Week 33: Camping

A new buddy

Archery

:-)

Life Map Puzzle Activity with some of my kids!

Talent Show

This week was full of:  Camp City Year!  During our kids' spring break, we run a day camp to keep them busy and learn new sports and teamwork skills.  This year's camp was called The Olympic Challenge: Find the Champion in You!  We had about 100 kids at the west side site and almost 100 at the south side site.  I served at the recruitment director, so after months of prep our duties this week were to register the students, keep attendance records, check in with campers and team leaders, and run around putting out fires.

Quotes of the Week: 
[see surveys & tyshawn about me]

"Can we volunteer and help at the freshmen camp next year?" - Some of my boys when they found out they won't be able to attend next year



Joys: This whole week was awesome.  Meeting students from other schools, seeing my students try new things and thrive in a different environment, playing Base Defense on the staff team against the kids, cramming into a car with other staff members, and the community feeling that built over the week with our campers.

Weeks 31 & 32: Cramming

These weeks were full of: Being too busy getting ready for Spring Break Camp to update the blog; passion day; talking with a junior about how gangs offer protection; camp stuff.

Quotes of the Weeks: 
"...and if you reach your target score, come see me for a coupon from the administrators for a pizza party and a dress down day..." - Right before taking the NWEA test

"Well he'll be able to have extended time to take the ACT... if we would have put the request through earlier, maybe you could have read the test to him, but now it's too late..." - The Special Education teachers discussing an awesome junior who reads at a 2nd grade level.


Joys: Reaching our quota for the number of campers to recruit!

Week 30: Racing

Girls figuring out how much concession snacks would cost during The Amazing Race.

This week was full of:  Putting on The Amazing Race math event, planning and holding the Recruitment Liaison Supercharger to recruit students for spring break camp, scrambling to get my kids to turn in all their work before the quarter ends, unity rally, filming a lesson for my teacher's National Boards, and finding out last minute that we need to pack up our entire room and move to a temporary location since construction is starting. 

"I noticed how much they wanted to go to school, and I do get to go to school but I don't like it......." - V, after showing him clips from I Am Because We Are, a documentary about Malawi. 

"One thing I wouldn't change about myself is my attitude.  Some people think I have a bad attitude, but it's just because you can't let your guard down." - A, a freshman 

"I'm having a good day because I was at school every day this week." - D, a freshman.  Finally!

"No, I'm not going to the school dance!  What time does that end, 11?  I'm not taking the bus home then... did you hear what happened last night?  You didn't watch the news?  They went shooting up all the bus stops on 79th..." - T, a junior,  who lives on the south side

If you could change the world, what would you change?
The violence. - A freshman.
The violence and teenage pregnancies.  - D, a freshman. 
The economy. - A, a freshman.
The statistics of African-American males.  - V, a junior, an African-American male. 

"See, the ingredient is to care about people, and to love them.  That's the ingredient, across the board." - Jim Brown, from Crips and Bloods: Made in America, a documentary about gangs, racism, and poverty.  If you haven't seen it, go watch it right now.  It's on netflix. 

"You find so many of them that I don't think have ever had any love.  And that's the main thing - love.  Whether they're right or they're wrong, or they're good or they're bad - love." - Stan, referring to teenage runaways that stay with him.  From Off the Grid, a documentary about people living in the Arizona mesa.

Joys:  Hearing kids who don't usually like math talk about how much fun they had racing around the school to solve math problems, and really good discussions with a couple lunch groups.