PICTURES!!!

Here are some of the things I saw at KIPP.

The middle school and the high school (right next door to each other)

Some of the inspirational quotes and murals around the school:

The Wall of Acceptance in the high school:

Lastly, the beautiful group of people that made up my team:

Leaving Gaston

Going home was hard.  I realized as we did our last reflection on Friday night how much I had come to love all the people on my team and how hard it is to leave knowing so much is still wrong with Education.  I could sense that disappointment lingering in some of our reflections as we went around.  We all felt helpless and that this issue is so difficult to address that believing that someday every child will get an adequate education seems unrealistic.  Thanks to our leaders though, I realize that although change is hard we can do what we can for who we can.  More importantly, now that we have that knowledge of what needs to improve with Education we have the responsibility to do something.  We went around and said what we were going to bring back with us to Williamsburg and brainstormed ways to carry forward.

Personally, I plan on keeping up with Head Start.  Something I learned this week is that starting early is essential to creating the foundations for an adequate education.  Furthermore, I still plan on doing child psychology to work with kids who don't have good support at home from parents, which also can play a role on the extent to which they drive themselves to learn.  Ultimately I want to work with kids to help them find the motivation to drive them forward from within themselves when they lack support from their parents. 

As far as the current education system--it needs a lot of work and attention.  But I am not hopeless thanks to some wonderful driven students I met this spring break. One who really impacted me was a high school sophomore named Gary who was incredibly sweet and excelling in his classes.  In any class I saw him in, he consistently participated and asked compelling questions.  I have no doubt he is going to be successful.  Then there was another boy in the high school named Tyler.  I sat in on his public speaking class and was seriously impressed by him. His speech was well thought out and furthermore whenever he was asked a question, not just on his topic but other students too, he eagerly responded.  He had no problems voicing his opinion and his opinion was very stable and confident.  I would like to see what he is going to do with all his talent.  Then there were the kids in the jazz band.  I heard them playing and they blew my mind.  I could not help tapping my foot and grooving along with the music as some of them did individual solos.  Even though some of them were not the best academically they were incredibly talented.  One boy who was known for getting in trouble performed an amazing solo.  I realized that these kids have their own passions that I hope will drive the decisions they make in the future. 

Although academics should not be the only choice for these kids, they all have the right to be provided with an adequate education to make the choice of what path to follow.  I left Gaston but this is something that has stuck with me.  I plan to let this passion I have to change a child's life to impact the choices and paths I take from now on.

Work! Work! Work!

The past two days we did not have access to the internet in the house we are staying at so I was unable to post. But these past two days have been insanely crazy~!

First working at the school is great.  Even though we are doing really small tasks (like grading, putting in grades into gradebooks, cleaning, and even sharpening pencils!) we can really tell our help is appreciated.  Teachers here work so hard pulling in excessive hours just to make there classrooms run.  It seems silly that they have to do all these little extra tasks on top of planning classes.  Some of our team has helped out in classes and even taught lessons.  The Spanish teacher at the high school asked me and another friend to plan something for tomorrow, our last day here.

On Tuesday, we were able to talk to the future Elementary school's principal Ms. Cook, one of the founders of this school Ms. Sutton, and the middle school principal Ms. Stallings.  They answered a lot of our questions.  Hearing them talk so passionately about what KIPP's mission is all about was truly inspiring.  A strong point they made was that they want other schools to put them out of business because that would indicate that education programs are improving.  Overall their interest lies in having everyone have the opportunity to choose college as a manner of empowering people.  They were really great to listen to although some of what they said was a bit troubling.  For instance, they don't have the resources to have a nurse or nurses office which in the few days we've been here, we've seen a need for.  If kids are sick all they can do is call their parents and hope that they can get picked up.  Also, something I think is truly important to have are counselors and they are unable to have them too.  There is a lot of improvement left to be had here but still you can see that they are doing something right and most importantly have the right idea in mind when it comes to education.

Even though I'm exhausted from grading and even physically sore from hunching down over quizzes and exams I am enjoying my time here a lot.  A big part of that is my team--they are awesome!  We laugh so much together and work great as a team.  The people here at KIPP have even told us that we are the best group of interns they've ever had! We have knocked out a lot of the stuff on the list really fast and find sometimes we actually run out of things to do.  They are also amazing because they made my birthday really special.

Yesterday, March 7, was my 21st birthday--some people consider it to be important.  I didn't expect anyone on my team to know it was because I didn't tell them and the only person who might have known was one of my friends who happens to be on my team.  The day went down as always and I wasn't really thinking about it being my birthday until I got a wonderful surprise.  I was told we were meeting with everyone in the middle school cafeteria and once I got there my trip leader Janice announced to everyone it was my birthday and had them all sing me happy birthday.  I turned around and found my friend filming my reaction which was a mixture of surprise and embarrassment because I am not used to that kind of attention.  It was hilarious and such an amazing  moment.  To make things even better later that night we had reflection outside around a fire making smores and then I was once more surprised by cupcakes and a second happy birthday song by my team. I am so grateful for all of them for making my birthday special and this whole week an amazing experience. I am excited for the last day tomorrow and for cooking dinner tonight but slightly sad that this week is soon coming to a close.

Give me your CATS

CATS is something KIPP middle school uses to get students to focus, it stands for Close your mouth, Ask and Answer questions, Track the speaker, and Sit or Stay still.  I heard it used in a few of the classrooms today as our team set out to sit in in a few classes.  I was impressed to see how eager the middle schoolers were to answer questions and participate.  Sometimes they'd raise their hands and give an unsure or wrong answer but they were never unmotivated to attempt.  It is something very different from what I grew up with where only certain students participated.  I was not one of them because I felt intimated.  I like that KIPP motivates all students to not be afraid to put their ideas out there. The morning started off pretty well.

Then later on I ran into one or two classrooms in the upper grades and high school were things weren't running so smoothly.  It made me realize that it is still in the hands of the teachers, which makes me wonder what qualities make a teacher ideal.  Also while I was grading and putting in grades I realized that many of the scores were low.  KIPP is a working model but still needs improvement.  But I am enjoying learning the approaches they are taking to tackle the education gap.  There are numerous problems they can run into working with students but the staff is dedicated and passionate.  They make me believe that they can pull these students through and into college.

Gaston! Gaston!

Woke up bright and early this morning to meet my team.  We met up around 8am and set out towards Gaston, NC.  The drive there was fun and I even snuck in an hour nap.  Around mid day we met with Robbie, our community partner here (a teacher at the KIPP school).  He gave us a tour of the middle school and the high school, which surprisingly was only a few steps away.

I was glad to see how honest he was about the imperfections of the KIPP model, in fact he emphasized it often saying "the KIPP model is not magic."  I was surprised to find out that the funding for the school comes short to all the demands of keeping the school.  Actually teachers have to at times pay out of pocket for classroom supplies.  The dedication of the teachers at this school is admirable.  Hearing about the amount of hours they pull outside of school to make the school run was more than I expected.  There is a lot going into this system and the results seem to support it.  However, it isn't magic like Robbie said.  There are retention issues with teachers which is expected when they burn out so many hours to the school.

I'm excited to see the school actually running and to see the students.  I want to see how far this system can motivate students.  Tomorrow will be our first day working, and it will be a long day-just like it is for the students.

Almost there!

Tomorrow my team heads out to Gaston North Carolina bright and early at 8am.  In the past few weeks I've been to out pre-trip meetings which have made me excited about this upcoming week.  I am also looking forward to getting to know my team more, everyone seems really nice and easy going.  Even more, I'm excited to see what a charter school looks like.

We have watched "Waiting for Superman", a wonderful documentary on the education problem and read a few excerpts from a book about the people who started KIPP.  Its been interesting learning more about how difficult education is in general.  A teachers job is no easy task and I've gain so much more respect for them.  Furthermore, the gap between students in different areas is worrisome.  It's comforting to know that places like KIPP exist that are attempting to address these issues.  I am hoping to take this week as an opportunity to understand what other steps should be taken.  Specifically, I want to see what charter schools can do and if there are other alternatives for students who can't take that as an option.  I have so much to learn and I am excited to get started.