Kim First Reflection

Drew Kim

6/23/14 - 6/25/14

Peninsula Bridge

Rolando Victoria

rvictoria@menloschool.org

6/23/14

This was the first day I volunteered at the Peninsula Bridge program as a Teaching Assistant and elective teacher. We got to know the kids and get a feel for their strengths and weaknesses in the classroom. As a TA primarily for the Math class, I realized that many kids had subpar arithmetic skills, and that they needed much help to be able to catch up to their grade level. I also realized that for many this was not their fault - it wasn't that they didn't apply themselves, it was that they didn't have the resources that myself and many of us here at Menlo School take for granted. Many of the children wanted to learn, but it was evident that they didn't have access to teachers or resources that would help them achieve this. With a little bit of help, I saw that many of these kids were very smart and could succeed given the right tools. Overall, I saw that, though it may not show in their schoolwork, the kids we were helping at Peninsula Bridge were extremely bright and eager to learn when put in a safe, attentive environment filled with educators who truly cared about their future.

6/24/14

This was the first day that I taught the coding elective at the Peninsula Bridge program at Menlo. This was where I really came to understand exactly how under-resourced these kids were. We set up the 8 kids in our class with laptops, and we assumed that they, like most 6th graders in this digital age, had proficient computer skills. However, all but one did not know how to type properly, and when we asked, we found that one child did not even have a computer at home. This really opened my eyes to the backgrounds that many of these kids came from, and made me a little uncomfortable seeing as we live such comfortable lives and yet there are some people in the Bay Area struggling to get by. Seeing as these kids had very poor computer skills, my partners and I felt obligated to attempt to teach the children basic computer proficiency. In the case of the kids who did have computers, most of them used them to play video games. So, my partners and I also attempted to show the kids the impact a computer could have on one's academic career. We tried to explain the immense aid and opportunities to learn the Internet and computers offer. It was saddening to see that many of these kids were not aware that they could build a better future for themselves if they knew how to utilize the meager resources they had.

6/25/14

Seeing as this was the second of four days of our computer science crash course and many of the children were having a difficult time doing simple operations on the computer, my partners and my patience and sanity were tested. Thankfully, the children picked up on concepts we taught them very quickly. It showed us how even though their socioeconomic status had limited their opportunities to learn, given the right tools, they could succeed amazingly. The reoccurring theme we saw amongst these kids was that they were all extremely bright and eager to learn. They needed to be guided in the right direction, and from there on they could learn and explore on their own. It really satisfied us to teach them one concept and then have them build and expand on it, being creative and exploring ideas on their own. The kids in our coding class really made us proud by showing that they understood what we were teaching them and could utilize it in various applications. Although some were slow to pick up on what we were teaching them, eventually all of them understood and made an effort to learn more. It made us happy to see all the kids so passionate about a subject that we personally love. It really opened up a new perspective to us, where we saw why teachers love what they do. When you are passionate about a subject, there is nothing better than passing along that passion to new generation and have them truly love and explore that certain discipline.