Back at Banneker

Today I returned to my old position with the after school program at Benjamin Banneker Elementary. I was delighted that nearly all of the students I worked with last Spring and Summer remembered me after so many months. I wasn't able to work last semester because I had to take some classes that met during the after school program. I have missed those kids!

These girls, Rodrika and Kayla, were in my class this past Summer. I am working with them again, along with two other sweet 3rd grade girls. My job is pretty fun. After a short snack, we pull out the week's syllabus. Their teachers have broken down their assignments for the week by days and subjects. Today we studied for a spelling test, practiced vocabulary words, talked about adjectives and circled them in sentences, and completed a page of a math packet that focused on fractions. The homework seems easy for these girls; they breeze through the tedious tasks of writing spelling words five times each and matching words with definitions. The only fraction we worked with today was "1/2" and the girls had to draw lines through various shapes to divide the shape into halves. I help them stay on task more than anything, and I wonder why they aren't challenged more.

I will be at Banneker every evening from 4:30-6:30. This is important because I can really build relationships with the children. At Lafayette Academy, I am only given one hour a week with one student at a time. Working at Banneker has a different flavor because I'm interacting with 4-5 students during homework time, and then during the hour of recreation time I hang out with all ages, from 1st through 5th or 6th grade.

But more importantly than the help I can offer with homework, I feel that I am called to be a friend. I have no idea what these children are going home to. Today the teacher I am replacing, Rhonda, (she will be heading up a new after school program at another location next week) mentioned that she strives every day to give the students at least 45 minutes of outside playtime because most of them do not have much supervised playtime. It is important to get a game of dodgeball or basketball going, or play hop-scotch. It is important to let little girls be little girls and let little boys be little boys. Sometimes I'm astounded at the level of understanding these kids have of mature subject matter, and I'm glad that at least in this environment they can run and braid my hair and talk about how cute the Jonas Brothers are.