BGC- Taking Disciplinary Action

So today was a very interesting day.  It started off like any other but it seemed to change the further we went through the day.  There was a bit of an incident that I needed to take care of that I wasn't expecting to have to deal with or prepared for.  I had members pretending to be ISIS.

Okay, I'll start with a little background.  Throughout the past week I began to notice a group of members starting to really bond and gang up.  Always playing and hanging out with the same group of about 6.  They didn't seem to be causing any trouble but i could tell it was a very exclusive group and I didn't want it to become a problem among the members so I started to keep a closer eye on them.  And today was the day it paid off, because I heard them while out on the playground pretending to be ISIS and discussing how they were planning a terrorist attack.  Of course these kids are in 5th grade, but it is no joke to discuss things like this so I knew I needed to take action.

I immediately went down to the group and stopped them right away, telling them it was absolutely not okay for them to be playing that as a game.  I wasn't exactly sure what the consequence was needing to be, but I knew a conversation was going to need to take place.  After stopping the initial game, I then contacted my advisor and talked to him about the situation.  He asked me to bring in all the members of the group and he was going to have a discussion with them.  I sat in with the discussion and we discussed what ISIS was and why it was not okay to be playing that at school/club.

The conversation went pretty well and I felt much better about how I handled the situation when my director complimented me on my decision to discuss it with them all.  I was not planning for a discussion on that specific topic with the kids, but it felt good to help them understand it better and know why it is wrong.

I felt like I had made a breakthrough in my education career.  I had to discuss a very important topic and it was good to be able to do it in a smaller group.  I feel that I handle the situation correctly and I hope in the future I can do the same.

BGC Summer Programs

Today at the Boys and Girls Club I was given my first opportunity to teach my own art lesson.  I had the 2nd and 3rd Graders and they seemed to really enjoy the project which was a great experience.  I had my students making 3D fish out of paper.

I explained how the project was to work and the basics of how to put it together, but the kids had free range in what kind of fish they wanted to make and colors and size.  (Many of the kids made narwals because that has seemed to be a trending topic among the kids here at club for some reason.)

I began with a demonstration on how to draw, cut and trace my first fish side and helped the kids to do this first step.  I was able to aid in the needs of a member with autism to draw and cut his fish so that it was larger and easier to manage for him with scissors. Once all the fish were drawn, traced, and cut we learned how to stuff them.  I showed the kids how to glue one edge of their fish together and then crumple newspaper to stuff inside.  Once most of the stuffing was filled we added more glue and began closing the fish.  The kids loved to see how the fish started to bubble up and look 3D.  After they were completely stuffed and glued together, we glued on googley eyes and cut out fins to give it a more realistic and goofiness.

The kids loved their fish and many named them and took them outside to play with them.  I was happy with the result and learned how to adjust the project to benefit members with special needs.  It was good to make a sample fish to trouble shoot and plan for any issues that might occur.  Overall the program ran really well and I was pleased with the results and excitement of the kids.