11/13/09

Well as most of you know, today was my last day. I did not want to have to do this on my last day, but I had to sit one kid in time out for using curse words. I've had issues with her a lot of times so I thought I would make one last attempt to talk some sense into her. I had her take a look at her brother and asked her if she wanted him to grow up to say those words. I have actually had the same issues with him too. She answered no. My response to that was that her brother looks up to her and if she didn't want him to curse, maybe she should stop doing so.

Also, before we got anything started, the kids presented me with a huge piece of white cardboard saying good luck with everything. They also signed their names on it. I received a card from my co-workers as part of their appreciation for everything that I have done to help them out. Afterwards, we allowed all the kids to challenge me to any game in the game room. If they won, they received three tootsie rolls. It has been fun and I can honestly say that I will miss this place when I am not able to come down. I will continue to volunteer.

11/11/09

It was a semi-eventful day yesterday. I had to sit several kids down in time out for different reasons. A couple of them decided to, again, use the filler words for cussing. It is a little unsettling for me that after sitting the kids down all this time for the same reason, they still do not understand how that is a problem. I hope that after I am done with this internship that someone will come along and make them understand. During my science experiment, one of the kids was talking constantly and acting like a clown. I gave him several warnings telling him to be quiet, but he would not listen so I sat him down. At about 6:30 when it was time for the kids to leave, I saw one of the kids throw a ball at the other. I told him to either sit down for five minutes then or pay his time when he comes back. He chose to go ahead and leave.

My science experiment did not end the way I thought it was going to end. I did the sponge float experiment with them. The sponge is supposed to sink all the way to the bottom of the sink or bowl at the first attempt. At the second attempt, you have to dip the sponge all the way down in the water, squeeze it, and then let it go. When you let it go it is supposed to stay in between the surface of the water and the bottom of the bowl or sink. I think the problem was that I did not have the right kind of sponge. Here is the link to the webpage for those of you who would like more information:

http://www.kids-science-experiments.com/spongefloat.html

Also, my supervisor filled out my final evaluation for me. I received all 4s and 5s. When we met together at the end of the day, he asked me if I would be interested in helping with their summer educational program for the kids. I told him I am all for it if I do not already have a job lined up after I graduate. I am looking, at this point, to try and find a job at another Boys and Girls Club in our area. We talked about the possibilities there. I am looking forward tio my last day on the job which is tomorrow.

11/09/09

Today was a fairly easy-going day. I did not have to sit any of the kids down. However, that does not mean that my co-workers did not sit any of them down. One of the kids got sat down by my supervisor for some unknown reason. I helped my supervisor in the gym with Triple Play where we played a couple of different tag games such as freeze tag and another one that I do not know the name of.

Although I did not have anyone turn up for the full time in Power Hour, I did have eight kids attend my science experiment. I did the jumping coin experiment with them. You fill up a bowl with cold water, take a glass coke bottle (or Yoohoo bottle like I did) and a coin that is wider that the top of the bottle and place them in the water to chill, place the coin on the top of the bottle, and then wrap your hands around the bottle and see what happens. Here is the link in which I got the information from:

http://www.kids-science-experiments.com/magiccoin.html

11/06/09

Well today was pretty eventful to start off with. I had to sit a few kids down for cussing. As one of them was following me out the door, he decided to say some mean things to the other kids so I sat him down for 15 minutes. I also heard one of the kids use the term child molester after talking to me. I decided to sit him down too. I explained to him what that term means and he seemed surorised. He said that he was unaware of that. I told him, therefore, that I do not appreciate being called that.

I also learned today that the same kid is having problems at home. His mother, a drug addict with three kids that all have different fathers, is splitting up with his father. She also wants nothing to do with the kid. He does not understand why his mother will not come around anymore. I just do not understand what would lead a mother to disown her son like that. He is a very bright kid who deserves all the best things that life has to offer.

11/04/09

There were not as many kids here today due to the drug prevention program that we are holding after school now. Therefore, not a lot happened. I was unable to prepare a science experiment for today because I have been occupied with other school work. I will try to get one together for Friday. I found a new website to get my experiments from because I was running out of things to do from the other one:

http://www.kids-science-experiments.com/

I am thinking about doing the jumping coin experiment if my supervisor can come up with the materials. I also held Power Hour, but I only had one kid with me. She had a science project to do, but I was unable to help her with learning the information because I have not learned any of that stuff for years. I checked for grammar issues though. That was about the best I could do. It was a fun day for the most part.

11/02/09

I was quite pleased with how well everything went today. I was finally able to go into the art class today and have the kids do the project we were planning for them about a month or so ago. That was to have them help me write a song by writing one sentence about a problem that they are facing or that the world faces. They were also asked to draw me while I played my guitar and sung for them. They all did very well on their drawings. Some of them finished early and were allowed to do whatever else they wanted that pertains to art. A few of them either drew a picture or made snowflakes for me. I did not even ask them to. They just did.

Afterwards, I ran the Power Hour program and did a science experiment with the kids. Here is a link to the experiment that I did:

http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/experiments/floatingeggs.html

I had about ten kids for the experiment and three of them stayed and worked on their homework. The rest of the day was, yet again, spent entering data into the Kidtrax system in order to track their attendance.

10/30/09

Friday was somewhat eventful. I had a problem, yet again with one of the kids saying cuss words. He ended up leaving right after I had told him to sit down in time out, but he will have to pay his time when he comes back. I also sat one of the kids down later on for making some rude comments to one of his peers. I gave him several warnings to be nice to the other kid, but he refused to listen.

As it was getting closer to the evening, some of the kids began either to tell racist jokes or make racist comments towards each other. At one point, one of them called another a cracker. I thought that she said something else so I let that one go, but later on I found out that I was wrong. That goes to show that I am not perfect. I try as hard as I can. As far as the racist jokes, I had to allow my supervisor to handle it because I was not trained to deal with a situation like that. We held a meeting with the kids and one of their parents and addressed each individual situation and mentioned that there is zero tolerance for that type of behavior. I am not sure what the punishment will be, but I imagine that they will be suspended.

My thoughts are that they are good kids, but they do not know any better about making racist comments and jokes. They are influenced mostly by their possibly deadbeat parents and their friends that they hang out with at school. I am not saying that all of them have bad parents and hang out with the wrong crowd, but I believe that there are a select few of them that do. Some of them do not have any structure at home and live in households where the parenting styles are permissive. Their parents let them walk around town and just do whatever they want and be friends with whoever they want.

10/28/09

Yesterday did not go very bad. At first, I was a little bit tired and cranky because I had just come in from working at my other job. I was asked to lead a carpetball tournament for the kids as part of the olympics thing that we are doing this week. It went well for the most part, but a lot of kids began arguing about who won the games. They all kept trying to talk to me at once and I almost lost my temper with them. Finally, I just told them all that they need to calm down or we won't play any more.

Later on I decided to do the science experiment that I had planned for the day which was to place a cube of ice into a clear glass full of warm water to see if it would overflow. As an incentive to get the kids to come, I told them that they would earn five points just for participating. If they answered correctly whether or not the water would overflow, they would earn an extra five points. Most of them answered correctly. Here is the link to the webpage where I got this idea:

http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/experiments/iceoverflow.html

The rest of the day was spent doing clerical work and cleaning. I finished recording the hourly attendance for the month of October. After that that my supervisor asked me to enter in the points that the kids received from turning in their report cards. They received 25 points for just turning it in, an additional ten points for each A, and an additional five points for each B and C. Most of the kids received As and Bs. I was asked to redecorate the bulletin board and hang up pictures of all the staff members and pictures of the youth council members doing different things. My last job for the night was to clean up the gym, snack room, and game room.

10/26/09

Yesterday seemed to go really well. The kids are on Fall break this week so when I arrived, they were already there and playing around. My supervisor had taken the teenagers on a trip to the Louisville Science Center so I was in charge of running the ping pong tournament for the olympics. I had no problem whatsoever with doing that. I did have issues with the kids when one of the other staff members was trying to make them go up to art. Some of them thought it would be fun to try and play hide and go seek on us. After rounding them up I told them that if the misbehaving continues and they could not show us any respect, I would contact my supervisor and let him deal with them. For those who had permission to walk, I threatened to send them home.

I was able to do another science experiment with the kids. For those who wanted to play the Gamecube, I told them if they participated in the experiment and answered the questions correctly, they would have first dibs on it. I thought that rewarding them with that might be a good way to get them to participate in an educational activity. For the rest of the time I was either hanging out with the kids and playing games with them or doing paperwork for my supervisor. I had to figure out the hourly attendance for each day of this month. It got old really quick. Basically, I had to figure out who was there on what day and during which hours of our daily operation.

Here is the link to the science experiment that we did:

http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/experiments/staticelectricity.html

10/23/09 and 10/24/09

It has been a very busy weekend for me. I am going to give you guys the breakdown of how my internship has gone for the past couple of days. If there was any day where I gained a lot of experience on how ork with kids, it was Friday. I had to sit a couple of kids down. Both times were for cursing. I heard the "f" word and the "s" word. They were the real words, not the substitutes which have been a great problem recently. This was also the night that we were having our Halloween dance. I had to hold what seemed to be about 50 kids in the snack room while the mentors, youth council members, and volunteers set up for the dance. It seemed like it was going to be endless. The kids got restless and were constantly nagging me for different things. I breathed a sigh of relief when another volunteer showed up to help out. I am getting better at handling the multiple demands though. For the rest of the night I was responsible for making sure that the kids stay on their best behavior. I constantly checked the boy's restroom to make sure that there were no fights going on, no one was sick, injured, etc. I also made sure that I kept an eye on the kids as they were waiting for their rides to come pick them up.

On Saturday I did not have to do any work with kids. I worked the concession stands while having the opportunity to view cage fighting matches for the first time. The MMA rents out the Gerdon Youth Center about every three months for around $500 and we get to keep all the profit made off of the concessions. By making me work during this event, my supervisor gave me the chance to see where some of our money comes from. All in all I was able to relax a little bit and be entertained and I had a break from the kids.

10/21/09

It was not entirely troublesome for me today. The kids were well behaved for the most part. There is still the issue of getting them to sit all the way down in their seats and not put their feet up on the couches and stools. For a while I thought about giving up because sitting them down has not been working, but I am not a quitter so that will not happen. I had to sit one of the kids down for using a curse word. He did not actually say the word, but I knew he meant to use it. The kids do not seem to understand or they do not care when we tell then that doing that is actually the same as using a curse word. We try and explain it to them in the best ways we know how.

I had "1" kid for Power Hour today. Hooray! That was better than nothing. He needed help on his math homework. I knew how to do most of the problems on his worksheet, but there were a few that I even got stuck on. It is basic math, but I have not done some of it in years. If it were algebra, I could probably fly right through it. I actually had to go bring another kid in there to help him on the problems that I could not solve. Even though I tried my hardest to help him, I still am not perfect at it. Hopefully I can do better at it next time.

10/19/09

Again, sorry about the late post. Yesterday was a whole lot more successful than some of the previous days. There were a few issues. I had an incident where one of the girls did not want to listen to me. We were serving popcorn for a snack, but she did not want any and that is all we had. She decided she was going to try and eat a napkin instead. I told her not to, but she decided not to listen and got sat down. I also had to sit two of the boys down later in the day at the same time for pushing each other. They got into an argument which led to the pushing. After having them sit down, I told them that fighting does not solve any problems and they need to come to me or another staff member if they get into a disagreement and we will settle it.

Earlier I did a science experiment with them like I was talking about in my previous posts. I chose to do the one with the blow dryer and the ping pong balls. You have to turn the blow dryer all the way up on high, hold the end where the air comes out straight up, hold it level, and place the ping pong ball above it and let it go. Gravity and air pressure work together to keep the ball floating in the air. I tried to make this a Power Hour thing, but it did not exactly work out the way I had hoped. I will try to make it to where Power Hour is done right after all the other programs. I thought I would do a science experiment with them for the first half hour and the rest of the stuff for the remaining amount of time.

10/16/09

I was really proud of the kids today. Most of them did not cause any trouble. There was one who I sat down twice for not listening to me and for walking on top of a table. Abother one had used the phrase "what the freak". I told her to sit down, but she went and told another staff member what had happened and he did not make her sit down. That was kind of upsetting. I will have a discussion on Monday with my supervisor about that on Monday when he gets back from his trip. Otherwise, things went smoothly today.

It was a freeday again so we allowed the kids to play whatever they wanted. I got some games of dodgeball going with them. We also played a few pick-up football games and hit the volleyball around to eachother. At the time when I was supervising the game room I played some ping pong and carpetball with them. I feel as if the kids were really beginning to enjoy my presence there today and are starting to see me as a friend as well as an authority figure. It's not quite there yet and I don't think I am going to meet my main goal by the end of my internship, but I am making progress and taking baby steps.

10/14/09

There's not a whole lot of interesting things that happened today. I did start enforcing the rule for the kids to keep their feet off the couches, the stools, and the inside picnic table. I let them know that if I keep on having to tell them not to do that, they will sit in time out. I did not have much of a problem after that. Later on in our shift, I overheard our new mentor say the word "freakin". I pulled her aside and let her know that we are trying to teach the kids to not use those kinds of words, therefore she should not use them in front of the kids. I explained why, but you can find that reason in one of my earlier posts because I do not feel like repeating myself.

I am still having trouble getting the kids to come up to Power Hour. I even have tried to get a chess tournament going for the past couple of days I have worked and offer the winner and runner-up extra points, but still nobody wanted to come. Therefore, I am going to choose one of the science experiments to do from one of my chosen websites. Hopefully that will spark their interest and get them to attend. If you looked at the websites and saw an experiment that you thought seemed interesting, let me know and I might use it.

10/12/09

It was not a very eventful day today. None of the kids wanted to come up to Power Hour today. So I came up with an idea while entering data into the system for attendance. I thought about doing some fun science experiments with the kids that would, be easy, fun, and educational for them. I looked up some websites where I could receive some instruction on how to do some experiments and how to discuss them with the kids. Check them out and see what you think or if you know of anything better, let me know:

http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/experiments.html
http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/experiments.html

I just spent the rest of the day hanging out and playing games with the kids and keeping an eye on the teenagers while they were playing basketball. My supervisor attended the board meeting so It was just me and one of the volunteers that kept an eye on the place.

10/09/09

I have an update on the situation with the girl. I spoke with my supervisor today andhe informed me that he is not going to report this to CPS, but we are going to keep a close eye on her in the case that it happens again. I neglected to ask if the mother was informed of the accusations because I did not think of it at the time. Rest assured that the situation will get taken care of one way or the other. The staff at BGCHC are highly professional and have years of experience with kids. They know what to do when these situations arise.

I talked to my faculty advisor about the situation. I mentioned that this is the last thing that I was hoping to have to deal with. Unfortunately, these things happen a lot and I will have to deal with it when I become a school counselor. She referred me to the IUS counselor so I could speak to him as a future professional to professional so I could see what I need to do in case this type of situation occurs again. I am going to make an appointment next week.

The rest of the day was normal. The kids had a free day and I spent most of my time monitoring the behavior in the game room. I sat three kids in time out today. The first one sat down for screaming too loudly. The second for jumping on another kid and trying to wrestle him. The third for saying "what the freak". I cannot stress it enough to the kids that that is considered the same as cursing because your intentions are to say the actual curse word. Also, I am trying to teach the kids some manners and not put their feet up on the chairs and couches. I asked my supervisor if that was being too harsh, but he said that he has been trying to do the same thing. I should tell them that if I have to repeat myself, they will get sat down.

10/07/09

It was a highly eventful day today. I didn't fully have to deal with everything today, but there was a lot on my plate. Two of the problems that I had to deal with had to do with the same kid. I tried to get the kid who was told by his grandmother and father to come up to Power Hour and do his homework to do likewise. He absolutely refused and I was unable to get him to come with me. My supervisor gave him the option of doing that or sitting in time out until the programs were over with for the day. Later on, he was playing in a kickball game. He got into an argument with the one of the players on the opposing team and threw the ball at him. The other player caught the ball and did not get hurt, but his intentions were to hurt him so I sat him down again. Also, when I tried to explain to him why I sat him down, he screamed and yelled at me. Therefore, I extended his time out by ten minutes.

I could probably fill up a whole page with the story behind this kid, but those of you who are following me will have to ask me in person about it because there is a bigger issue at hand that I want to address. Remember from the previous post when I talked about the girl possibly being abused? I spoke with my supervisor about that today. I told him, basically, what the girl said to me. I also explained to him that I had her tell one of the other staff members the exact same thing that she told me. When he spoke to the girl yesterday, he told me that she said everything was fine. He and I both agree on the same thing abou this issue. We think that she has made the marks herself and is looking for attention or that she might be trying to get her mother in trouble. We are not ruling out the possibility that she is telling the truth. In order to take care of the situation, everyone involved, especially me, has filled out an incident report because we are required to keep these things on file. The next step in the process is to get approval from the Executive Director of BGCHC to report the incident to CPS. He said he might go ahead and do so whether he gets the approval or not.

This is the first time I have ever been involved with a situation like this. I have already known that the first thing to do in this situation is to tell someone whether or not you think the child is telling the truth. If you do not report the incident, the child could get hurt and you will be in trouble for not doing likewise. Another thing I have learned to do, in case nothing gets done about it, is to make a mental note about it to see if there is a pattern. I also did some research on the internet after I got home tonight. I sometimes have wondered how things would be if I was wrong, but this quote from the Arizona Department of Economic Security website reminded me that I did the right thing either way:

"A report of suspected child abuse, neglect, exploitation or abandonment is a responsible attempt to protect a child."

10/05/09

I think, for the most part, that things went well today. I was unable to get any of the kids to come up to Power Hour today. Therefore, I played dodgeball with them in the gym. I spoke to my co-worker who does the art program about an idea that I had in mind. I have a goal by the end of the semester to write a Christian song about unsopken prayer requests. I thought we could hand out slips of paper and have them write a line of lyrics about a problem either in their lives or in the world. They do not have to state their names. She thought it was a great idea. She wants to add to it by having me to play the guitar and sing during art so she could have the kids draw me.

I did approach a potentially huge problem today. One of the kids showed me some marks on her arms and told me that her mother did that to her while in church. I had her show it to the other staff members. My supervisor was off. Therefore, he was not there. They said that I should wait and tell him and make a mental note of the situation. I am not ruling out the possibility that her mother could have grabbed her to keep her from running off and she resisted resulting in some scratches, but she did not mention that happening. I have never dealt with this situation before so I am not quite sure what needs to be done.

10/02/09

There was not much in store for today. I had a little bit of my usual problems with kids putting their feet up on the couch or leaning on the carpet ball table. From now on, if I catch them leaning on it when they are in line, they will go to the end of the line. One of the girls decided to disobey me today so she got to sit in time out. I was asked by my supervisor the other day to bring my guitar to play and sing. I did just that. I just did it that same way as the last time which was going in the game room and playing while the kids were playing the games. We were also supposed to have a new volunteer start today, but she ended up cancelling for the day.

I also want to let those of you who read this blog know that I am open to receiving comments. If you have any advice for me about certain situations that I have faced during this internship, let me know. I would be glad to hear feedback from everyone.

09/30/09

It was an incredibly good day. I am so happy that the kids were really well-behaved. Not once, from what I've seen, did any of the staff members, including myself, have to sit someone in time out. The unfortunate part for the day is that I only had two kids in Power Hour, but that is better than zero. They played a couple of chess games. I allowed them to play best two out of three. The winner received ten extra points and the opponent five extra points. Those two kids are really good at following the rules. The only problem I had with all the kids was with them putting their feet up on the couches, chairs, and the picnic table we have in the snack room.

I also had a conversation with a few of the kids today about how their schoolwork is coming along. One of them mentioned that he made As and Bs. I let him know that he sounds like he's doing real well. Another had mentioned that he had made a few Fs on his last report card. After asking him why, he replied that school is hard and he is afraid of it. His mother goes to school and does not make it home at night until 10:30 p.m. She helps him sometimes. His grandmother does not know how to help him with his homework. He does not know where his father is right now either. I told him that I might be able to help him out a little bit if he would come up to Power Hour instead of going to art all the time.

09/28/09

I am a day late in posting this, but better late than never, right? I feel that yesterday was kind of disappointing in a sense because we had fewer kids than normal. Also, none of them wanted to go to Power Hour. I made the decision to help out in the gym. Instead of just standing there to make sure they behaved themselves, I joined them in their game of kickball. I think it is important, not only to be strict with the kids and make them respect you, but also to interact with them and have fun so they're not afraid of you. This is my number one, yet toughest goal I am trying to meet in doing this internship. It's a boundary that I will have to establish in the future as a school counselor so why not try to figure out where it is at now?

I also had a short meeting with my supervisor again. He mentioned something about going to the school again today and speaking with the principal about the drug prevention program. I am hoping that we do not receive any more bad reviews, but if that happens, I am going to look at it as an opportunity to help the Boys and Girls Club make the improvements that they need to make. I am also trying my hardest to recruit more volunteers and interns that I believe would be good candidates for the position. They are going to need more reliable, hard-working interns in the future.

09/25/09

Today I did not get to interact with the kids. My supervisor, some members of the youth council, and I set up a booth at the Cockadoodle days festival that we have every year in Corydon. I helped to advertise some upcoming events. We passed out flyers for our Fall Festival, which I will be unable to help with since I have school that day, and brochures about the Boys and Girls Club of Harrison County in general. Some of the kids that I work with were there due to their involvement in Boy Scouts.

We also sold drinks for $1.00 each. We had a ring toss game at our booth. If a player got three rings around the sticks in one try, they won a free drink. They got a color-changing pencil just for trying. I also walked around and visited with people that I knew and told them to come check out our booth and learn a little bit about the organization. My supervisor also got to meet my grandpa (who also had a booth set up there). I was really exctied about that. It was great to be able to go out into the community and interact with people. That's what organizations do a lot of the time. You cannot just sit there and expect people to come to you. You've got to go to them. Some people did not even know that we existed in Corydon.

09/23/09

I brought in my new list of rules for Power Hour and read them aloud to the kids who attended. They seemed to take it farely well. There were a couple of them that refused to follow some of the rules so they ended up with no points for the day. I had a problem with kids getting up out of their chairs constantly. Therefore, I am also enforcing a new rule for that reason. The rest of the day consisted of just playing games with the kids, spending time with them, and making sure they were behaving. I almost went the whole four hours I worked today without sitting someone in time out, but the same kid I had problems with a couple of days ago said "what the flip" again. It's been a repetitive behavior so I am going to tell him next time I work that I will contact his parents the next time he does it. I consulted my supervisor about that because I am hesitant due to the fact that some of these kids do not have good home lives. He said if it comes down to where you have to do that, just threaten to call the parents and their reactions might indicate whether their home lives are good or bad.

09/21/09

A few challenges approached me today, but it was not necessarily a bad day. I gave the kids an opportunity to earn extra points in Power Hour today. In order to earn them, they had to finish an activity sheet by the end of the program for the day. I awarded them two extra points for completing one, four for completing two, and ten for completing three. They could earn up to fifteen points for the day. Everyone that participated earned extra points, but half of them lost five points for misbehaving and not listening to me. I even sat one kid down afterwards because I asked him to wait until everyone was ready to leave so we could head down as a group, but he did not listen. Due to those events, I decided to make a sheet of the rules and consequences that I go by for Power Hour. Afterwards, when the kids had their free time, I had to sit another kid in time out twice for doing the same thing. That was saying the words "what the flip". I had to explain to him that that is the same as swearing because people still know what you mean by that.

Also, my supervisor filled out my midterm evaluation form for me today. We went over it together. Basically, in my summary of strengths, he said that I have a lot of patience and that I generally know how to work with youth. The only thing I need to improve upon is taking more initiative with on-the-spot activities. This means that if I notice kids not doing much during their free time, I should get an activity together for them to do or ask them if they want to play a game. I have also been rated on my job performance on a scale of one (poor) to five (superior). He said that he generally never gives out fives on the midterm evaluations, but he gave me two of them.

09/19/09

This will be kind of a short post, but I did work today between 5:00 and 11:00. We had a 3-on-3 basketball tournament for the teenagers planned tonight. We had about four teams show up which was just enough. My only task was to stand and watch the door to make sure the teenagers did not leave because once, you leave, you cannot come back (there are various reasons). Basically, I hung out and played games, such as pool and chess with the teenagers while watching the door.

09/18/09

It was quite an enjoyable day for me at the BGC. I handed my advisor the paper for my midterm evaluation. I am nervous and excited about it at the same time. I hope that I am doing my job correctly. I should hear back from him by next week. I spent most of my time keeping an eye on the kids in the gym today. While I was doing that, I wrote the kids' membership numbers on the attendance sheet. I did not enter the data into the Kidtrax system because I had a surprise for the kids today. I decided to bring my guitar and play a few tunes for them. Unfortunately, none pf them seemed like they were interested in hearing me play. At the time, they were either, in the gym playing a sport, watching a movie in the sncak room, or playing in the game room. I just decided to go into the game room and start playing anyways. The kids in there seemed to enjoy it.

While I was in there, I witnessed one of the kids that I like working with the most kicking another one in the behind. I didn't have any leniency this time. I stood my ground and made him sit in time out. I hated having to do so, but I had no choice. He is getting ready to become a teenager and by then, I hope he will know better than to do that kind of stuff. I explained to him that we need to keep our hands, feet, and the rest of our body parts to ourselves. He could have hurt the other kid. He is a really cool kid and I think a lot of him. He's pretty smart so I know he's going to go far in life.

09/16/09

Progress has been made today towards making the kids respect me. When my supervisor made his announcements, he reinformed the kids that I am a staff member and should be given the same amount of respect that he gets. I think it helped improve things a little bit. I've been told by one of the kids that I am bossy and that I am not nice. I responded by saying that I am trying to be nice, but she will not listen to me when I ask her to do something.

I had a lot more kids in Power Hour also. In fact, I think it was probably my second largest group so far. Drew brought his math homework, but nothing else. I suspect that he usually has more homework than that, so I checked his planner. He did not write any of his assignments down. When I spoke to his father earlier, I requested that he tell his son to write down all of his assignments. It would make my job a whole lot easier. He said that he fully agreed with me and would have his son do that. It was one of the first times I had spoken to a kid's parents about their behavior so it was a little nerve-racking.

I didn't seem to have a whole lot of issues besides that, but I did have a couple. One of the other kids in Power Hour did not want to do anything besides sit and watch people play chess. I tried as hard as I could (I even tried to get him to do one of the worksheets), but he just did not want to listen. I did not give him any points for the day. Another kid was listening to some inappropriate music. I told him if he did it again, he would sit in time out and he would not be allowed to bring his mp3 player any more.

09/14/09

I have to say that things went so much better today than they did Friday. I don't think I saw one kid sitting down. Unfortunately, none of the kids wanted to participate in Power Hour. I stayed downstairs and helped one of the other staff members keep an eye on the kids while they were playing in the game room. It didn't really take a whole lot of effort. I just played the games with them. Afterwards, I was playing around on the guitar while watching the kids. A couple of them heard me and asked me to play a song for them. Because of that, I am going to bring in my guitar on Friday and play for them on their free day.

After the kids were gone I joined in on a game of basketball with the teens while waiting on the board meeting to start. I have not spent a whole lot of time with them so I thought I would take the opportunity. I have not played 5-on-5 basketball in a while. Therefore, it did not turn out so well for me, but I had fun. The board meeting was not any different from last time. It was a lot less boring this time though. One of the things that I've learned is that Power Hour seems to have the least amount of participation. The attendace for this month averaged out to be 4.6 kids. I will try to find a way to increase participation. Also, the youth council is trying to get a Taco Bell grant. One of the things they want to do with it is attend a leadership conference. I certainly hope they are able to do so.

09/11/09

It was not a very pleasant day today at my internship. The minute the kids arrived, they started acting up. A few of them were sat down immediately. One of them by the other intern. The kid picked up a butter knife for no reason whatsoever. He was told to put it down, but did not want to listen. I sat one of them down. I ordered him to sit up straight and move his feet off of the couch. He decided to test me and only moved his feet off of the couch. I told him to either listen to me or go sit down. For some odd reason, he chose to sit down. When I spoke with him before letting him back up, I told him that I expect him and the others to listen to me and do something when I tell them to do it. My supervisor had also sat down a couple of kids when he arrived from picking the kids up from school.

At about a half an hour before I left supervisor, the other intern, and I had a meeting. We discussed the issues of what the schools think about us and our reputation in the community. To be honest with you, we have been known not to have a good reputation in the community. Their mindset is that all the bad kids go here. I say that we do not have any bad kids. They are just looking for support and direction in their life. As I have said before, a lot of these kids do not have a very good home life and nowhere else to go that will teach them structure and discipline while also giving them the opportunity have fun. He spoke to both the middle school counselor and principal. Neither one had heard any good reviews from the kids. One of the things we are going to try to improve on is our disciplinary methods. Instead of just sitting them down all the time, we might try giving them a suspension or something of that nature.

Having a bad day today has not affected my decision to become a school counselor. I am not about to give up on this goal. I now realize more than ever that I am needed. It is my duty to take a stand for these kids and give them a chance at some great opportunities in life. They include making it through to the next grade, graduating from high school, and helping them get into college and get the financial aid that they might need.

09/09/09

It was a little bit of a challenging day for me. One of the kids, whose grandmother wants him to come upstairs to Power Hour with me to do his homework, threatened to leave because of that. The only thing that I said to him is that he wouldn't do it. He ended up not making any attempts. If he had, I would have tried to beat him to the door to get in his way. My supervisor said, under an extreme circumstance like that, he would use physical force, such as grabbing the kid's shoulder, to stop him or her from leaving. He said he had spoken to the grandmother. She mentioned that the kid was having a difficult time at home. His mother had just received visitation rights.

The rest of the time in Power Hour was spent playing Connect Four and Guess Who with the rest of the kids. I was trying to get them to lower their voices because there was another kid in there doing her homework, but I had a tough time. I had a mentor in there that was supposed to help me out, but she was only adding to the problem. When my supervisor asked if there were any problems, I mentioned that. He said he would speak to her for me and try to get me a different mentor up there. I finished making up the rest of the teen contact list in Excel. Also, during the youth council meeting, I was stuck watching the downstairs area by myself, but nobody else came in.

09/07/09

Since today is Labor Day, the kids did not have school. Therefore, the kids did not have school. There were only about five kids that came today. I imagine that most of them had family outings to go to. I did not have Powerhour today because of that. The only program that was offered was art. While that was going on I just watched the downstairs area in case anyone came in with a question. In the mean time, I did one of my readings for school. After the kids were finished with art, they came down and played games in the game room and the gym. That was the gist of the day. Nothing else really happened.

09/04/09

Things went fairly well today. We allowed the kids to have a free day just like we do every Friday. I just played games with the kids the entire time they were there. Most of them were well-behaved. I had one incident where i had to put a kid in timeout for swearing. He used the phrase "son of a Mitch". I explained to him that people still know what that means and it is just as bad as saying the real thing. We also had a hard time getting the last kid to leave at 6:30 which is when we allow the teenagers to come in. I hated having to kick him out knowing that he's always wandering out in the streets alone, but I have to follow the rules. The older kids have to be able to show us respect or they are not allowed to come here.

After we were able to get him out, my supervisor, the other intern, and I all sat down and ate pizza together and spoke a little more about the kids that we work with. Later, my supervisor assigned me to enter some data into the computer system using Microsoft Office Excel. The data was based on the contact information of the teenagers and what programs they were interested in participating in. I was told to record their name, phone numbers, and email addresses and whether or not they want to participate in rock wall climbing, 3 on 3 basketball, and/or the youth council. I ended the shift by testing out our new LaCrosse equipment. It was the first time I have ever played.

09/02/09

Things went a whole lot easier today than they had on Monday. Again, I went through my normal routine of getting things ready for Powerhour such as picking out some activity sheets for the kids to do and getting the chess pieces and boards in order. Also, I helped prepare the snacks and drinks. My supervisor finally came back to work. He had been ill with the flu I believe. I explained to him the situation with the kid I had in Powerhour on Monday. He spoke later to the kid's grandmother.

He actually brought homework for me to check on today. I did not have to correct a single one of his math problems. He got them all right. The rest of the time he worked on a word find and read one of his books. The only problem that I had to deal with today was getting the kids to speak quietly during Powerhour. Again, I try to enforce that rule when there are others that are trying to do homework. I worked until 7:30 tonight. In that case, I was taught by the youth council president how to do some stuff in the rock wall room. I know in my head how to do some of the stuff, but I am not sure how to explain any of it. All in all, it great day and I am really proud of the kids. I did not see any one of them sitting in time out.

08/31/09

How can I explain the events that occurred today? We are out of the styrofoam cups that we use to serve the kids lemonade. Therefore, we had to use the plastic cups. The problem was that half of them were dirty. With the limited amount of time to do all my usual preparations and wash the dishes in the sink, I was barely able to get stuff prepared before the kids before they arrived. I continually have been telling the kids to sit up straight on the couches and not to sit on the arms. It seems as if they are now starting to listen to me about that even though they still had some issues in that area today.

I decided today that I would throw together a chess tournament in Powerhour. Everything went quite well despite having trouble to keep the noise down. The winner was awarded ten extra points and the runner-up was awarded five extra points. The only kid that gave me a problem was one that was told by his grandmother that he had to participate in Powerhour. He was not happy about being in there and refused to do any homework. He told me first that he did not nring any homework. Later he told me that his teacher did not assign any homework. He also refused to do the worksheets that I had for the kids. Therefore, he had to play chess. He did not know how to play chess so I tried as hard as I could to walk him through it.

As you can probably tell, it was a very stressful day. I consulted with one of the other staff members afterwards. He stated "and you want to become a school counselor?" Of course I want to be a school counselor. I have no reason not to. I understand that there is a lot of stress and pressure involved with the job, but I've always had a longing to want to help people reach their goals. I want to help them out in grade school where it all starts. I feel that if I do not go down this career path, there will a few more children that will not advance to the next grade. There could also be a few more teenagers who end up dropping oit of high school. If I don't gain experience from this internship (which I am), then how am I going to be able to help those kids?

08/28/09

I can honestly say that the kids did not give me very many problems today. Not once did I see one of them sitting down in time out. As usual on Fridays, they were given a free day. Some of the kids requested to play the gamecube. They haed to sign their names on a sheet and play in fifteen minute intervals. Whoever was next on the list got to have a turn and played whatever game they wanted to play. I only allowed each kid a maximum of two times to play, but not back-to-back. I wanted to allow anyone who wanted a chance to play a turn.

08/26/09

I didn't have much trouble today with the kids. There were just a few minor issues. They kept wanting to sit on the arm of the couches and put their feet on the couches. I explained that if they keep doing that, the couches will get torn up. Second, a kid that was doing Powerhour with me was getting a book down off of the shelf and thought he saw a cell phone up there. I had to explain to him several times that it's not important and he needed to sit down and work on his homework, play chess, or work on the activity sheets that I had for them to do.

He and another kid ended up going into the gym to play kickball. Neither one of them received points for the day. I did not have any trouble out of the kids for the rest of the day. The rest of the kids in Powerhour were a little rowdy, but they were not too bad. It was a pretty easy day for the most part.

08/24/09

It was kind of a laid back day for me. I didn't really have to do much. I went through my normal routine of preparing the sncaks for the kids. I also learned how to use the copy machine. I had chosen some educational activities such as brainteasers and word searches for them to do if they finished their homework and wanted to play chess. On the down side, none of the kids wanted to participate in Powerhour. I had decided then just to go to art class to help supervise the kids and make sure they behave.

I also had to take some disciplinary action today. I heard one of the kids say "what the f." She didn't say the whole word, but people know what is meant by that and it is still just as bad. One of the rules in the policies and procedures manual, which I finished reading tonight, is that members are not allowed to use profanity. She got about ten minutes in time out. During the night time when the teenagers and volunteers (people aged 18 and older) were playing basketball a confrontation almost escalated into a fight. I was going to get in the middle of it and break it up, but one of the volunteers did so before I got there. The guy who started the confrontation left the facility shortly after.

As I said before, I finished reading the policies and procedures manual tonight. There are several procedures that the manual covers. One is the raising and lowering of the American flag. A second is having a fire drill every third Friday each month. This is something that my supervisor is in the process of putting together. A third is a drill for severe weather. You want the kids to know where to go and what to do in case there is some type of severe weather warning.

08/22/09

I did a little bit of physical labor today. As soon as I got there, I was asked to make a chart on the whiteboard in the rock climbing room. The purpose is to have a more organized method of keeping record of the kids' times from climbing the rock wall. The lines for the chart were made with tape. The second thing I was asked to do was to hang up some of the poters that had fallen down in the game room. Third, I sorted out all of the chess pieces to see how many sets we had. Fourth, I had to help put in some of the seats into the van that had been taken out.

During my shift there were a total of three teenagers that came in and used the facilities. Two of them played basketball while I was working on my list of things to do. I got to spend time with the other teenager who had just turned fourteen years old and got moved up to the next age group. We played pool, carpet ball, ping pong, basketball, and chess. I had a good tim getting to know him and I think he appreciated the fact that I was willing to spend time with him.

The last thing that I had to do for tonight, but did not have enough time to finish, was to read the manual with the Boys and Girls Club's poicies and procedures. Basically what it covers is what rules and guidelines you need to follow. Some of the most commonly listed rules in all organization manuals are the rules about wardrobe. One thing that I found interesting is that it has to tell staff members not to take any members home with them. I guess that there really are weird people who work for this organization who would do that.

08/21/09

It was a relatively easy day today. When I arrived at the youth center, where the club is located, I had a nice discussion with my supervisor. We discussed some possible activities for the day. I was instructed to pick three movies for the kids to watch. They had to choose one. I chose Monsters Inc., Shrek 2, and A Night at the Museum. The kids chose to watch "A Night at the Museum." Since some of them were occupied with watching the movie, my work was pretty easy for the day.

I was also given some insight on what to be aware of as far as the home lives of some of our kids. My supervisor told me abou one instance where a kid had fell and split the back of his head open. He did not want anyone to call his father to take him to the hospital because he was afraid that his father would get angry with him. My supervisor suspects that there might be something wrong happening in his home. Another thing to add is that the kid's mother is in jail.

I also brought something up mto my supervisor. There is a little girl that goes to my church who, in my opinion, has an irresponsible mother. It seems as if she has to call her mother every day that I work to come pick her up. I'm not sure about the other days, but it wouldn't surprise me. There has also been another instance that has occured in her family involving her mother, but I will not go into details about that.

08/19/09

It was kind of like all the rest of the days today. The thing that I figured out just now is that this is almost a routine job. You come in and prepare the snacks and drinks, serve them to the kids when they arrive, take the kids to the program of their choosing for the day, and allow them to have free time until it's time to let the teenagers use the facilities. It's not a challenge to run the , programs, but it is a challenge to get the kids to understand the importance of why we abide by certain rules of each program.

I have rules for the Powerhour program that I think are important to follow so that the kids can focus and do their best on their homework or whatever educational activity they are working on. If you are working on homework, the only person that anyone is allowed to talk to is me or one of the mentors and it has to be while receiving help on their homework. If you are playing Chess, you may whisper, but you have to keep it to a minimum. I abide by these rules so that the people doing homework do not get distracted. The two boys who were with me did not receive points today due to that. They kept getting up and running around. I also had to tell them several times to be quiet.

I also had a meeting with my supervisor at about my last hour today. The incidences that I had with the kids were discussed and he gave me a few pointers. We also discussed what will be happening in the upcoming days. I may get to attend Heritage Weekend in Lanesville and work a booth for them. In October we will begin having our drug prevention program called R.O.C.K. It is proven to be a successful program. It includes a short lecture and some games every day. Finally, in order to make things go smoother in Powerhour, I will choose certain activities out of some books for the kids to do after they finish their homework or get bored from playing Chess.

08/17/09

Today was a semi-hectic day, but it was still fun for me. If I had to estimate, I'd say that there were about 30 kids there today. My supervisor had the day off. The executive director, the other two other staff members, and I watched the kids. After giving them their snack, we broke off into three groups. One group attended Powerhour with me. Another attended Triple Play in the gym with the executive director. Another attended an art class with one of the other staff members.

I had about three kids in my group today. They all had math homework and one also had homework in spelling. I'm pretty good at math, but the problem is that there is some math that I have not done for a very long time. That includes finding the LCM. I tried as hard as I could to help the girl who was studying this particular topic, but I just couldn't help her. The only thing that I could really do was to encourage her to keep trying. The youth mentors are supposed to help out, but sometimes they get lazy. One person can only do so much. The other girl had algebra homework in which I had no problem helping her. The kids were given free time for the rest of the day.

08/14/09

It was kind of a stressful day today. They do not have any of the special programs on Fridays. They get to play around in one of the three staffed areas. The kids were all wound up. I made hot dogs and heated up a leftover pizza in the microwave. We decided not to allow them to have their snacks until all the kids arrived because there was a very limited amount of pizza. Therefore, all the kids got impatient. I figured that today was the day that I needed to start taking charge.

There were a few instances where I had to give discipline to the kids. In one instance, a kid did not follow my instruction to hang her whoola hoop up when there was a dodgeball game going on. She threw the whoola hoop instead. I was unable to explain to her at the time why I wanted her to sit in time out. I just sat her out for the game. Later I was able to give her an explanation. It is my first week and I am still a little bit nervous. In another instance, a kid had gotten out of line for a game and went back into the same spot. I told him he had to go to the back of the line. He would not move, so he earned a time out. I did not want to give them time outs. I want to establish good friendships with the kids, but at the same time, I want them to respect me.

08/12/09

Today was a fun day at the Boys and Girls Club. As soon as I arrived, I helped prepare the snacks and made lemonade for the kids. They were allowed to consume one serving of chips and as many drinks as they wanted. The other intern, Tyler, did not follow up on that rule with one of the kids. I tried to take the chips back from the kid, but Tyler gave him permission and I didn't want to argue in front of the kids. I almost had to put the kid in time out later because he attempted to take more chips. I was able to experience first hand what it was like to want to discipline a child. If I catch him trying to do it again, he will get a time out.

I also started out in the Powerhour program today. There were five kids total that chose to do their homework today. Most of them actually seemed like they were pretty intelligent. They have been placed in some advanced math courses. There was only one instance where a girl was stuck on a math problem and asked for my health. The one thing that my supervisor mentioned that I did not think of was to check their homework when they were finished. He said some of them like to guess if they do not know the answer just so they can get done and go play. Each kid receives points for participating in one of the programs offered from 3:30-4:30. With these points they can purchase things at their store.

Afterwards, I learned how to play Doctor. It is a Dodgeball game where each team has a designated person called a doctor. The object is to hit him or her with a dodgeball. If he or she is hit, their team loses. If another team member gets hit with a ball, they have to take a knee until the doctor tags them. Then they are back in the game. During the game, one of the kids got elbowed in the eye. I took him to the snack room, gave him an ice pack with a towel wrapped around it, and stayed in there to make sure he was going to be okay. He ended up being okay. These things tend to happen sometimes. I think he really appreciated that I took the time out to take care of him.

08/10/09

It was my first day on the job for my internship. I have to admit that I really enjoyed working with the children and getting to know the staff members. There were a number of activities that I was trained to help out with. This was also the first day that they had to begin operating on a new schedule that is more organized than the previous schedule. They were allowing different kids to come and go into different programs as they please. Now, as soon as they are picked up from school and dropped off at the facility, they are required to come into the snack room and wait there until all the kids arrive. They are allowed to have one serving of whatever snack is served that day. One of the things that they try to get the kids in the habit of doing is controlling their portion sizes.

After all the kids arrived and received their snack and a drink, my supervisor announced to them the new schedule. They had to choose between going to the game room, playing dodgeball in the gym, or going to an art class to learn how to work with clay. Nobody chose the art class. I went back and forth between the game room and gym so I could learn the different rules for the games in case a disagreement occurs between the kids over how to play a game. One of programs that I am going to be helping with most of the time is Powerhour which includes helping the kids with their homework and playing chess. Therefore, I had to learn how to play chess. I haven't really got the hang of it yet. The last thing that I was taught was how to enter data into their system in order to keep record of their attendance. Basically each kid is assigned a membership number. That number is what is entered into the system. There is a little more to it than that, but it takes a while to explain.

The last activity for the day was to attend a board meeting. Not all of the board members attended, but there were enough to hold a meeting. I was introduced to the members by the Executive Director Jennifer Best, who I am well acquainted with. I learned a lot about upcoming events that are going to be taking place. For example, normally they hold a dance once a month, but due to the low attendance that they have had the past few months, they are only going to hold them around major holidays. They are experiencing difficulties with getting people to donate money to the organization. The Vice President stated that board members need to influance people to donate by telling people what that money is used for and what the organization has done for their kids.

First Day Is Tomorrow

I am really nervous and really excited at the same time. I will do my best. No matter what happens, I will not give up.