Service Learning Reflection

Two months have just flown away too fast that I could not image that I have experienced such wonderful and memorable time at Bailey Gatzert Elementary School. Working with non-mainstream children at the school turned out to be one of my most unforgettable experiences. Among many beautiful pictures and moments passing like a movie, the most memorable event was my last day at the school. Due to my finals, I could not get chance to attend the last class, but I arrived in time to say good bye to all the kids in room 7, where I worked over the last two months. All the kids there came and hugged me and said that they felt really said because I was going to leave. Well, I used to work with children in the hospital in Vietnam, but the way kids at Bailey Gatzert expressed their feeling was so different and made me feel so touching. I could not expect that I have left so much influence in them as well as in the classroom's environment. The last day made me understand the meaning of my volunteering work and helped me decide to come back next quarter.

My experience at Bailey Gatzert did not only bring me closer to those kids I met there but also expanded and deepened my understanding about the factory-line education system. Children at Bailey Gatzert mostly come from low-income and non-white families. They are non-mainstream children whose primary backgrounds are so different with the academic environment they receive at schools. Their parents sometime do not encourage their study at home, or the knowledge those children gain from teachers is absolutely irrelevant to their surrounding. The gap between primary background and academic environment brings along difficulties for non-mainstream kids to success in classes. Hence, my service learning at Bailey Gatzert broadened my knowledge about education. In my country, Vietnam, the distinction of culture does not matter because most of us share the same nation's tradition. However, in a multicultural country like America, the problem of balancing one's personal culture and the integrated environment is really essential for one to success in his/her academic field  as well as social life. My service learning helps me to think deeper about the importance of education and its complexity. The current education system still needs to improve to help non-mainstream children to find the balance of their value and the outside society. 

From my experience working with kids in Vietnam, I found it not really hard to work with children at Bailey Gatzert. My method is to treat children as my friends instead of considering them as small little kids. I believe my method helps children gain more responsibility and confidence. However, there is still one issue that I need to improve in my next quarter volunteering work. It is the way I help those kids in doing mathematics. Because the Vietnamese and American education systems are so different, I did not learn math skills when I was in elementary school the way children do here in the US. I was taught to learn by heart all formula and information, and after long periods practicing, I could do maths automatically. On the other hand, American kids learn mathematics more naturally and actively. They improve their skills by applying it into actual experience such as draw clocks to learn time, counting coins and candies to learn addition and subtraction. Therefore, I was still confusing when I had to help a kid solving math problems because I did not experience what s/he was learning. I will definitely do more reading and searching to gain more experience in the field.

All in all, my service learning experience is one of the most unforgettable memories I have had at Seattle University. Coming to Seattle University as an international student, I did not expect that I could learn so much from community around me. Working with non-mainstream children shortened my cultural gap between my Vietnamese culture and the new America culture. The experience also strengthens my decision of coming to Seattle University, the university with its mission to educate leaders for a just and humane world. I gradually learn that leaders are not only those can lead, but also those who understand and serve others.

Last day at Bailey Gatzert

Today is my last day at Bailey Gatzert. I can't believe it was two months already. I got finals at school so I just came to the 1st grade, room 7 early enough to say goodbye. Despite the previous warning of not hugging children I got from the orientation at the very first days, I could not deny their goodbye hugs and thank you. It amazed me that they missed me so much and during such short amount of time, we really built up a close, cheerful and memorable relationship.

During the Brain Train program, we did the shopping which was really funny and informative. The children  were given fake coins and pennies and they went shopping in the class room themselves. They needed to count their money, compared it with the price and picked the right amount to buy what they wanted. I think this activity was really effective and educational because children at such small age do not usually have chances to use money. They just watch their parents and other adults doing. The activity does not only improve the children's mathematics skills but also build up their responsibility and experience with the real world. All kids were excited and enjoyed their shopping day.

It's Christmas time coming. And there is one sure thing that I'll come back to Bailey Gatzert next quarter!

My continuous day at Bailey Gatzert

The class today ran quite normally. The main teacher was absent from school and she asked someone else to helped her lead the class. However, I could obviously see the reaction of the kids towards the new teacher. They tent not to follow the teacher's direction quickly as thier primary teacher's and we needed more time to put all the kids in order. They practiced hand-writing today that most of them hardly classify the difference between uppercase and lowercase letters. I think this was the result of the lack of reading and practicing hand-writing at home.

The Brain Train Section contained mostly mathematics excersizes that the kid I worked with found a little bit difficult. She was good at plus formula but performed poorly in substraction. During the computer lab duration, all the kids enjoyed playing games related to their maths practices that they found much more interesting.

Would you like some salsa?

I came to the class with lots of surprise today! During the daytime class, there was a chef coming to the class room performing the Salsa preparation. I could see the excitement and eagerness in the kids' faces because this was the second time an adult came to the class performing real life character. The kids sat around in circle and intensively observed the chef mixing tomatoes, corns, beans, peppers and oil together. Along the time, the kids learned about different types of vegetables and colors as well. They were also excited because the chef asked them questions about their real life at home, their lunches and housework helping their parents. I believe today was the best day I got so far at Bailey Garzert because I could obviously observe the use of applying acquisition into learning. James Paul Gee's suggestion about the balance of acquisition and learning was clearly used by the teacher to reduce the gap between the primary discourse and secondary discourse of non mainstream children.

During Brain Train Program, I worked with two kids and both of them were nonmainstream children. One was Vietnamese American and one was Filipino. This time there was an obvious example of mathematical skills in Asian kids that I could see. Unlike my last time kid who had difficulties applying mathematics formula, the two kids today were really good at maths. They can solve addition and subtraction over ten units and calculated inside their heads instead of counting fingers. Ii was really surprised by their abilities. In the computer lab section, the kids also learned to master their maths skills by playing the computer games. For example, if they had an equation like 3+4+4=10, they had to add 3 birds, 4 lions, 4 monkeys and 10 houses to complete the tasks. This game was really useful and beneficial because the kids can connect maths with their own imagination.

At the end of the day, I also had chance to talk with the teacher of my daily class. She advised me to be strict and firm with children in order to get their respect and force them into disciplines. She was like two different people, a strict teacher in class hour and a friendly warming woman outside of class. In my own opinion, I did not quite agree with the teacher. During my time volunteering in Vietnam, I always treated kids as my friends and considered them as my peers. This method helped me shortened the distance and made the kids more responsible and confident.

Seattle without clouds, but we need cloud today!

My third day at Bailey Gatzert turned out to be a very fun and remarkable memory today. I don't know whether it is because of Halloween was coming or the weather was too beautiful for Seattle:) During daily class hours, we learned about clouds. The kids were asked to tell everything they knew about clouds, what ever it was. This task interested the kids most since I had been here because they could combine their imagination and real life. "Cloud makes snow!", "Cloud is black when you are sad", "The Sun hides beside the clouds so that we can not see it", ... They had so many ideas that amazed me. They also was going to see real clouds outside the classroom, but well, today Seattle was too beautiful that there was no single cloud:) I believe this task fully applied Gee's balance between learning and acquisition. The kids had chance to apply what they thought, what they received from their family and surrounding environment into learning process at school. They got really excited and enjoyed the lesson. After doing well their task of drawing clouds and making sentences about them, the first kids students continued their mask making for the Halloween. How lovely they were saying that they did the masks for their brothers and sisters:) What a lovely and beautiful Thursday afternoon for me.

The classroom where I work during daily class hour.

My kid wrote this one in the reading section.

The second part of my work going well too. The kids in Brain Train now remembered my name and waved me warmly and enthusiastically when ever they saw me. I was really happy. Three sections today ran smoothly and enjoyably with games and real life related tasks. Reading required kids to use chalk board to practice forming sentences and using vocabulary. My kids did them well. The science section today was less challenging than the previous one and containing games for the kids to to additional formula. They rolled dices and add/subtract the numbers appearing on the dices. They also played cards to recognize shapes, numbers and colors. The last section was computer lab and today I really saw the improvement. My kids had to add numbers and compare the equation with number provided by the computer. However, there was a problem that the computer automatically provided numbers that sometimes the result got over 10. And my kids can not count over 10 because she counted by her fingers. Hence, the instructor told me to give her clues and answers and then let her do the comparison. Well, maybe it was still good when the kid had chance to do some mathematical comparison but I think the program should be fixed so that the kid can do all the task herself.

All in all, after the third day at Bailey Gatzert, I now got to know people and kids here. There are obviously a gap between their real lives and the class room environment they have. The most important purpose, I believe, is to make the transition more easily for the kids by providing them good opportunities to apply what they already have to what they learn. Helping children and teachers here, after all, really brightens my day and makes me feel more confident and supportive.

Second day at Bailey Gatzert

My second day at Bailey Gatzert came up with many gratification and warmness. Coming back after one week, I did not expect much from the children. To my surprise and gratefulness, most of them remembered my name and where I came from. I was so glad. Today during daily class hour, we learned how to use the dictionary. Two kids in a pair had to find a letter and begin the word with that letter and look up for it in the dictionary. Well, I usually use the dictionary without consciousness how did I learn how to do it, but seeing the kids curiously turning the page is really fun. They all wanted to explore this new concept.

However, during the Brain Train program in which I am a tutor, I found some problem. There are three sections for the kids containing reading, science and computer laboratory. The first section was really interesting. The kid I worked with was really good at vocabulary and she could make sentences with every word. When I told her a story and asked her to retold it for me, she really enjoyed it and related the story to her real life at home. However, the next two sections, I think, were not totally suitable and effective. I found the science section interesting because I love science. But my kid did not seem to feel so. She could not concentrate on the exercises and wanted to move to another part. There was mathematics that practice with time and clock. That exercise required the kid to think of her daily life schedule and present it on the clock. It was hard for her because she had no idea about what time she goes to school, what time she has dinner, ect. There was also a practice exercise that asked the kid to fill in the blank such as "5,10,15,...,..." or "50,55,60,...,..." How could a 6 year-old kid do that without the counting formula? Moving to the computer practice part, it seemed too easy for the kid because she already knew all the terms and words in the pretest. she felt boredom and kept looking around to watch other kids.

After the second day at Bailey Gatzert, I found some situations which are related to Gee's term. It is the difference between primary discourse and secondary discourses. Most of the kids here don't have an "academic discourse" at home in which they can practice what they learn at school or bring their daily life at home to the classroom. The kids sometime have difficulty in doing maths and technology because they do not have a chance to practice at home.

First day- Get to know each other

My first day working at Bailey Gatzert Elementary School came out as a very wonderful and memorable day. First grade children welcomed me in a close and friendly way. Ms. Lam, the teacher, let me help her take care of the class. There were twenty one kids in the class representing the racial diversity of Bailey Gatzert School. They all came from the neighborhood around with the level of reading and science below the average level of WA State. Because there were so many children in one class, Ms. Lam could not have time to take care of everyone. However, the children were active and asked for help when ever they needed. During working with children in daily class, I obviously see James Paul Gee’s terms available. The children here at Bailey Gatzert were mostly nonmainstream children. They speak other languages instead of English at home and hardly follow the discipline of the class. Ms.Lam had to use the "coins couting" method in which each kid had to remove one coin from thier box if s/he broke the class rules. The children have difficulty in doing matching words and pictures because they did not understand the words provided. This situation happened due to the reason that their primary discourses are so different from their secondary discourses and their parents and family members do not have the same academic discourses as well. Hence, the class really needs more help from the community offering opportunities to practice their secondary literacy.

After the daily class program, I also attended the Brain Train Program provided by Seattle University. This program focuses on the improvement of children’s ability to read, write and critical thinking activities. During one hour and a half, the children are led to do reading, science and computer laboratory. The programmers divided children into gropup based on their reading levels, let the tutors tell them stories and then asked the children to reread themselves. The computer practices were really helpful as well. Because most of the children came from low income families, they did not have the chance to use computers at home. This program offered them opportunities to do pretest on the computer and play computer games after they finish their tasks. This practice closely relates to Gee’s suggestion of the balance of learning and acquisition. The children are given chances to practice what they learn in class and acquire the knowledge and skills doing the pretest on computers. They are approaching knowledge through a very practical way. My job is to support the kids during their science tasks and provide them introduction to their use of computer. And then the children completed other works by themselves. I believe the Brain Train Program is really helpful at helping children practice what they learn and explore the world by themselves.

Tour guide to Bailey Gatzert Elementary School!

The first time I went to Bailey Gatzert Elementary School was a sunny and wonderful day. It was a perfect day to start my volunteer work at an elementary school. The school is located at 1301 E. Yesler Way, 6 blocks in the south of Seattle University campus. One of the most impressive things that I could observe was that this area looks definitely different with the fancy downtown Seattle just 10 minutes driving away.Yesler Terrace, the neighborhood that the school belongs to, mainly includes low-income families with the total population of 4,549. According to 2009 data, the median household income in the area was $26,290, pretty low comparing to $60,843 of Seattle. The racial makeup of the neighborhood is 43% White, 25% Black, 23% Asian and others are American Indian, Hispanic, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander. The neighborhood is usually reported on the news about its criminal problems and housing for low-income households.

The School's overview

The library at Bailey Gatzert Elementary School

At Bailey Gatzert Elementary School, there are about 341 kids now enrolling. 94 percent of the students here are qualified for free/reduced lunch. The racial makeup of the institution is 2,6% American Indian/ Alaska Native, 22% Asian, 47,8% Black, 21,1% Hispanic and 6,8% White. The classroom ratio is about thirteen students per teacher. According to Seattle University website, Bailey Gatzert provides children with academic programs such as Readers Workshops, Writers Workshops, Write from the Beginning, Inquiry Based Science, Everyday Math and 90 Minute Reading. The school also has other activities for students including sports, music, environment awareness, etc. However, students' performances are far below the level of state and district standardization especially in Reading, Maths and Sciences. Seattle University provides opportunities for volunteer and service learning students to help those children improve their study quality and family involvement. 

SU student with kids at
 Bailey Gatzert in an Afterschool Program