End of Summer

With the summer coming to a close, I have some time to reflect of my IFJ experience and what we at the Roosevelt Writing Center were able to accomplish. While there were definitely some bumps along the way, I think what we were able to do for these kids was pretty amazing when all things are considered. Going into the first day of this program, we didn't have any curriculum written, we didn't have any specific roles or schedule outlined and we didn't even have a budget. All we had was a space in northeast Portland, five to seven volunteers and about a dozen middle schoolers who were shipped in from near Gresham everyday. The fact is that none of us were teachers and didn't really possess the skills to write curriculum or give tests and assess the ability of each kid. Instead, we took on more of a mentor role, where the goal was to build each student's confidence in the classroom by helping them write personal journals in response to open ended questions, share their thoughts and ideas and get used to reading out loud and talking in front of a group. I think that, in these respects, the improvement even in those students who only sporadically attended the program was very impressive. My hope for these kids, and for the effect that this program may have had on them, is that they were able to see that success in the classroom is much easier to achieve when they have confidence in their abilities and they enjoy what they are doing. Once we got into a routine after just a few days, I was able to see the attitudes of the students towards reading and studying change for the better, and as their attitudes changed their performance skyrocketed. I hope that these students can take what they learned and experienced in our classroom and apply it to their schoolwork once the year begins. If they can do this, I think they will be very impressed by and proud of the work they produce.