The Hang of Things

Three-and-a-half months into my service and I am starting to understand what City Year is all about. Truly your year of service is what you make of it, and it is entirely possible to skate by. If you show up in uniform, treat the children decently, turn in your assignments on time and act courteously it is very unlikely that you will be fired. To be more than just an adequate corps member, to handle all your duties exceptionally well, takes more time than there are hours in a day.

I have a third grade mentee who I will call Esther. Esther is not the type of person I would have been friends with growing up. She is vindictive, manipulative, whiney and mean-spirited. When she does not get her way, such as when no one will play with her at recess, she breaks down and pouts. She gets bratty, jerks her head around and spits venom at everyone she encounters. Once, when I was trying to console her, she told me, "I'm on this side of the table, you stay on thaaat side." In truth, I only mentored her because my classroom teacher suggested that I do.

Since I began mentoring Esther there have been many challenging moments, but I have grown to care deeply about her and am interested in her success. At the suggestion of a school staff member, I have set up a behavior tracking plan. There are two specific behaviors I want her to work on: when she is with me I expect eye contact and for her to follow my directions; when she is with her classmates at recess and lunch she is to treat them with courtesy and respect. Each day she exhibits these behaviors she gets a sticker in the appropriate box on her behavior chart. If she gets enough stickers by the end of the month we do something special, such as an art project during our mentoring time. I denied her a sticker the other day for being rude to her classmates, and it felt like the first victory in my battle to control her behavior and not have her to control mine.

I believe that with kids it is better to err on the side of strictness and not that of leniency. I learned this lesson as a substitute, and I had to relearn it as a City Year Corps Member. City Year expects its volunteers to be somewhere between a friend and a teacher with a child, and I felt it was harder to discipline them then when I was a substitute. City Year uses the Nurtured Heart Approach discipline plan, which emphasizes pointing out positive behavior in a child to build a trusted relationship with him or her. I spent so much time doing this that I forgot to have consequences for negative behavior. When children would push the boundaries I would not push back. Thus they realized they could get away with anything and lost respect for me. I am still working to regain that respect.

I recommend incoming corps members be friendly but firm with the students. Have very specific consequences for negative behavior from day one, and do not waver in your enforcement of these consequences. Do not be afraid that you will not be liked by the kids, as some kids will like you and some will not no matter what. If they know you mean business, most will respect you more and listen better in the long run.

Our Visit to PTC

Our team is sponsored by Parametric Technology Corporation, otherwise known as PTC. PTC creates software to assist companies in product development and product life cycle management. Basically, they sell software which allows companies such as Caterpillar or Honeywell to streamline every aspect of developing a new product, from the drawing board to distribution and decommissioning.

Being a team sponsor is a very big deal. PTC has generously donated over $100,000 to City Year for the economically uncertain 2009-2010 fiscal year alone. In turn they get increased brand recognition, as our team refers to ourselves as the PTC Ohrenberger School Team. Every time we do Physical Training or introduce our team, we use the company name. Recently, our team got an even bigger helping of this company's generosity as we visited the corporate headquarters. In many ways, it felt like we were in a modern version of Polar Express.

The wonder began when our charter van picked us up at City Year Headquarters around 11:00 am. The heated leather seats were more comfortable than anything in my apartment, and it was very difficult not to take a nap. We arrived at headquarters, a sprawling, clean complex somewhere in Needham, Massachusetts. We were greeted in the lobby by a giant, 3D sculpture of the corporate logo, a disused but well-maintained hovercraft on display and a friendly, handsom clerk who instructed us to put on name tags. As our uniforms required that we already wear name tags this was somewhat akward, but we complied and were lead up to the corporate visitor's center.

We reached a conference room with a long table, swivel chairs and a beautiful view of a lake. We were greeted by representatives from the PTC's engineering and corporate relations departments. Each Corps Member gave a testimonial about why he or she had joined City Year, and the reps in turn spoke about the company. The engineer explained each step of the the typical lifecycle for product development. He used Caterpillar's development of a new bulldozer as an example, taking us from brainstorming to documentation, CAD design (computerized drawings and blueprints) to production, distribution and ongoing maintenance. He explained that PTC software helps clients in every step of this process.

After his presentation came a catered lunch consisting of gourmet sandwiches, salad, cookies, and the best potato chips I have ever tasted. Taking a bathroom break, I noticed a hand drier called the AirBlade. Designed by James Dyson of vacuum fame, it's like a wind tunnel for your hands and is the closest thing to Star Trek's sonic shower that I have ever encountered in real life.

Our team headed to a theater to watch a presentation of PTC software in action. We sat in the coolest chairs ever. Everything swiveled, including the arm and the cup holder. We then witnessed a somewhat dry but informative presentation about Windchill, one PTC's development software programs. The client purchases Windchill and uploads into their server. Everyone working on a new product, such as a cellular phone, can use Windchill to generate a 3D model of the entire thing or any of its component parts. They can take out and manipulate individual parts, or view the entire thing or a specific part according to its electrical schematic. Any changes made to the device or the documentation pertaining to it are updated in real time and visible to everyone on the network. The software allows companies to design, build and test their products virtually without having to create expensive prototypes.

I asked if the software could be used for medical purposes, i.e. if someone’s heart or brain were mapped out could it be uploaded on to the software program and doctors could use it to treat the patient. The engineer said that that had not been thought of before. I told him, half-jokingly, that I was looking for a job.

After the presentation we rode back to headquarters. It was tough to leave the bus but good to be back at work. So next time I write a lesson plan, or help a kid with his or her homework or have to give a stern lecture about the importance of following directions, I know that PTC played a part in making it all possible.

What I Do

Now that I have been a Corps Member for nearly three months, I should tell you what it is I have actually been doing. I am part of the Whole School Whole Child Program, abbreviated WSWC (pronounced "whiz-wick"). This means I am in a school helping out teachers and students on a daily basis.

My team consists of 11 Corps Members, including myself and our Team Leader who acts as our boss. We are known as the PTC team because we are sponsored by the Parametric Technology Corporation, and we are stationed at Ohrenberger Elementary in West Roxbury. My areas of responsibility include, but are not limited to, the following:

• monitoring and helping students during whole class discussion


• performing clerical duties for my classroom teacher


• working independently with students in small groups


• mentoring students twice a week


• creating and implementing lessons for our Starfish After School Program


• helping my team run the Starfish After School Program twice per week


• helping out with recess and certain electives


• creating and running a 6th grade enrichment lessons once per week


• assisting in the regular after school program twice per week

On a typical weekday I get to the school around 7:45 via a 35 minute commute on the T. Our team circles at 8:00 and someone leads us in a readiness check. One person shouts and the rest of the team repeats each line:

"Boots or Shoes!"

"Black or White Socks!"

"Pressed Pants!"

"Belt!"

"Shirt tucked in!"

"Name tag!"

"Heart!"

"Mind!"

"Soul!"

A readiness check is designed to wake us up and make sure our uniforms are complete. After Team Leader Matt Comeau gives the announcements we do a Spirit Break. In a Spirit Break everyone stands in a circle and puts his or her hand in the center. The person whose hand is on top must come up with a word or phrase to "break" on. This is usually some alliterative couplet of whatever day of the week it is or whatever the announcements were about, such as "Terrific Tuesday" or "Marvelous Mentoring." We count to three, raise our hands and say the word or phrase. After the break team members go their separate ways.

If it is Wednesday, I typically prepare for 6th grade enrichment, which runs from 8:30-9:30. Corps Member Sam Tormey and I run Global Games, where we teach the kids sports from around the world. So far we have taught them to play Ultimate Frisbee and Gaelic Football.

Most days I go to my third grade classroom. When I arrive, there are usually copies to be made or posters to create. After the students are done with morning work they transition to Math, and I circulate around the room to ensure they are paying attention. Sometimes I pull kids aside and we work in a small group on an assignment or problem. When we transition to reading I usually read them a short section from a book. They really like the Goosebumps series, and we just finished The Girl Who Cried Monster. During Reading I circulate the room or pull aside the higher level readers for book discussion. We have been reading Teacher's Pet and discussing characterization and plot structure.

After Reading we go to recess and then lunch. I stay with the students for both except on Tuesdays and Thursdays I pull aside students for mentoring. We eat lunch, play games, and talk about issues like manners, respect and hygiene. After lunch, I have planning time from 12:45 to 2:30.

On Mondays and Wednesdays our team helps with the school or community center's after school program, so I am with first and second graders on the playground. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, our PTC team runs our own after school program known as Starfish. We help the students with homework for an hour and they move into enrichments run by corps members. My enrichment is Creative Arts, which I run with two other corps members. Recently we have been playing musical chairs and composing our own song using Mad Libs. After all the students are picked up by parents, we typically head home anytime from 5 to 6 p.m.

On Fridays, our team meets at City Year Headquarters along with the rest of the City Year Boston Corps. We have a full day of training and workshops, or a day of service where we go out as a Corps to various sites and paint buildings or volunteer with other service organizations.

So that is a typical week in my life as a City Year Corps Member. I intend to update this Blog weekly, on either Fridays or Saturdays, so look for more stuff and pictures coming soon.

Living in Jamaica Plain

Since moving to Boston, I needed to make a few, mostly pleasant adjustments to the neighborhood and apartment dwelling in general. I live in Jamaica Plain, a Boston neighborhood located south and somewhat west of the city proper. The area is pretty darn affordable, and it has a certain eclectic charm which attracts people from all walks of life. It is very much City Year territory.

One of the many murals at a nearby park.

I missed a Dominican parade my first weekend, which made me sad. On most afternoons I can smell Latino, creole or Chinese food as I make your way down Centre Street. This same food is often thrown into the streets the next day to feed the birds, so morning strolls are less enjoyable, particularly on garbage day. At night my window becomes a jukebox, though it mostly plays Latin music; I often wake up with "bump badda bump bump" stuck in my head. At 7:00 pm someone usually drives by blasting Bob Marley, which would be nice if it weren't always One Love.

I pass Bromley Heath, supposedly the roughest projects in Boston, on my walk to Jackson Square Station every morning. One of my City Year teammates who grew up there says he saw someone get shot when he was nine. The closest thing to a crime I've witnessed is hearing a frustrated resident exclaim, in broad daylight and to no one in particular, that he wanted some weed. Then he flagged down a car. It hardly counts as criminal, since marijuana possession was recently downgraded to a fine.

The entrance to Jamaica Pond

There are white doves painted in various spots along the sidewalk. Beneath each one is a painted banner which reads "Stop the Violence, Create Peace." They are the work of an acclaimed artist and are often painted by volunteers in places where acts of violence have taken place. The closest one is about 40 feet from the entrance to my apartment. My church group and I painted our own. While the message is appropriate, it feels less poignant painted within the safe confines of our parish house on Beacon Street.

Meatland is grand. My roommates and I live on the third floor of a red triple-decker which sits above the butcher shop which gives our apartment its name. We each have our own room, and there is a huge common area and porch. Anyone stepping out the door is a five minute walk from the T, three minutes from Stop and Shop, 20 minutes from Jamaica Pond and about eight minutes from, grumble, the laundromat. Not having your own washer and dryer makes laundry a three hour affair. And while I'm complaining, a mouse recently moved into Meatland. We've named him MacGyver, since he's managed to steal peanut butter from all of our traps.

Meatland

City Year is humming along pretty nicely. We had our opening day ceremony. We have most of our uniform parts, though many don't fit. We have our phones but do not have the numbers yet. My team is set, we've had our first full week of school, and I will be telling you about my role and my school in coming posts. I am sorry the formatting on this post sucks, but Blogspot is persnickity when I add photos and I am currently too lazy to spend more time fixing it.

In my last post I meant to thank my roommate Garret for letting me use his computer until mine became up and running. Garret, I will buy you some expensive, imported beer soon. I'm just waiting for MacGyver to come through with the rent.

Reese

Applying for Food Stamps

Unless you live at home or receive a fat monthly check from your parents, you will need food stamps to make it through the year without resorting to cannibalism. Luckily, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is willing to give you $200 per month to spend on food if your income is low enough (and it will be.) The catch is that the application process is a little confusing and yields unpredictable results.

The phrase "food stamps" is actually a misnomer: in Massachusetts the program is called SNAP, and they issue a debit card with a balance that replenishes each month. Before you apply you should gather the necessary documentation. Everyone applying in your household will need the following items:

* A copy of your lease showing how much you pay in rent


* Your driver's license/state ID (you do not need to be a MA resident)


* An additional form of identification, such as a birth certificate or passport


* Copies of your most recent gas, electric and phone/cable bills (the dollar amounts do not matter, nor do they need to be in your name if you live with roommates)


* A signed letter from City Year verifying your employment and income or two pay stubs.


* Social Security Card (just in case)


Once you have proper documentation, you and everyone in your household can either trek down to your local Department of Transitional Assistance office or apply online or via mail. Applying from home is convenient, but I've been told it takes longer to process your benefits. An office visit takes two to three hours, but you can get your benefits sooner and (usually) your card on the same day. Since requesting a day off from City Year is about as fun as applying for food stamps, I recommend going to the DTA office before your first official day as a Corps Member.


My three roomies and I went to the office at 1010 Massachusetts Avenue on August 24th. Like the doctor's office, you fill out a form and wait in a room until your name is called. After about thirty to forty-five minutes you are called back to meet your friendly neighborhood case worker. You will hand her your documentation, and she will give you forms to fill out in return. She may also ask some off-the-wall questions about your income and living situation. I told her I was in City Year, in hope to speed things along, but to no avail. After about 45 minutes I went to the machine to get my card and returned to the lobby to wait for my roommates.

Even though we were all City Year Corps Members who made the same income and paid the exact same bills, my roommates and I all walked out with different benefits. This is because the application process is dictated entirely by your caseworker. For instance, I was asked for my passport, but one of my roommates was not. One roommate and I had to sign a form stating that we lived together, (our case workers were in adjacent cubicles) yet our other roommates did not. One of us did not get his card that day because his worker did not finish processing him before the 3:45 shutdown time for the card machine. Yes, 3:45, even though the office stays open until 5:00.

Once you are processed, you receive a letter in the mail which describes your benefits and what you need to do to keep them. One of my roommates got a year's worth, which is more than she needs to finish her ten months of service. She thinks it's because she's Hispanic, like her case worker. The next luckiest roommate got six months, and the next about 60 days. My benefits expire October 2nd unless I "provide the Department with all requested verifications." I called my caseworker multiple times to determine the nature of these "verifications" but have not yet received a response. On the plus side, I did get emergency food stamps, so my first card balance was $266.

All in all, applying for food stamps in the great state of Massachusetts is like navigating a labyrinth, running an obstacle course, filing your taxes and shooting craps all at once. I guess I shouldn't complain, because it is free food money. However, it would be nice if the process was a little more consistent.

Reese

Catching Up

Hello friends, family and anyone else who has stumbled into this blog.

I haven't posted in a while in part because so much has happened. Blogable events and insights have piled up so fast that anything said here will not adequately describe the wonderful but exhausting experience I am going through. I have dreaded a detailed post, so I'll keep it short and sweet.

I have currently completed one full week of Basic Training Academy (BTA) and am nearly halfway through my second week. Tomorrow we leave for our Basic Training Retreat (BTR) at Camp Wing which consists of three days of team bonding, ropes courses, workshops, physical training and fun activities. Since my last post I have attended grueling workshops on team building, leadership, classroom management, social entrepreneurship and more. I have already been placed on my team that I will be with for the rest of the year. More on that later.

I just wanted to get this post in before I head off to camp tomorrow. I hope to have a set time that I post once per week, but I am still getting used to my schedule here in Boston. My computer has finally arrived from home, so sometime after BTR expect this blog to have a few pictures in it, even some of the older posts. If you are friends with me on Facebook, expect a lot of pictures.

Though I cannot convey the whole of CY BTA in this short post, I hope this anagram acts as a random cross section of my experience.

Cirlce up in your group each morning for readiness checks.
Idealism is the vehicle of your success, power is the fuel.
T-Passes haven't come yet due to MBTA budget constraints.
You get out of this experience what you will put into it.

Your year of service is actually 10 months.
Eat out at Stuart Street Grill. They take food stamps!
Acronyms are hard to keep straight sometimes.
Remeber that at the end of the day it's not about you.

Boston's always ready.
On time is late, early is on time, and late is unacceptable.
Success includes, people, processes and results.
Teamwork is essential, even when you hate your teammates come winter.
Orange Line is a bit seedy, but it's less confusing than that hoighty-toighty Green Line.
No talking about City Year at home after 8:00 p.m.

In service,

Reese

Orientation

So we had orientation yesterday. City Year has two such orientations beginning each service year: the first one is for Massachusetts residents and the second for everyone else. I attended the latter.

It was a pretty smooth experience, but we did have to fill out massive amounts of paperwork. The AmeriCorps contract , which a staff member walks you through as you initial your understanding at every third paragraph, must have taken 45 minutes alone. Happily I was able to meet some fellow corps members, all of whom were really excited and friendly. My roommate noted that everyone was much more welcoming and gregarious than most folks are on similar occasions, such as a first day of school or new job. It must be the service-oriented vibe.

Thankfully it wasn't all paperwork, and we were allowed a generous 90 minute lunch break. A group of us went to a nearby restaurant (the name escapes me, the Something Grill?) which was pretty reasonably priced and accepts food stamps. I got to know some of the senior corps members some but not too much; excessive fraternization between senior and current corps members is frowned upon. We also took intermittent stretch breaks, learned more about each other through games and became intimately familiar with the "hands up" gesture used by City Year to get people's attention.

The only baffling part of the six-hour experience was the assessment test we took at the end. We were told this two hour test was just implemented this year in order to "insure the diversity of ability among teammates." It was like the SAT, with separate math and reading portions all in multiple choice format, but it was way easier and carried no penalty for failure. I assume this test was administered to ensure that we really did have more knowledge than the kids we were helping.

So that was orientation. The real work starts next Tuesday when we get start our first service day.