Saturday, January 10, 2009

Boy's and Girl's Club

My expectations are twofold. I would like to help some of these kids with whatever they have going on in their lives and give them a place to have fun and learn some productive skills. My second objective is to have some fun myself and try to learn something about the next generation that doesn't fill me with dread. I generally love kids so I expect it to be fun right off but I would like some reason to feel as though I have grown as a person, maybe some insight into childhood, or some internal realization about the way I was raised compared to them, something that gives me perspective into myself or humans in general. I don't much care if I do it alone but I think it would be more fun with at least a few people from class. As long as I have someone to talk to my own age I have a security net in case the kids are unapproachable. (though I doubt I'll need it) Specifically, I think it would be fun to get together with the kids in groups and compete against the groups of my other classmates. Something like benevolent gang warfare would be a lot of fun and help the kids with team building and competitive drive. (Plus I think my group would win) I also think this is a great way to get the more shy people in our Paidea cohort to feel comfortable, they would be in a position of semi-authority and have clearly defined goals. I also see the kids falling into this really easily. Regardless of what we eventually do, I think it should definitely have structure and involve group activities. I could deal with less structure and probably a few others too but I think most of our Cohort would feel awkward and not really get the most out of it. Also, group work is more productive as the one-on-one potential is limited with such a tight schedule. I would like to do this every week but my schedule is pretty restricted this semester. With Lacrosse season starting and 17 hours of classes and a campus job I don't know if I'll have lots of time to give but I imagine this being so much fun that I will want to give what time I do have. Really, I need more information on what types of activities we are talking about to be more specific.

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