The first blog of 2010 is dedicated to a community service venture from 2009: The yearly trip to Logan Elementary School in Detroit. I had heard many positive things about the trip, which I have never been on, and decided that this year I would experience this adventure with the IB group.
We decided that our method of celebrating the holiday season would be to make snowmen and showgirls with the little 4th and 5th graders. I have to admit that I was a little nervous about working with little children. For one, I don’t consider myself to be extraordinarily patient with the little whippersnappers and feared that I would make a little kid cry with a sudden outburst of frustration. I was taken on a new challenge (IB Learning Outcome #2!!) and was ready to test my patience with the children.
As our IB group approached the first class room and I saw the 20-some number of children, my fellow IBers and I realized that we needed to group up to handle the tenacity and energy of the young scholars. Margery Gang and I partnered up and led the children through the activities. We were able to instruct the children with their projects along with entertaining them with fun math games and questions about their favorite hobbies. I thought we worked well together (IB Learning Outcome #4!!) and helped the students have a successful holiday experience.
To my worries of terrorizing the youngsters with my impatience- no such outburst occurred. While there were moments where my head began to ache with all the loud noises in the class room, I was able to maintain my composure and successfully lead the group activity. In this sense I showed commitment and perseverance in my activity (IB Learning Outcome #5!!) by maintain a cool head and overcoming my initial worries.
Overall the Logan experience was altogether enjoyable as I had a fun time with not only my classmates, but the little children who enjoyed our company as much as we enjoyed theirs. I am looking forward to another adventure next year!
Another Interesting quote which reminds me of some recent TOK discussions: “Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen.” – Albert Einstein
