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.