Here I Am, Teaching Junior High Kids Again

While the kids are off to play, they left their stuff behind for me to watch over.

Randy (left) and Raymond (right) were just doing some weird dance moves, however it looks like they are just running in place.

So last week I went to Walters Jr. High to volunteer at the homework program they have there. I was shot down to volunteer at Brier Elementary's Bronco Brainiacs program since when I went to ask if they needed an extra volunteer, they said they had enough workers for today. So I went to my second choice, back to Walters it is for me. I didn't really mind since after all, Walters was close to my dad's house and my brothers go to Walters for school. Not to mention my brothers also went to the program. Once again I chose to tutor kids and help them with their homework because I believe that in some communities, there are some children who are unable to get a private tutor or to sign up in learning programs due to financial issues. I feel that by volunteering at after school programs that are free, communities will acknowledge the need for after school programs which all students are able to participate and join without a worry about money or time.

So when I got rejected from Brier, I just headed straight to Walters. Of course, I wasn't really in the mood to really deal with middle school kids due to the hectic weather today with it being sunny to then cloudy, and then sunny again. To makes things even better, it began to drizzle as well and I had to to fight the wind with my umbrella, while also preventing my umbrella from flying off. When I arrived at Walters, I checked in and was glad that I was indoors. However, by the time I reached to the classroom where the kids were at, the sun was out again and the kids wanted to go to the patios to do their homework. Outdoors again...joy. Just perfect. So I went outside with my brothers, Randy and Raymond, to help them with their homework. Most of the students went to patio 3, just a regular patio with concrete, and I didn't want to ask why the kids took off their shoes to play around. I didn't bother to ask my brothers when they decided to take off their shoes as well to join their friends by running around on the smooth concrete. After playing, my brothers and I settled down to start on their homework. They asked how school was and I just gave them the usual answer, "Same as always." Eventually I started to look around, there weren't that many volunteers today. It's most likely due to the weather. Well, I don't blame them, I actually wanted to go home since it was windy despite it was sunny, but I sucked it up. The other volunteers looked bored, cold, and very uninterested in what the kids said. In my perspective, they just wanted to get the hours and get out of this school as soon as possible. Despite how cold I was, at least I cared at what the kids said and paid attention to them. It seems some people would rather get things done and over with for their own needs than to make a difference.

While working, some 8th grade students came up to me and asked, "Is high exactly like what you see on TV? Seniors shoving freshmen into lockers or dumping them in the toilets?" I didn't blame her for asking. TV tends to exaggerate things, but I didn't blame her for being worried since she was going to be a freshman this fall. So I reassured her that it wasn't, that TV just exaggerates things for entertainment purposes. However I did warn her not to get in a group of wrong people because it might lead to her own downfall in high school. And taking note of her facial expression, I guessed that she took note of my advice. Some other 8th grade girls came up to me and started asking me advice on dating or prom or things that they didn't even need to worry about yet. It made me feel old and different since currently all these girls are "dating." I put dating in quotes because these young girls were only in junior high and they don't really know what "dating" is. Sometimes I see them just holding hands with their boyfriend or hugging, that's it. But I decided to answer their questions when one girl asked me, "Should I be worried about getting a prom date when I get into high school?" I wanted to laugh since prom wasn't until junior year/senior year, yet she's worried about it only when she was going to be a freshman in autumn. I answered back, "Well in my opinion, I wouldn't worry about that until you're in the 11th grade or 12th, so until then, don't worry about it. And you girls aren't really dating until that guy actually takes you somewhere on a date. Holding hands and hugging do not count in my opinion." The girls looked lost, most likely because they probably asked the same questions to other volunteers and my answer was different from theirs. But it felt great giving advice, I felt like I was teaching the next generation some things about life as well as helping them academically.

In the end, it was getting dark due to the cloudy to sunny to drizzling weather, the pictures I took came out to look pretty dark. But I felt great in the end because I managed to give girls some advice for high school and I managed to ease their fears too since they kept on hearing stories and rumors about what happens to freshmen in high school. It definitely felt good, I felt like a counselor, but instead of the regular school counselors that you would see in schools, I was more like a counselor that they could relate to, someone close to their age in a sense. When I was leaving with my brothers, some of the other volunteers looked at me and asked me why I was interacting with the students while helping them with their homework. It probably sounds back from an outside perspective, that I'm distracting the kids rather than helping them. However, I learned that once you interact with them, you begin to understand their way of thinking and you can teach them things that may be helpful in the future like giving them a slight jump start on algebra one for the future 8th graders or a slight glimpse of what the high school schedule is like for incoming freshmen. This volunteering event made me feel like I made a difference. Hopefully I can get into Brier Elementary's Bronco Brainics for the fourth blog post because I really want to experience working there.