(Saturday, July 27, 2013) I received my nine year pin today! That's how many years I've participated in a summer program over the past twelve years. (I take the occasional summer off every now and then to travel or just to chill.)
This year it was a big challenge for me, as I worked with a group I haven't worked with since the year 2000: 7th graders! I've worked with grades 3/4 and 5/6 - they all have their challenges, but the younger kids are goofy and endearing, and they'll sing camp songs with you. Not 7th graders - they're too cool for school, and for a camp song dork like me, that was hard. Difficult, too, were the dramas that 13 year old girls face (and bring onto themselves), and the crickets that chirp when teacher asks for a response but nobody answers... Midway through the program I was ready to walk away and never work with 7th graders again.
Little did I know then that they were internalizing lessons and secretly making connections between the book we read and the videos we watched and the stories they were writing. We put on a car wash to raise funds for an end of program field trip to an amusement park, and oh how those kids worked! We took them to an elementary school to tutor younger students in writing, and I saw them grow before my very eyes into mentors and future camp counselors. Artistically they worked in visual journals - I was so proud of my class's beautiful work. They presented their writing in front of the whole class in our storytelling festival- personal, heartfelt, and deeply meaningful stories. By camp's end they had won me over. And this year's 6th graders who begged me to teach 7th grade next year - well, they just might see me at the front of the class next year, ready for the next challenge.
This year it was a big challenge for me, as I worked with a group I haven't worked with since the year 2000: 7th graders! I've worked with grades 3/4 and 5/6 - they all have their challenges, but the younger kids are goofy and endearing, and they'll sing camp songs with you. Not 7th graders - they're too cool for school, and for a camp song dork like me, that was hard. Difficult, too, were the dramas that 13 year old girls face (and bring onto themselves), and the crickets that chirp when teacher asks for a response but nobody answers... Midway through the program I was ready to walk away and never work with 7th graders again.
Little did I know then that they were internalizing lessons and secretly making connections between the book we read and the videos we watched and the stories they were writing. We put on a car wash to raise funds for an end of program field trip to an amusement park, and oh how those kids worked! We took them to an elementary school to tutor younger students in writing, and I saw them grow before my very eyes into mentors and future camp counselors. Artistically they worked in visual journals - I was so proud of my class's beautiful work. They presented their writing in front of the whole class in our storytelling festival- personal, heartfelt, and deeply meaningful stories. By camp's end they had won me over. And this year's 6th graders who begged me to teach 7th grade next year - well, they just might see me at the front of the class next year, ready for the next challenge.
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Museum field trip |
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7th grade car wash fund raiser |
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The kids worked really hard to earn money for their field trip |
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End of program Oaks Park field trip |
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As you can see, they had a blast! |
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Best of luck to all of them! Maybe I'll see them around next year! |