service learning blog- WARNER GIRLS LEADERSHIP ACADEMY

This semester I have three service requirements for this education class, psycology and development, and my OAI requirement.  I have done service every semester since I began here as a student at John Carroll. My service site this semester will be done at Warner Girls Leadership Academy in the culturally diverse neighborhood on Cleveland's east side.  Every time I have done service, I usually take on service sites that have to do with tutoring young children.  I really enjoy helping the children that I am fortunate enough to tutor because it allows me to go back week after week and develop a relationship with that child or children when we work in groups.  I feel that being able to come back and see the actual progress that you have made with a child really means something to me and the child as well.
One experience that I would like to share would be when I was at a previous site last semester and it saddened me to see how young children who had so much potential were being let down by the amount of damage their school had.  I mean there were not enough chairs or paper. And the teachers tried their very best to give the children the upmost care and when I had to go up there for service I made sure that I gave every student my undivided attention.  Do you know why I feel that this was so important to the children?  It was because they felt that because the school was in such a bad condition that they were not as smart as other children and they were not worth much.  I find it amazing how in every chapter I read in our text for this class, how many of the same things they speak about in other teachers situations with their classes, it is very much the same all over the Cleveland Municipal School District.  It is going to take a very long time before our school systems will even measure up to the health and safety standards that the government insists on having for schools.  If we could all take responsibility for our actions, and help others who are less fortunate than ourselves, we can come up and beat all these obstacles against us.