I absolutely love love love my job. Sometimes it's rough yes, some times i just want to scream when the kids are being out of control. However, there are days like yesterday that I am so grateful for the opportunity to work with these special Children of God.
Pal-Step is run from 3:30 to 5:30, after school hours. We cater to at-risk students and families. Providing a safe place for students to go after school instead of going home to an empty house or a non-safe environment. Right now we have 95 kids enrolled just at Lincoln Elementary (which is where i work). From 3:30-4:00 we have a snack and rec time. From 4:00-4:30 we do homework, and then the last hour until 5:30 we do enrichment activities. I work with Alex Sanchez and we do a "snack time" where we make lots of yummy fun treats. Every day different students are rotated through the groups with their appropriate grades.
One of our hardest age groups is the 4th graders. It is our biggest group, and the kids are just down right mean. They are mean to eachother, they are vulgar, and they just don't care. It has been a year long problem to try and solve and every week presents a challenge. Yesterday while coming out of the bathroom to wash their hands i heard the newest joke on one of their fellow 4th graders.
Colby is a little heavier set, wears glasses, and LOVES super heroes. I spend many recesses reading stories with him, and just being his friend. Well the boys coming out of the bathroom were wiping their hands on each other saying "Colby germs, Colby germs...." Being especially fond of Colby but also tired of their constant tormenting on whoever they decide to torment that day i brought them all back into the cafeteria. I sat them down and started talking about the Golden Rule. After about 3 minutes i could tell this wasn't getting anywhere.
After a silent pleading with my Heavenly Father i suddenly was struck with inspiration of how i could implement in my students how to be kinder to eachother, i knew that this could very well be a changing point in each of their lives. I arranged them at the table half on one side, half on the other they sat directly across from another classmate. I then blew a whistle (which meant freeze) i said, "Introduce yourself to the person across from you, This person is your new "best Friend"..." They grumbled and claimed "we already know them!" I replied with, "Pretend you dont!" well after they introduced themselves i said, "This is your new best friend, now look at them really closely and give them a compliment." They hated it! they grumbled and griped but knew we would keep doing it until i was satisfied. About every 20 seconds i blew my whistle and one side, called the "slide side" would rotate, then each would have a new partner. we then repeated the process, each time i would say, "This is your new best friend".
About half way through i noticed a change. they were all the sudden having fun! really looking for ways to compliment their new "best friend". After the last rotation i said, "you now have 22 new best friends. How do best friends act? We aren't mean to them, we don't make fun of them, and we defend them. You should treat each of your class mates as if they are your best friends". After this they were quiet, and pensive. they looked around and were happy. We then made our snack and got out board games, and they all played together. Colby played with kids who before wouldn't have anything to do with him. Orion a little boy who is normally very hard to handle came up and with a HUGE smile said, "Emily i have 22 new friends!...i've never had friends before, and now i have 22!!!!"
It was the best day of work i've ever had. Knowing that those 20 minutes of making " new best friends" very well could have a chanigng impact on their lives forever. by the end of Palstep word had spread of what i had my kids do and the other teachers and my boss were so impressed they want me to do it with every group next week!
I loved seeing those kids being nice to eachother, and being happy. And that is what my job is all about.
Emily
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