My teach-in workshop went very well in my eyes. The workshop flowed well, all my partners knew their parts and they knew how the activity would run through. We also had been prepared, we had all the videos we were going to show up all in one window on safari. That way we wouldn’t have to do that during the presentation. I found being a teacher for two hours fun. I liked to be in charge. What I liked more was running an activity that the students enjoyed. When I saw them laugh and they told me they had a good time I was pleased. I like seeing that my activity had gone well with all groups. At times it was challenging because I wasn’t ready for students to be misbehaving or hard to control. Though there are times when students do something fun and they get excited and start misbehaving. I realized being disruptive has a larger effect than the one the student thinks. To a student its just calling out or making a comment at the wrong time. To a teacher it is an interruption of the flow of the lesson. When someone calls out our makes and inappropriate comment, the teacher has to tell them to stop. If they talk to their neighbor repeatedly then you have to stop even longer so you can separate the two of them. The stopping is the hardest thing to do because afterwards you have to find out what you had been saying before you were interrupted. It is also a little awkward and nerve wrecking to punish a student because you want them to have fun in your class but at a certain point it starts to ruin the lesson. Also, you don’t want the student to be mad at you and not participate in the lesson anymore. When it came down to it Harry, Josh, and I still managed to keep control over the class even if it meant separating a group of kids. If I could’ve I would’ve ran through the closure of the lesson because it is the most important part and I wanted the students to really take away the message from the workshop. I’m not saying the students didn’t get the message we had sent them, but we had thought it could’ve been even more powerful. I think they all got the message but because of the closing, some of them took it lighter than others. I also would’ve wanted to get to know who was in my workshop before hand. So I could maybe talk to their teacher to see how they learn and what’s the best way they learn so that we can combine all t hose things and have each student walk away knowing just as much as the next person. I walked away with a sense of empowerment. The fact that I could hold my head high about who I am. Also, i walked away proud of my new ability to spot stereotypes in the media, whether they be advertisements or television shows or even posters. With that ability I can challenge the companies making and telling them that their advertisements portray people in certain ways. Also, that is it unfair because people will then portray others in the way that the advertisement did. This will cause them to make unfair judgements upon others or give them a certain idea about a group of people which often isn’t true.

My set up group was outstanding. I had small group which means there was more communication between all of us. I was with Logan and Bryce. This was a great mix because I got to work with people I never get to work with. Since Logan is in the other class I never work with him. Since Bryce is in the other split I hardly can ever work with him. We all had very good ideas on what our video should be like. Everyone contributed the same amount. We can through with our main goal. This was to make a video that explained what social justice is and also a video that will be funny so that the students can laugh and learn about the topic were telling them of. Bryce was good at recording and asking questions to the people we interviewed. Logan was good with recording also and editing the video. I was good at coming up with things to say and transitions in the video. The assemblies went well. I happened to also be an “MC” in the second assembly. I had a great time running the assembly. Making announcements and calling other people up was fun. I liked to talk between events too, I liked the fact that I was mainly talking to the students it made it a lot more casual and open.

The process leading to the Teach-In had its up’s and down’s. I liked the visits because each group was in charge of making there own visits and finding an organization to work with. The only part the teachers did was monitor the blog posts and visits and talk to the head of the organization if necessary. What I didn’t like was the proposal. I thought the idea of writing the proposal came to late meaning the date we had to write the proposal by was close to the day of the Teach-In. The part about the proposal itself i didn’t like was the fact that it was sometimes hard to include what the students would walk away with. For me I think it would’ve been easier to verbally explain your ideas instead of writing the proposal because somethings are easier to say than write. Also, I think that the comments on the proposal weren’t that helpful. For example, one comment would say “this is disconnected, add connection.” Then you would be on your own to figure out who to add the connection. It would be better if they said “… is disconnected. Add something like… to connect these two ideas.” I understand the teachers’ intentions though. They didn’t want to spell it out for us because it was our workshop and they thought if they told  us what to say our voice would be lost and it would be like they were running the workshop. For next year I think you should keep everything the same because it teaches you how to teach a lesson and all the unexpected things you might have to go through. The one thing I would like to change is I would like for the teachers to remind the students that this is there workshop so they have to figure out hot to add this and that to there workshop, proposal, etc. I think that in the beginning that idea was communicated between the kids and the teachers. Then when it came down to writing the proposals a lot of people became dependent on what the teachers said. Overall I think the entire Teach-In was very successful!

Today Harry, Josh, and I went to the LES girls club again. We spoke to Jenny and we worked on more Walk-A-Thon donation stuff. When we first got there we managed to see a couple of girls join the girls club. They were new and they had come with there mothers. We noticed no one had to pay or it didn’t matter where you lived. It was very casual, Jenny spoke to them as if she had known them already. The girls were very shy and soft spoken though. This might’ve been because the way they were judged before. Maybe Harry, Josh, and I had frightened them because they were expecting to see boys there.

After Jenny spoke with the new girls she began to talk to us. She wanted to talk about our donating progress. In the process of our discussion, I asked why the girls seemed uncomfortable. She said they were a little shy because they saw us there. She also told us that most of the times they ask there mom to be a part of the discussion when joining the girls club. She said that to the girls there moms were important role models and thats why the people that do activities with them are mostly women. She then told us it would be a good idea to have our moms come in and tell us about what they do. We had told Jenny that our moms too have been successful. For example, my mom danced with the Martha Graham Company. She toured all over the world. Jenny was ecstatic to hear about all our moms and their accomplishments. She insisted having our moms come in and speaking to the girls and also maybe even coming to the Walk-A-Thon. I am not sure if my mom will be able to make it because she is busy, but i bet she would love too come in. I’m excited for Spring Break and the next time we go to the girls club

Today, Josh Harry and I went back to the LES girl club for our last (required) visit. While there, we talked to Jenny about the walk-a-thon. There, Jenny and one of her associates that keeps track of the website stress the importance of us getting sponsors. So far we have made it half way to our goal, but we have to keep pushing forward. We (being Harry and I) have to contribute more the the raising money and getting sponsors, because Josh has raised 500$ so far. Our goal is 1000$, now Harry and I don’t have to raise as much money as Josh because he set the way for us. So now we need your help. Everyone that’s reading this post can donate. Simply, go to the website, girlsclub.org, and in the bottom-left corner underneath the upcoming events column there will be something that says “DONATE”. Click on it, then in the next new page there will be a selection of options. The second one down will be on the Walk-A-Thon. Click on that, then you can either register or donate. Donations are done through credit card. To register you will have to follow some steps that it will tell you once you click on it. Though once you register, it will ask you if you want to join a team or make your own. Pick join a team, type in “LREI Knights”. The captain will be Josh Wilson, and the two other members will be Noel Diggs and Harry Davidson. We need at least 10 people on our team, we can have as many as we want there is no maximum number, the more support the better. Each member can get other people to join and also donate. So once you become a member of our team then you can ask to be sponsored by friends or family. Also, ask those friends to register and asked to be sponsored by someone else. We will be making announcements at middle school meeting later on, most likely next Wednesday.

For our third visit, Josh, Harry, and I ventured back to the girls club. While there we met some more of the girls that attend the LES girls club. One of the girls was named Meghan and was in 7th grade, she goes to Friends Seminary. Today the girls were getting ready to view a PSA (Public Service Announce) and make one of their own. Coincidentally, we too are making PSA’s. At the girls club there was a director and film maker. She had done commercials before and PSA’s. In the summer she was looking forward to making her first feature film. She was there for the first time with the girls, so she was new to everyone. She gave some background information on herself, telling us this story on why her nickname is “Santa”. The girls then watched a old PSA the girls club had done. During the film, she probably explained some steps she took and gave advice. Though, as interesting as the topic was, we had to go discuss with Jenny the walk-a-than and possible times to meet again. Jenny showed us a calender and for each month there was a different picture of the girls, doing a different activity. One of the girls we had met in the previous week had been in multiple photos since she had been volunteering at the girls club for a long time. We decided we will meet again Wednesday 3/17, the day before our Costa Rica trip.

Today Harry, Josh, and I went back to the Lower East Side girls club for our second visit. When we got there Jenny was explaining to us more about the walk-a-thon that will be happening in May. Today however, we were helping them with fundraising instead of raising awareness for the walk-a-thon. As you may know, the girls club makes there own candies and pastries to sell to help fund themselves. Today there were working on selling chocolates. There were selling two types of chocolates: milk chocolate, and bittersweet (a.k.a dark chocolate). They showed us step by step how to wrap the chocolates. All the profits were going to the Haiti relief. The Lower East side girls club had also collaborated with P.S 34 to come up with a design for the chocolate covers. We also wrapped the chocolates that the girls club was going to sell by themselves. These had pictures of actual Lower East Side girl from the club on them. We were told the designs change every month and the girls help with the designs alot. While we were there this time, we got to meet two girls that worked for the girls club. One of them was 16 and had been working at the girls club for 2 years. The other  one was 18 and worked at the girls club for 3 years. We talked to them and found out about their experiences working with Jenny and the Lower East Side girls club. They seemed very enthusiastic and pleased with the job they had. While wrapping the chocolates we came across some that were broken due to how tightly they were packed. (This was one of the best parts of the visit). When we came across any broken chocolate bars we were allowed to eat them. (This was also the tastiest part of the visit). I wonder what activities will participate in them next time. We hope to return to the girls club before spring break.

Josh, Harry, and I went to the Lower East Side Girls Club. It is located on 1st St. between 1st and 2nd Avenue. The head executive, Jenny, was very informative and at the same time inviting and laid back. She gave us background information on the Lower East Side Girls club, founders, motives, etc. She answered all of my questions and more. She made it clear that the mission of the Girls Club, was to build independence in the girls that attended. The Girls Club has many buildings all over Alphabet City (Lower East Side). They have their own bakery, which we visited. They also have a spot for poetry sharing and other performances. The profits from the bakery go to the Girls Club funds. They also have fun fundraisers to raise money. For example,  they are having a Mardi Gras masquerade  ball. Lower East Side is very independent itself, about one third of all its money that they use to fund projects or buy supplies, are from their own businesses. In May they will be having a fundraiser walk, similar to the Aids Walk. Josh, Harry, and I are supposed to raise awareness for this events  by making poster, flyers, making announcements, etc. Later on in the year, when the Woman’s Rights Walk, is closer, we will be making announcements at Middle School Meeting and in afternoon or morning  homeroom. We don’t have a set time for a second visit, but I think I can speak for my group when I say were excited to go back.