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.