Literacy Profile

          Three semesters ago, I took FNED 346 and our class was required to commit time to a service learning project.  Instead of signing up to go to a school in Providence like the majority of my classmates, I asked for permission to find another setting closer to home to save on gas.  I live in Portsmouth and I was enrolled for 16 credit hours that semester, so driving to Providence on days when I did not absolutely have to was not an appealing thought.  One day I mentioned to family friends that I had to complete some hours of community service.  One man, Blake, happened to serve as the campus director for Boy’s Town New England.  He mentioned that the program is always looking for people to come in and tutor, so I got permission from my professor, Dr. Brell, to complete my hours through Boy’s Town.  After a two week process of paperwork, background checks, and fingerprinting, I was in.

            When I began, I was scheduled to go in on Wednesdays and Fridays when the kids got home from school so I could assist them in completing their homework and practicing their reading skills.  Every Wednesday, at least four of the six children would get off the bus and run to me with their backpacks so I could check their homework schedules.  We would sit down at the dining room table and I would move from one child to the next, constantly supervising and answering questions, until everyone was done and ready to go play.  As soon as I finished helping with homework, I would have one of my supervisors sign my time sheet and go home.  After about a month on campus, the children would ask me to go outside and play with them when they were done with their homework.  It became a pattern for me to keep sneakers and a pair of socks in my car so I could play outside with the kids in something other than flats. 

            Two months after starting at Boy’s Town, I had completed my required hours and turned in my time sheet.  I decided, however, to stay on as a volunteer.  Since I had started, I began to understand the way my supervisors ran their home.  I understood protocol for behaviors and how to respond to them in a way which would help the children become productive, caring human beings.  See, most of the kids at my house were taken from their homes for safety reasons.  They came from broken homes with parents who were neglectful, at best.  These home environments were not conducive for the kids to learn basic behavioral or social skills.  At Boy’s Town, they learn how to make good decisions because the patient and loving people who live with and care for them show them the proper way to interact with others.  Every visit I made to the house allowed me to more fully understand how to handle children with anger and impulse control issues.  I also learned to help create outlets for the kids to deal with their issues in a positive way.

            One of my kids, let’s call him Jorge, is an eleven year old boy who speaks English as a second language.  He has difficulty reading at his grade level, and this fact distresses him.  He knows that he is behind his friends in class, and sometimes acts out because he feels deficient.  One Friday, I was distracted from helping one of the girls with her homework because Jorge started yelling and throwing books around the living room.  My supervisors were in the office, so I approached Jorge and asked him what was wrong.  After about five minutes, he calmed down enough to tell me that he was mad because he got the lowest grade in his class on a reading test.  My first thought was, “why does this kid know he got the lowest grade?  Who is his whack-job teacher?”  I decided that sharing this thought would probably not help him calm down.  Instead, I asked him to use every word he could think of to describe how angry he was instead of throwing books.

            He told me that he was mad at his teacher because she did not help him learn the material he needed to understand.  He knows that bad-mouthing an adult is frowned upon by the Family Teachers at Boy’s Town, so he was reluctant to share his feelings.  I told him that I knew exactly how he was feeling because I had been there, too.  I know what it’s like to feel rage like it’s a living thing.  I’ve had my fair share of times when I wanted to throw everything that wasn’t bolted down because I was so mad.  After telling him that I understood his frustration, I shared with him something I do when I feel like I am losing control—I write an “un-sendable” letter.  I write down every mean thing I want to say but know I will regret.  After I get all the angry poison out on the paper, I take the letter, rip it up, and throw it away.  I explained to Jorge that it is alright to have angry thoughts and feelings, but most of the time those feelings lead us to do things that will hurt others.  If we learn to purge those bad things without hurting anyone, we feel better and no one else has to be hurt.  He decided that my idea sounded pretty cool and asked to be excused to his room to have some time to write his letter.  One year after that Friday, he still writes un-sendable letters when he feels like he cannot deal with situations in his life.  I count that as a win.

            This single experience is like many others that I have had while at Boy’s Town.  I have been able to make connections with the kids I work with and I get to help them figure out how life works—seriously, how cool is that?  I am still learning these lessons myself, but the fact that I get to share what I have learned with my kids is incredibly rewarding.  Through the influence of my supervisors, I learned how to connect with the kids to help them deal with their negative impulses.  This experience has helped me develop patience and understanding, and I am very fortunate to have acquired these traits, even in their smallest measure.  I believe what I have learned from my kids at Boy’s Town will help me better influence and understand my future students.