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While the rules at the homework help program are still being enforced more strictly than before, it still seems the case that the majority of kids there don't do their homework, and most challenging don't appreciate the help available when they do get it. It isn't so much of a problem for me and the other volunteers, because mostly we simply aren't asked to help, but I feel sorry for the organizer of the program, because she puts a lot of work into it but the kids generally don't appreciate it. I guess getting children to appreciate help with their homework is a difficult goal in any case, but the kids here seem particularly ungrateful. I don't mean to attack their characters; I think it is generally because the kids here do not do particularly well in school, and simply aren't motivated to work on their homework. There are a few exceptions (one little girl who gets so excited by school work that she often butts into other's assignments) but the general lack of motivation is really hard to work with when you are trying to help them with something that they themselves have no interest in. I really have no idea how to solve this problem of getting kids motivated in school; I guess that's why I'm not going into education

Posted by walke541 at 10:37 PM | Permalink

Today was undoubtedly the most productive day I've had at my organization. The organizers have been struggling with the homework help program since I have been helping there, and they recently have decided to be more strict in enforcing the policy of only allowing kids with homework in the homework help room. For the most part this was actually the case this week, and I helped several children with their homework, as well as listened to two kids read books for their reading journals. This is in contrast to most weeks when I at most actually spend 10 or fifteen minutes actually helping with homework. I think that a large part of the problem is simply that they have trouble using all the volunteers the University is sending them — they aren't used to having so many people helping out. But part of it is also enforcing the rules of the program, and while the kids perhaps weren't having as much fun, they also got more work done without other people distracting them. I can see how it is a struggle working in a position like this, where one has to balance the desire to help kids to learn with the desire to not seem like a spoil-sport.

Posted by walke541 at 8:12 AM | Permalink

As I said, I like to keep it simple. I've also recently noticed that for some reason the scaled-down versions of the pictures on here cut off the edges. Don't ask me why.

Posted by walke541 at 3:47 PM | Permalink

While we no longer have an excessive number of volunteers at my organization, there still seems to be a general problem with kids not actually doing their homework. Most of the time we are there, the kids are mainly goofing off or talking, which is not necessarily a problem except that it is distracting to the kids that actually have homework to do. I think a large part of the problem is that the homework help program is seen as a social setting for the kids who live there. I think it's important that the kids have a communal place they can gather, but it also is detrimental to the homework help aspect of the program. I think that the organizers recognize that these are both important goals, but they struggle with organizing the program in a way which is successful at helping the kids with homework without driving them away because it's an unpleasant place to be. The organizers have struggled with how to do this since I have been here, and its obviously a difficult problem to solve. Personally, I don't know what to do about it either.

Posted by walke541 at 6:31 PM | Permalink