Teamwork

I feel like we accomplished a lot as a group this week. Last week was tough, I had two students who were arguing about sharing a computer and working together, one of them actually ended up leaving the room. So this week I thought it would be important to start our time together talking about team work and cooperation.

We started off our PA session by delegating roles. We had a documentarian, a task master, a data keeper and a reader. For our first activity we thought about how we could be cooperative in our roles. I drew up a poster with different questions on it like; what does it look like to be cooperative? What does it sound like etc...? I wanted to keep them interested and moving so we took turns rotating at different stations to write or draw our answers to the questions.

The roles went over well, I think it brought them into our project and gave them a sense of responsibility. I was the reader, the documentarian was using my phone to record our activities, the data keeper had the "master copy" of our research questions and the task master had a timer to keep us on track. Everyone took their roles seriously and that was fun to see.

After we had our roles figured out we moved into the research phase. We tried this last week but we were rather unsuccessful and disorganized. This week it helped to work in a group rather than individually. I made a list of research questions that correlated to specific websites that I had posted on my blog. This worked well, last week the group had to type in web addresses which became complicated and frustrating. We ended up getting some good background into the physical financial and emotional costs of tobacco in our society and the students were impressive in their roles. I look forward to next week and developing roles in our group. It would be great to see them take charge of the project eventually.

Smoking Awareness Research Websites

http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/campaign/tips/stories/

http://kidshealth.org/teen/cancer_center/q_a/smoking.html#

https://www.quitplan.com

http://www.cdc.gov/chronicdisease/resources/publications/aag/osh.htm

http://kidshealth.org/parent/positive/talk/smoking.html

Research begins...

We started the day by reviewing our project from our previous PA meeting. Last week we conducted interviews and took personal inventories of our partners. This was by far the most successful activity of last week so I thought it would be good to re-visit. On Wednesday I had them reference their strengths from their personal inventory sheets and add them to a journal that we have begun. The day started off very well, they seem to enjoy each having their own folders and I give them a couple minutes at the beginning to decorate them.

Our next activity was to research our topic, smoking. It is our topic for now but it may change. I thought it would be important to have them research some background information on the health risks of smoking and the people affected, the addictive agents in tobacco products that make them addictive and the money that goes into selling tobacco and medical expenses. I didn't think we would get to everything but I wanted to make sure they wouldn't run out of information to look up.

I planned the activity as follows. I found kid friendly web sites with information on smoking. I made sure we could access the websites through the MPLS public school filter by testing them at Kenwood the school where I tutor. They all worked which was great news! I picked questions which aligned with each web site and put the website address above the question. I gave them each a worksheet and explained the directions. We moved to the computers.

That's when our day became a little chaotic. I created questions which I thought were appropriate for a fifth grade level, I knew there were different learning abilities in our group but I figured if somebody was struggling I could help. What I didn't expect was sabotage. Patrick unplugged Jyree's keyboard which set him back. At the time I was helping Michael log on. Patrick had answered three questions before I got Jyree logged in. They all ended up in different places in the activity which became frustrating. All in all I spread myself too thin. I think with future activities we will do them as a group, not as individuals who share with the group. I think group/team work will be our focus for next week.

A Good Learning Experience

It was great to have the entire group present today at Bancroft for our public achievement session. Our group is all guys, me, Jyree, Michael and Pat. Since they are all friends they decided to pick the same topic in hopes of being in the same group, and it worked out. I find this interesting for our group dynamic. It made me question whether or not to do as many getting to know you activities but I figured to proceed since I still needed to share a little about myself.

Our group felt a liitle chaotic and the students seemed a little confused at first. I had a ton of activities for us to do in our group today, I didn't want to have extra time. We had the personal inventory partner activity, the koosh game, folder decorating, time line activity, logo design, cooperative roles to talk about and a debriefing to do. I didn't think we'd get to everything but theres nothing wrong with having too many activities. I realized today that I need to work on my management skills. I think structure is important to be sucessful in a group setting and I need to supply that element for our group.

We still had a good group meeting and I think it was a sucessful day. I provided each member with a folder and markers including myself and we designed them for some where around 10 minutes. I wanted to give them the freedom to decorate their folders however they wanted. Thinking back I should have provided some prompting questions on what to draw or think about while decorating their folder. It seemed like an incomplete activity on my part.

I provided a timer for our group and Jyree picked it up and asked "can I set it?" I thought this was a good opportunity to talk about co-operative roles. We all circled roles that we found important to us and designated them for the day. Michael was data keeper and messenger, Jyree was the task master and Patrick wanted to be the reader and reporter. Looking back it would have been more effective if I would have included myself and started with a shorter list of options. For instance it was nice to have Michael as the messenger, who collects and returns materials, but there was not a need for Michael today as a data keeper and I should be aware of that.

Our personal inventory activity was successful. We split into groups of two and interviewed the other person that we were paired with.  We asked the questions "What do you like to learn about?, What are your skills and talents?, What things would you like to see change? In your life? In the world?"
I found this to be a good getting to know you activity even for kids who already know each other. It gave them the opportunity to share a little more than they maybe would in a larger group setting. We went around and read what we learned about the group member we interviewed.

I feel pretty good about what happened in our group today. I made some mistakes but that's bound to happen. I should work on being  more organized. I learned that I'm more comfortable in a one to one tutoring session than I am in a group scenario. I assumed things about the intellect of a fifth grader that I shouldn't have. I worked with Pat on our personal inventory. I explained some of my interests, food, education and sports and then I interviewed him. I was shocked by Pat when he told me " I am interested in world and cultural history, scientific names and methods", it made me wonder why I was shocked by his answers and why I simplified my answers. I still have a lot to learn about connecting with fifth graders and being a good coach.

Community Research

David’s community research

The name of the neighborhood where Bancroft Elementary is located is the Bancroft neighborhood. There is a Cub Foods located on 26^th Ave, which is 2.3 miles away from the school. Abbott Northwestern is the closest hospital to Bancroft it’s located at 800 E 28^th St. It’s also where my fiancé was born. The closest playground that is not a school playground that I could find was Powderhorn Park. According to 9 users on yelp, Powderhorn Park receives 4.5 stars out of 5! It seems community oriented. There are baseball diamonds and a kiddy pool. There also seems to be a large homeless population in the area who convene by the park. Powderhorn Park does have indoor recreation (3400 15th Ave. S
Minneapolis, MN 55407). There is an indoor swimming pool and a large community center located there. A place that I like to frequent to get breakfast and coffee is Colossal Café located 1839 E. 42^nd ST. It’s a tiny place that has about 6 tables. This doesn’t keep people from the neighborhood away though. In the summer the line is out the door and in the winter everyone just huddles in the door way waiting for the next available seat. They have awesome bread. There is an ultra-wash coin laundry on 40 36^th Bloomington AVE.

One special feature of south Minneapolis is the Riverview Theater. We go here all the time to see 3 dollar movies. It’s located at 3800 42^nd ave. which is two miles away from Bancroft elementary. The theater has plenty of character with its vintage puke green velvet drapes encompassing the screen. There is a nice restaurant across the street to grab a beer or a glass of wine before or after the movie.

Canine coach is a SO Minneapolis local business. We took our beagle Wally here for puppy kindergarten and dog walking classes.  Marlene owns the company, she’s awesome and a supporter of the local community.

I would recommend to everyone to go check out Minnehaha falls in the winter for an awesome dog park or in the summer to eat fish tacos at sea salt in the summer.

Politics/ Events:

·         City council member: ward 8, 3^rd precinct Elizabeth Glidden

·         State and National Legislators’: Susan Allen - 62B - MN House  Jeff Hayden - 62 - MN Senate Keith Ellison - 5 - U.S. House Amy Klobuchar - U.S. Senate Al Franken - U.S. Senate

·         Community neighborhood organization: Bancroft Elementary PTA, Bancroft neighborhood org.

 

Math and Reading night- 01/29/2013 hosted by Bancroft Elementary, food by Fat Lorenzo’s

Art sled rally at powderhorn park 01/25/2014

May Day parade- (bike there!)

 

Demographics of 55407 link: http://homes.point2.com/Neighborhood/US/Minnesota/Hennepin-County/Minneapolis/43rd-Avenue-South-Demographics.aspx

 

Drugs... wait, whats our topic?

When I imagined doing a PA project with the fifth graders at Bancroft Elementary, I was expecting to focus on cleaning up the neighborhood or creating larger awareness for sewer pollution... not the topic "drugs". When I found out that was my topic it made me a little nervous. It felt out of place. Who am I to discuss drugs with kids who I see 45 minutes a week?

We got into our groups. I have three boys, Micheal, Patrick and Tyree.  Unfortunately Micheal was absent on Wednesday which made putting our essential agreements together a little more difficult. I printed up a page with four spots for our agreements and we all signed it. I mentioned that we would need to run over them with Micheal next week and they agreed it was a good idea.

We did a similar exercise as I did the week before. I printed up some getting to know you questions and we all picked a couple to answer. It seemed to go okay but having a smaller group ( only two students), made it more difficult for the students to share. We worked through it and I think it ended up being a successful activity. Tyree was in my group last week and he exclaimed "yes!" when he found out he was in my group again. That was a pretty good feeling... and he is friends with Pat so that gave me a little credibility.

So next we tackled our topic, I handed out markers and paper and asked the boys to draw or write down some facts they know about "drugs". I figured leaving it open for interpretation because I really was curious how they viewed drugs at 11 years old. I remember having D.A.R.E.  in fifth grade... I don't think I knew a lot.

We took turns sharing what we wrote and drew. It was interesting to see how there opinions have been shaped about the topic. It came up that there are drugs that you can take to make you healthy. It came up that there are drugs that can make you "negative" which I found pretty interesting. Tyree drew a cigarette. He shared with me when Pat went to the restrooom that his parents are smokers and "I hate it!" he said he wants to tell them to quit. Wow! I was impressed that he was able to share something so personal and thanked him for letting me know. I asked if he might want to share with Pat when he got back and he said "no". I asked if me'd mind if I told Pat what he thought and he said "yah".

So we talked with Pat and mentioned maybe creating awareness (a word I needed to explain,) about programs that help you quit smoking might be a good topic. We also mentioned prevention as a possible topic. We hopped on to a computer and did some intial research on our topic. We were curious about what makes cigarettes addictive. Just when we got started we ran out of time.

I look forward to working with Pat, Ty and Micheal. It would have been nice to have our full group but that happens. I hope we can all find a topic to be worth while. Next period I think we will have to do a re-cap and get everyone on board with what ever we choose.