told the kids to go in a line and to not get close to the person that's hitting it. It was very difficult getting the kids to understand because they would want the candy so bad that they would just ignore what I would say. It was getting me frustrated how I kept telling them to back up because I didn't want them to get hit and they would disobey but I guess it's okay since they're just kids. Some kids weren't done doing their homework from earlier and many of them asked me which was surprising. Tomorrow is Family Night and I'm excited to see what happens!

Time logged for this session: 2 hrs
Total time logged: 23 hrs