Back to School

A year ago I walked across the stage, accepted my Bachelor's, and in my head said my farewells to school. Little did I know that I'd be going back to school in a year's time, more immersed than ever. I live and sleep at school. When I get up to drive to work every morning, I'm heading to school. When I leave school at the end of the day, I am going back to school. And starting next week, Lili and I will be driving a school bus each day to and from work (school). For those of you in disbelief (and my mother panicking as she reads this), that last one isn't true. But to be honest, nothing would surprise me. This project has really given me a new appreciation for elementary education that continues to grow each day, and it is because it is constantly around me.

The elementary school students started this week. A program consisting of math, reading, service-learning, clubs, recess, snacks, and independent reading fills a routine schedule and satisfies the overall attention span in a way I, for some reason, never experienced when I was younger. Our site director has designed an effective program, and that was proven this week as the kids jumped into their first week.

Here's how it works: All students K - 6th grade have class in a very large room known as the learning center. Grades K through 4 have their own sections of the room, and two connecting rooms house the combined 5th/6th grade, one classroom for boys and the other for girls. Each classroom has 2 tutors who are all college students at nearby universities, and our 10 crew members essentially serve as tutor assistants for their own classrooms (approximately two CMs per class room in addition to the tutors).

It has only been a week, so to see our crew in their element already knowing each of their students' names, helping them one-on-one, is pretty exciting, and I look forward to seeing the impact they will have on these kids by the end of the summer.