Don't forget to check out the blogs of the 826LA Good Times, our student-run newspaper produced at 826LA East, and The Venice Wave, its 826LA West counterpart.
Never really having been on this side of the teacher/student dichotomy before, I came in with no clear idea of how to go about helping kids with their homework. But it’s quickly becoming clear to me that, when it comes to actual learning, the homework problems are sometimes secondary.
Because sure, it’s important for me to go over the 7 times tables with them, or to explore the unique sound made by the vowel combination OU, or to try to convince them to read something slightly more difficult than The Essential Calvin and Hobbes.
But it’s just as--if not more--important that I’m simply there to listen to what they have to say on subjects varying in seriousness from Lay’s potato chips to getting poked in the ribs by a girl to finding a pack of cigarettes in an uncle’s room. I’ve found that nothing seems more helpful to the general learning process than to just take these kids seriously, and acknowledge that their ideas are important. Then the flow of ideas really begins, and complex word problems might not seem so daunting anymore.
And sometimes, I even have to say it’s okay if they don’t get how to divide fractions right away, and that I don’t really get it either, and maybe we should go see what Calvin and Hobbes have to say about it.
Sam Cheney
Are you sensing a theme here, reading these intern posts? Are we noticing a common tone, maybe? Does it feel a little too pleasant? Too sentimental, too positive, too kids-and-fun-and-rewarding-and-hilarious? Yeah, I think so, too.
So here He comes, New Intern #4, flying facefirst into the Wall of Lies, here to give you the truth, the whole truth and nothing but it, so help us all.
Let me begin with the beginning:
Monday, January 25
-- LOWEST COMMON DENOMINATOR WORKSHEET
I know, right? Kids have those! And I had to try and help!
But it was, as I said, only the beginning…
Friday, January 29
-- Chapbook-making
How many stories of self-robotization can one man be asked to read? How many aliens-and-humans morality plays will it take to teach the simple lesson? Worst of all, how much are you going to write about music, writers? WHO EVEN LIKES MUSIC??
At this point I think to myself, “Maybe this is just some sort of First Week Blues. Maybe I’ve just shown up at a bad time. Maybe—and why not?—maybe things will get better.”
Oh, the cruel jokes of the world.
Monday, February 1
-- JESSE ONLY GIVES ME ONE (ONE!) OF HIS FLAMING HOT CHEETOS.
Can you even grasp how thankless, how ungrateful these kids are? I bet if you asked for Flaming Hot Cheetos from every student at every table one every afternoon for a week, you’d be looking at three flaming, hot, miniscule, twice-licked, broken Cheetos come Friday afternoon. THANKLESS, I SAY!
I write to you now from an undisclosed location. I am in hiding, strategizing my next offensive against Falsehood. The War Against Lies must continue to be fought, and continue to fight I will.
The below is from an email I got from an LAUSD teacher yesterday…
PS. Tell Philippe [one of our tutors] he made at least one hard-core fan Monday. I have been connecting several of my students with on-line writing tutors. As I was doing this today, one girl—perhaps our brightest student—politely declined. "I'd rather work with Philippe," she told me. "Thanks for the offer, but I think I'll just wait for Philippe to come back."
Posted by Zoë Ruiz, Volunteer Coordinator and Programs Assistant
826LA has joined "The Echo Park FamilySource Center," an innovative partnership with six other local organizations! On January 28th, El Centro del Pueblo launched the Grand Opening of the FamilySource Center, as well as the 2010 Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program.
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, State Controller Jonn Chiang, Council President Eric Garcetti, and Councilmember Richard Alarcon held a press conference and reception. There was also a ribbon cutting in front of El Centro de Pueblo, celebrating the FamilySource Center.
In a recent Huffington Post article, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa wrote "This year, through our FamilySource Centers and One-e-App system, we have added 21 additional free tax preparation sites which include screening for EITC eligibility."
The Echo Park FamilySource Center is designed to provide many free services, some of which include free counseling, education, and financial help. 826LA is excited about this partnership and enjoyed the event!
To view more pictures of 826 staff and partners at the Grand Opening, check out our Facebook group page!
The 826 folks are awesome and the kids aren't scared to make fun of me. It's both deeply gratifying and truly terrifying. Some early challenges have been remembering all the young writers names, trying not to feel too satisfied with myself when I know the answer to a 3rd grader's homework, and refraining from eating all of Jesse's Flaming Hot Cheetos.
I found the tutorial on how to run the Time Travel Mart storefront to be highly difficult to follow. Not because Christina didn't do an excellent job explaining the ins and outs, it's just, well, how many time do you come across bottled dead languages? Or robot milk? Or, Michael Jordan Pogs!?
I remember first interviewing with Bonnie over the phone when I was 3,000 miles away. I asked her how she got involved with 826LA and she said she’d started out as an intern as well and loved it so much that she just never left. In the past I’d gone into internships with an idea of an expiration date, and Bonnie’s emphatic sentiment didn’t really sway that at the time.
The first time a kid looked up at me and said “27, is that right?” and I said, “Do you think it’s right?” and they nodded enthusiastically and wrote down the answer, I got it. Helping a student look up L words and O words and V and E words for an acrostic poem on LOVE, I got it. Helping a student figure out how it is, exactly, that leopards love, I got it. Hearing that favorite question of mine at the end of the day, “Will you be here tomorrow?” I got it.
I understood why you come to 826LA with a temporary timeline and end up in the realm of indefinitely. Even before the kids got here at the very beginning of January, I remember flipping through “Tight Red Pants, Tight Red Shirt, And A Mohawk” and thinking, these kids are brilliant (and hilarious), and I knew that every spreadsheet and all the Ikea research was worth it. Now my problem is that expiration date and I know that I’ll have to find my way back here after other things, like a silly higher education, get in the way. No matter how hard it is to roll off my air mattress in the mornings, or how exhausted I may be by the end of the day, I keep coming back, 30 minutes of traffic each way, with a stupid smile slapped on my face.
Sam Geer
My first few weeks at 826 have been exhaustingly invigorating – from day one I’ve found myself both socially and mentally challenged. There’s nothing like a poorly-phrased word problem to remind yourself just how much dust your pre-algebra skills have collected over the years. Another dilemma: how exactly does one maintain “cool dude” status with a given student while simultaneously attempting to wrangle and focus their attention on homework they have little to no interest in doing? At what point does one cease pushing a student to try and allow them to wallow in frustration over concepts misunderstood? Should efforts be redoubled, or should difficult concepts be revisited later? Tough stuff.
But the gratification is there, in both the instant and gestating varieties. Crawling along a worksheet over an hour with a boy who has trouble remembering his multiplication tables yielded an astonishing counter-display of memorization, as the same boy taught me step-by-step instructions to create an origami dragon. Getting a high five from a young girl on her way out because now, thanks to me, she’s got regrouping numbers for double-digit subtraction under lock-and-key. Even the simple refrain of “Thank you, Mr. Sam” is a soul-warmer. Not to mention one peripheral bonus since my tenure at 826 began: nightly sleep has gone from precarious to the like-a-rock/make-a-newborn-jealous caliber.
Despite the challenges involved, and through attempting to meet them, I always feel great at the end of the day. Even in the midst of dealing with the throes of whiney anti-homework disinterest, I’ve found the 826 kids’ wacky, unbridled imaginations to be a constant source of fuel for living the life positive.
Monday, January 18, 2010
Posted by Sarah B.
On Thursday, December 28, the kids, families and tutors of 826LA East gathered for a festive holiday release party. The latest chapbook, titled, "Tight Red Pants, Tight Red Shirt, and a Mohawk," features students’ musings on music and musicians. As the proud authors read selections from their work, their audience listened with rapt attention to passages on Justin Bieber, the lifestyles of would-be rockstars, and the melodic verses of original songs!
Following the reading, we were paid a very special surprise visit from Jeff Kinney, author of the "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" book series. Kinney shared a bit of his creative process, revealing that the books were not only inspired by his own experiences as a wimpy kid, but that the books were initially targeted towards grown-up audiences. The author enthusiastically praised the resident authors of 826LA East, encouraging them to keep a journal and to discover the value of writing about daily life.
Following his talk, Kinney answered a few questions from the youth of 826LA, fielding inquiries concerning the books’ characters, as well as he the upcoming "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" feature-length motion picture.. Afterwards, we all enjoyed a festive holiday feast of Mexican food, courtesy of a donation from The William C. Bannerman Foundation. After celebrating our hard work, our special guest, and the upcoming holiday season, we parted ways for the winter break. We at 826LA wish you a very happy and healthy new year, and we look forward to seeing you in 2010!
Posted by Julius Diaz Panoriñgan, Director of Education
This morning, I spent a little over two hours at Marina Del Rey Middle School with in-school stalwarts Philippe and Peter, and new volunteer Hajera. All we did: sit and conference with sixth-grader after sixth-grader, ten or twenty minutes at the time, helping them brainstorm, add dialogue or suspense or detail, do whatever they needed to do for their stories-in-progress.
It's amazing how a little one-on-one time with a caring adult brings out an extra pint of creativity from every student. By the time we were done, they were brimming with ideas and couldn't stop writing, even after going for two hours. Their teacher, Mr. K, said they should ask their next teacher if they could continue writing in their next class, and the students cheered at the mere possibility of more writing time.
As I was leaving, I saw a student named Demarria out on the yard. He'd been the first student I worked with in the morning, and he just kept on coming back for feedback between my time with other students (and even occasionally during my time with other students). During an inspired moment in the classroom, he'd told me his story would become a book. As I crossed the yard, there he was, sitting on the steps of the outdoor stage. I waved at him and told him, "Keep writing," but I didn't have to; he was already hunched over, scribbling furiously in his story binder.
It's a rainy day here in Los Angeles: timid cars pack the freeways,
trees strain under the weather, everything is just a bit more gloom
than normal–everything except for 826LA, at least. Students are still
swarming to the tutoring center looking for help on homework and tips
on writing projects. "What if, say, my dinosaur friend ate people, but
didn't swallow them? Like, he helped them get around faster, then spit
them out. Would people believe that?"
My experience as an intern here has been nothing short of eye-opening.
Who knew kids in elementary school were this creative? Who knew they
sought out help so hard? I didn't. I knew that one-on-one help boosted
their grades, that additional focused time was needed outside the
classroom, that parents trusted us at 826LA to help them get their
work done correctly, but I never would have thought the students would
go for it the way they do.
They write stories about shark monsters, pen haikus on the secret
lives of wolves, shoot commercials about adults pretending to be
young, giving the illusion that they're young enough to attend
programming. They, in short, do everything I wish I would have had
available to me as a student in grade school.
But there's something more than the excitement of the field trips
where they, the students, publish books, or the workshops where they
write songs with bands, or any of that. Today, when the skies are gray
and their sweaters are wet and there is no immediate promise of
unadulterated fun to be had here, the students still manage to make
the trek to the writing lab from all around the eastside area, to sit
with a volunteer and finish their homework and read a good book for
the afternoon. Where they might pause for a moment in the middle of a
math problem and think out loud, "I want to write a story about a
horse. That flies, duh."
As the first moments of 2010 grow steadily closer, 826LA is winding down this year with a bunch of great activities. And simultaneously, we're gearing up for next year! On our plate for '10: fresh field trips, creative new in-school project and on-site workshop ideas, and more, more, more after-school tutoring. It's going to make for some amazing products. (As you may know, we're running a project-based model at 826LA, which means that when students leave our activities, they've got something in the form of a product that may be as traditional as a magazine or as intangible as a pop song, as serious as a manifesto or as whimsical as comic.
We think it drives the point of our activity home.) We're always looking for new volunteers, and we're most excited by people who see our students as an opportunity for regular, high-impact volunteerism. If you haven't already, you should write to iwanttohelp@826la.org. Spending a few hours with kids like ours even one day every week will show those kids that adult role models are genuinely interested in their emergent voices, and help them get excited about storytelling. After all, what's a story without someone to tell it to?
In an effort to, well, commune with the most powerful storytelling icons of our day, Bonnie Chau and I attended an L.A. Live showing of The Twilight Saga: New Moon on November 22. Little did we know that this New Moon stuff involves so much: cavernous chills, epic tenderness, breathtaking heartbreak! Wow! It's easy to see why 826LA kids are so into those books; monsters with dark souls are a compelling enough to overcome kids' natural apprehension about chapter books, right? Everyone can agree on the value of that reading, whether they're on Team Jacob or Team Edward.
Crazy stuff to talk with students about! Plus, the most incredible news of all: Bonnie and I saw Jay-Z coming out of L.A. Live as we were coming out of the screening of New Moon. Can you believe the ceaseless wonders? As we go back to work in 826LA writing labs and prepare for a Thanksgiving (maybe a Twilight-themed one, in my house anyway, with a court of vampire elders and stuff) we're excitedly expecting new faces to 826LA through the months ahead. We're plenty thankful.
