Civil Services in the Community!

Our nation stands strong for all the things we guarantee and all the freedoms we acquire as citizens and give back as good Samaritans. Civic duties include voting, taxes, volunteering and jury duty, all of which are methods to directly effect the country as a whole. With such great responsibilities as American’s it is important to not loose ourselves in trying to get ahead or by forgetting how to give back to those less fortunate. Volunteering is an excellent way for the youth like me to help in the community and inspire others.

            Civil activities that impact the nation are some of the only way attention is brought to those in need. When governments do not have the funding available to feed a family through food stamps, other means of acquiring food are necessary. Those generous enough to help today can impact tomorrow.

            As a teacher’s aide in a Title One school, I am humbled by what I have learned and experienced by helping educate our country’s youth. The neighborhood that Manzanita Elementary School is in is not in the best part of town, but I felt very safe on campus. I entered the learning environment of Mrs. DeWitt’s second grade class to be greeted by many ethnicities who were all equally excited to have me there. As a citizen to my country, I was happy to be helping these children who have only minimally been affected by the society and economy they are living in. My bright smile was on when talking to the students and helping them through their math and spelling lessons. My ten hours spent in the classroom over the period of three days proved to be exhausting, but even more rewarding.

            I believe that my contributions to society were, in fact, great. I touched the lives of a few boys and girls of that lower class school, and took many more perspectives with me. By reading to them and setting a good example as a calm and contributing young adult, I without doubt believe that these kids will be willing to go back to these classrooms someday and help the students of future generations. Learning to contribute to classrooms is only a small idea for these kids, but if taken time to grow, they too can see that a seed becomes a flower, and help with bigger and better things as adults!  

Civil Service as an American

Our American flag made out of recycled objects

Do not as what they expect; for going above and beyond will earn greater respect in the end. American’s who exercise their civic duties to build their communities should be praised more often for all the selfless acts of kindness in which make our nation great. Community service as a civil service gives back to the community to make it better for others. Without these acts of kindness from people around the country, America would not be as renowned as it is today as a first-world nation.

            In most circumstance, civil duties include following the laws, voting and complying with public order but can also include the heartless acts that one does to help each other. With the surplus of volunteer work in this country, we are able to better the lives of the poverty stricken and the minority. American’s are responsible for the creation of food banks, Goodwill, and many non-profit organizations that benefit a category of person’s who face some struggles. American’s are not usually asked to do community service, but choose to help.

            As a first-world country we are able to help each other within our communities and keep up with the amount of people in need. The difference between the U.S. and third world countries, like South Africa, is that the population’s majority is in poverty and the help does not make noticeable differences. It is a horrible spiral that keeps them in shortage. As American’s we pursue serving in our communities because it can be extremely rewarding to make a homeless man dinner or sell a family a bed.

            Another civic responsibility includes paying taxes annually and daily on goods and services. Many persons are angry to give their money way, but if they knew what their tax dollars were going to they may not be so upset. These dollars are what fund schools and places for homeless people to stay. Our duty to pay taxes is tedious but necessary to ensure the country’s upkeep and prosperity. Voting is also another way to both exercise our duties and opinions in the government. Adults over the age of 18 can vote for various issues, guaranteeing many of the freedoms in the Bill of Rights. Jury Duty can take a man out of work for a day, but the experience of being in a court and giving opinions is only that of a true American.

            Majority of these duties are voluntary, so that people who are able and motivated may contribute to their society. Civic duties are created in the United States to ensure that everyone has an opportunity to an education, and even food. The government of our country needs our help as citizens to “Love thy Neighbor”(Jesus Christ) and “Be the change you wish to see in the world” (Gahndi).

Wednesday Around the Classroom



Manzanita Elementary
They are having a Family Movie Night on Thursday!
How fun!



Today was a very educational experience for myself and the students of Mrs. DeWitt's classroom. I arrived especially early to observe the start of their days only to be amazed by their new customs at the Title One school. Breakfast is served to them daily, at no cost to them, during the first 30 minutes of the actual school day. I asked ferociously what this was all about as I passed the goodies out to their receiving hands. Apparently it is a method to get the students to come to school. Since offering two out of their suggested three meals a day, the parents are more fond of sending their children to school. Also since many are below poverty level, they were never fed breakfast before, and would go hungry until lunch. Fueling these children with their choice of orange juice, milk, string cheese, cereals, muffins or bagels every morning has been a new addition to the school’s minimal funding ever since they were classified as a Title One school this year.
I was surprised to see that the class was extremely focused and ready to listen to the lessons (compared to their excessive afternoon energy that I was used to seeing). First was a spelling pre-test that challenged their memories. I was able to help sound out the words and recite some of their newly acquired rules of phonics to them. Grading them was a bit harsh because many words were not correct. A quick lecture from Mrs. DeWitt opened up my opportunity to lead the children through a writing lesson. I questioned the class on the word admire, and gave them the opportunity to listen to whom I admired. I explained that I admired teachers for what they help the community accomplish, and used Mrs. DeWitt as an example. I wrote a model phrase on the white board, “I most admire _______ because…” and they used their pencils to finish their thoughts. Almost twenty minutes later (I really learned to be patient with these students) I had a few volunteers read aloud who they admired. Some examples included parents, sisters and Mrs. DeWitt, and I went on to applaud them for not picking sport stars or famous people, because admiration requires more intimacy and acquaintance with the person.
Math, Music and Reading all followed as the day went so very quickly, and the early release bell was ringing before we knew it. The class said goodbye to me and gave me numerous hugs. The young children proved to be so grateful for my company that all the services I was assisting in cleared my mind. I really hope that life does not corrupt any of those sweet children, because of where they live or who they are. They are all very bright kids that deserve an equal chance in their pursuits of happiness!

The adorable Front Office of Manzanita Elementary.
The apple next to the doors added extra pizazz to
it's character



I had been admiring this mural on the side
of their school all week! I finally got a shot
with me in it!



This goes to show that no matter
how much the economy struggles,
a school can still be a wonderful, safe place!





The Manzanita's Mural in it's entirety.



Tuesday was a Funday :)







These kids are pretty smart! I was watching them

build their bar graphs on the class's favorite

Christmas carols!



Sarah needed some help with her addition.
Boy did those blocks come in handy!



The Kindergarteners at Manzanita
 waiting for their audience while on stage!



Math was in process when I was entering the classroom, and immediatley Mrs. DeWitt asked me to work with Sherome, an African American boy who was not in class yesterday. He was really struggling with his additions including 45+27= because it required carrying the Ten's place over. All the other students were moving on to what ever they had to complete next while I sat with Sherome, and walked him through the addition using our fingers. Agian when we completed the sheet consisting of 9 problems, he was glad to bring it to the teacher and say, "I'm Done!" Mrs. Dewitt complained that she was not given enough time to teach today with specials that morning and an assembly coming up at 1:00. I remembered back to my youth, remembering that school was kept fun with all the activities we had. The youngsters sat on the cafeteria's floor while the adults were given rustic folding chairs that matched their pink and teal theme. I had to ask what year it was built, and Susan said that it was around the mid Fifties. This explained why I could not believe that all that made up their playground was a silver rod dome climber, sand and fields. She explained that the older students were escorted to the public park nextdoor's playgym because the school would not fund a new playgound for them. Back to the concert.... The kindergarteners sang "Must Be Santa", a new song to me, but a Christian song, none the less. I questioned why thy permitted religeous affiliation during school hours, and if anybody was Jewish per say. Mrs. DeWitt said they were predominantly Christain and Catholic, I assumed because of their ethnic backgrounds, majority of them must have been. Her class enjoyed it, but was very squirmy and needed some redirection of attention. I moved to the floor on the opposite end of her classroom to help set a good example by putting my attension on the stage. Sixth grade took the show and eventually included a song called, "Christmas Around the World" in which they tied all the December holidays together. This eased my tension that they were leaving out certain religeous views in the school setting. After thinking this through, I see that since they are all elementary students it is more acceptable to sing along to "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" than it would be in my own high school, but it did not violate their freedom to religion that day.



The class and I patiently waiting for

the show to begin!



When class was put back into session, Mrs. DeWitt thought of a lesson on the spot, that again required the class to vote for their favoite Christmas song. In turn, "Rudolf" won, but all four songs were to be graphed by each of the students. She walked them through how to set up the axis and label the songs, but as I walked around the classroom there were quite a few I had to assist or suggest to in order to make it like Mrs. DeWitt's. All in all, the graphs turned out wonderfully, and I was left to stamp them with inspiring phrases. Oh, the simple times, when a stamp was the best grade you could get...



Here I am "grading" their beautiful graphs
with stamps that said Terrific!
I gave every graph at least 3 stamps
because they were so fun!



Monday with the 2nd graders in Mrs. DeWitt's classroom



This is their reading center!
Monday's reader was Carolina



As you can see, the children are not really
focused toward the end of the days ;)

They were so excited when I walked through the door at their Manzanita Elementary School that they had already forgotten that I was coming today. Two young, beautiful girls came and gave me a hug as Mrs. DeWitt introduced me as a stable friend of her daughters for almost eight years now. They were all smiles, which was unbelieveable for them being in school on a Monday. But among the first things I noticed was the majority of race in the classroom was Hispanic or African American, the crowdedness of the classroom, the antiqueness of their teal and pink desks, and the father in the front office throwing around the word social worker and what his rights to his son were that day. Despite my introduction and initial thoughts, I felt very welcomed into their classroom, and immediately got myself involved with what they were learning. It was a grammer lesson including words spelt with soft C and G's that sounded like a J. I took a step back to understand what Mrs. DeWitt was expecting of them, and stood right by the list in the front of the classroom to assist them in spelling the words they had come up with per category. Some included mice, giraffe, germs, nice, gym, and bicycle. By having an teenage girl in the classrom, the students were on their better behavior and even put in more effort to show off what they knew. A worksheet followed the class review, involving their spelling words for the week. An autistic boy by the name of Torrence needed some help catigorizing these words, and I sat down by his desk in the front of the classroom to help. All I had to do was help him think out loud in order to spark some understanding of the sounds each letter made, and he was quick to turn his sheet in thereafter with a sense of accomplishment. PE was their next class, and I observed and ran around with the little tikes, playing the infamous game of Sharks and Minows. They were so very happy, and told me that PE was their favoite special during the week. I agreed. Back into the classroom we went in lines that began with a designated lineleader for the week. Mrs. DeWitt complained that after this point of the day the children were unfocused and nearly impossible to wrok with, so she had me read a short story to them. Titled "A Wish of Little Sister", I read this story that was once her own daughters to the jettery group of second graders on the ground in front of me. So many memories were brought back from when I was in their place during 'story time' in 1st thru 3rd grade, and how I can clearly remember a few. Next, a girl took the seat and read a story about a waterfall and it's rainbows to her fellow classmates, while one boy helped her over her shoulder. It was great to experience the classroom dynamics as a young adult, for it was a much different perspective. I was glad to help them end their Monday, so that I could chat with Mrs. DeWitt about her opinions on teaching. Once the adorable rascals ran out of the room with their beat-up back packs, we went into a deeper discussion about the school being Title One and what some of her kids have released in her classroom. She complained about her previous year's students commenting her inapropriately on her "Hot and Sexy Bod". She fears that those students were the effect of parenting, or lack thereof.  She brought in all the books, and did not choose to work at the Title One school, but had once taught her own children their when it had not yet recieved this title. Mrs. DeWitt, or Susan as I now adress her as, is a strong teacher and is very straight forward with teaching and disaplining her students. I was very pleased Monday for what I was able to contribute into the classroom, and my spirit for learning was inspirational in the classroom of this Title One school.