My Internship Experience With Kid's Company in London

Today was my first day at my new internship with Kid's Company and I was formally introduced to everyone in the office. I work with mostly women but a few men. The women are all in positions of power and the men are volunteers, which is the opposite of what one might expect. However, I am beginning to realize that a lot of things that are a certain way in the U.S. are the complete opposite, and perfectly normal, in London. The other observation I've made is that all these women are white and the men are all black. I think this might be due to the fact that most of these women have M.A.'s in social work and it seems that the same poverty among the black population in the U.S. applies in the UK as well.

The main task to be completed today was to help volunteers from the UK's largest bank, Barclay's, paint and decorate part of the community center that is due to open in a few weeks. It's an obviously mundane task but it has significant impact on cause that Kid's Company stands for. Their main goal is to help children who have been abused, both physically and sexually, or children who live in poverty to feel that there is hope and that someone cares. In this way the decorations in the community are meant to lift the children's spirits. Specifically I worked on a room that was to be used as a relaxation room. In this room the children can receive a massage, talk to an aroma therapist, or do yoga.

It was nice to see that one of the largest banks in the UK was there to help. According to those I was working with, Barclay's pays them to work in this community center for 2 days and includes lunch. Perhaps if we initiated something like this in the US we could build a better community. The beauty of this program was its flexibility. Employees elected to do the community service without it being forced on them but still encouraged. In addition, employees were allowed to bring along work or leave early if they had pressing matters to tend to.

All-in-all the atmosphere of Kid's Company is laid back like a typical English company. People get tea about every hour or so and still have an hour for lunch. They operate on the assumption that as long as the work that needs to get done is getting done, then everything is in order. I think I will enjoy working with such warm, friendly, and interesting individuals as well as such worth cause.

10/14/04

Today I met my supervisor Karen and we went to a school which she thinks I will be an asset to. This is a school which is in the northeast side of London. It is in a mixed income neighborhood but since it is a public school, only children whose parents can't afford a private school go there; needless to say these children are of the lower class in England. Most of the children who attend the school do not speak English as their first language; many do not speak English at all. There are children from over 50 different ethnic backgrounds with the majority descending from Turkey, the Caribbean Islands, and Eastern Europe.

After a tour around the school I began to appreciate the quality of public schools in the US. The school housed students from ages 5-13 but was only 2 buildings. In some cases classes of one grade had to be combined with classes of a grade above due to teacher shortages. Most of the toys which the children had to play with were donated. The same room used for lunch was also used for gym, recess on rainy days, and assemblies. The children stayed with one teacher all day regardless of the subject they were learning. For instance, the same teach who taught them physical education also taught math. This emphasized the teacher shortage that I had been hearing about so often on the news.

After my tour I observed and helped out with a class. It was time for physical education and the teacher told the children to get changed for gym class. The children proceeded to strip down to their underwear and undershirts. This was probably my first big culture shock. In the US parents would probably be outraged at such a practice and teachers might be accused of some type of child abuse. I accepted this and went out to the gym.

The kids were so excited to see someone new. They wanted to know where I was from, if I was a teacher, how long I would be in their class. I told them I was from America and they were even more excited. They wanted to know everything about America but the teacher needed them to start gym class.

They did jumping jacks, stretches, and then played a game. Competition seems to be a big thing in the UK. The big difference from the US is that this competition isn't vicious as it can sometimes get in the US. It's more of a friendly, fun learning experience here. At the end of the game two teams were tied but the third was three points behind. Before the teacher announced the totals she gave each team an extra point for good effort. The kids were so excited about the compliment the third team didn't even realize they didn't win.

After the game was done, we went back into the classroom and I realized it was time for me to go meet my site supervisor, Clio, back in the teacher's lounge. The kids were sad to see me go but quickly returned to coloring. I am really looking forward to working with them again and working with other students of different ages in the coming weeks.

10/21/04

Today I got to see what the school I am working in is really like. I had been warned that the teachers were mean and constantly yelled at the children, but I had no idea how true this is. It seems as if the teacher shortage in London has forced poorly funded to hire teachers who are not only unqualified in terms of education but teachers who also lack any experience in dealing with children and their special needs, emotions, and habits.

The first class I went to today was a class of ten and eleven year olds. Of course they were acting up and talking back to the teachers but it is my understanding that that is just how kids that age are. I have been told many times that the middle ages, 10-13 years old, are the hardest to handle in schools. However the amount of yelling and insulting this teacher inflicted on the children was absolutely uncalled for.

At one point I heard him pointing out flaws in the children while going over the class rules. "How can you raise your hand and say that you have followed school rule number one when I saw you out on the playground yesterday pushing David," said the teacher. I don't think there was anything excessive about the language he used or his tone but I was raised to believe that teachers should take children aside and speak about issues that the teacher may have with the child; not publicly insult a child.

The day continued in this manor. At one point, with 3 hours till lunchtime, a girl started eating potato chips, hiding the bag under the table. The teacher heard the crunch and immediately reprimanded her for breaking a classroom rule. After he told the girl to spit out the food and give the rest of the bag to him, he calmed and asked if she had breakfast, showing a small bit of compassion. She said she had not because her mother wanted her to leave for school early despite the fact that her mother was unemployed and would be home for the rest of the day. After hearing that the teacher left the chips and said she could eat them outside during playtime in a half hour.

This whole time I was assigned to work with a specific girl. Of course she did not want to do her work. I think that is typical of children her age, but I did not know exactly why she didn't want to do her work till we started doing math problems. The girl was dyslexic, and I wondered how in the world teachers, parents, and administrators didn't notice, or even worse didn't care, until I came along. I tried to correct her but I am not trained to deal with such things. She needed special help that I was not qualified to give, but whom else would she get help from?

Another instance that stands out in my mind is when the children were acting up, as they always do, the teacher yelled and spoke on discipline. He asked the students what would happen if the school did not have discipline. They responded intelligently that society would breakdown. He in turn said that this would lead to people shooting each other, and proceeded to make a gun shape with his hand and point it at a child's head and make a shooting motion. Shouldn't teachers being talking about peace, not guns? This deeply disturbed me especially because only a few days earlier a toddler in a nearby neighborhood was shot by a stray bullet.

Towards the end of my time with this class the teacher abruptly said "I think you all need this," and turned on a video explaining the Christian story of creation. The story detailed how wicked human beings are and said that, "when we make our own choices and do not let God make them for us, we are surely damned." At first I was shocked because I was told the school was 50% Muslim. Then the teacher said that next month they would be learning about Hinduism. I was relieved to know they were not trying to influence the children's' religion. But the teacher did imply that the children needed to hear the word of the Christian god.

In the afternoon I worked with a group of five year olds. In contrast they had a very creative and kind teacher. It was the day before they left for break so they were making skeleton masks and witch's hats for the upcoming Halloween holiday. These kids were surprisingly well behaved in class despite reports of two of the children fighting on the playground. Like other kids some of the clung to me and asked a million questions while I was trying to work. It seems like a lot of kids in this school are in desperate need of attention.

11/2/04

Today I started working with two new classes. One is a group of nine year olds and the other group consists of five year olds. The first thing we did was go to a "House Meeting" which as far as I can understand is a meeting where the children get information about upcoming school events. What struck me at this meeting was the fact that out of one hundred children in one room there were only six white children. The rest of the children were primarily black with a few Indian and Turkish children. This contributes to the use of many more ethnic names in textbooks and storybooks.

The great thing about having these "Houses" was that children were given awards for being good in the meetings, classes, and the playground. I am beginning to notice that this school gives out a lot more awards then the schools I grew up in. Kids can also earn points for their house to win an award by wearing a pin of their house color and by fundraising. This term the fundraising day will consist of teachers wearing school uniform and the children dressing in their own clothes. The catch is that each child who wants to dress in street clothes must contribute a pound to the fund.

Another thing I am beginning to notice is that not only are the children very diverse but the teachers are diverse themselves. There are teachers from South Africa, France, Germany, ect. They are about 90% white, with only two black teachers, but diverse in origin nonetheless.

On the way back to the classroom I realized that the children in this school have much more freedom than I did in my schools as a child. For instance they were aloud to walk back to classes by themselves. They are also aloud to go to the bathroom freely. However they are not void of supervision. There are teachers' aides in the halls and on the playgrounds. In addition there are older children called "Red Caps" who act as whistle blowers for the administration.

The rest of the day went according to plan until I worked with the five year olds. They were working on counting the number of objects and writing the number in a box below. Then they were to add the numbers together. I worked with several students who, with a little help, got the concept and began to do the problems on their own. However, once I was done there the teacher gave me a challenge. He was a Turkish boy who spoke very, very little English. My assignment was to get him to complete this worksheet. It was almost impossible. I had to utilize a lot of pointing to the objects and then pointing a number on the number strip the teacher gave me. Eventually it was playtime and the teacher said not to worry that he didn't finish the worksheet; there was no hope for him to learn anything anyway she said.

11/4/04

Today was a difficult day. I was warned that a lot of the children live in abusive households and they might be inclined to tell me about these problems, but I never expected it to happen so soon. The dyslexic girl I worked with on 10/21/04 told me of such problems at home today. She told me and three other students in the room that she has to walk home alone most days because her father is too busy doing drugs to pick her up. Then she went on to say that the other day she got home from school and found that her father had severely beaten her mother. In the next breath she said she was walking home from school one day and saw a little girl being raped in the bushes. She said she watched the whole thing and then went home to tell her mom. Her mother then called the police. My fear is that the rape story is just that, a story, and something horrible has actually happened to her.

Though she was talking to three other students and me, she kept her eye on me. Of course it was my duty to report this to my supervisor. I did and take comfort in the fact that Kids Company is there to handle this matter instead of the school administration. From observing their attitudes towards the students, I can only image how poorly they could have handled the situation.

I think they need to start taking a more compassionate role with the children. For instance there is a boy who acts out by throwing things, distracting other students, and making threats. But I have also seen him cleaning up the classroom when his teacher is in a more relaxed mood. I think these kids are always seeking attention. If you do not give them the chance to get it by noble means they will get it somehow.

The reason why I was alone in the classroom with these four children was because it was time for physical education and they had forgotten their sneakers, shorts, and t-shirts. Another student was stuck inside simply for bad behavior though. They were all instructed to write a story about the day the mean teacher bit off the head of a student who forgot their gym clothes. The assignment came after the teacher, angered by a student turning his back to him, slammed his fist down on a desk and screamed so loud and hard that you could see the veins in his forehead.

One of the main problems that cause teachers to be so impatient and students to misbehave is the lack of structure in the school. It starts in the morning when parents are relied on to bring their children to school. This causes lateness which interrupts the class and frustrates the teacher. Then subject times are loosely adhered to which causes students to get less done in a class period than the teacher expects. Then the school has a fifteen minute morning break, hour long lunch break, and fifteen minute afternoon break. This breaks up the day for the students but when combined with hazy subject times this causes a day where not much gets done.

A few good things I have been noticing are the use of the internet on a daily basis and the advanced technology such as an interactive chalkboard linked to the computer. The teachers also try to teach the children good posture and correct them periodically. In addition, at an assembly the principle seemed to know the names of all the children in the school. The teachers also teach respect by requiring the students to call them Sir and me Miss. However, I am beginning to think the bad drastically outweighs the good.

11/5/04

Today was my best day yet. Today I worked with a class of six year olds and a substitute teacher. I cannot praise this teacher enough. He used a non-confrontational tone and treated the kids with respect while still being an authority. The rest of the teachers in this school could learn a lesson from him. Their problems with compliance would be solved because somehow the children sensed that there was a mutual respect and were quiet when he asked.

In contrast, I went out for a fire drill and saw the principle gab a child by the arm and fling him out of line for misbehaving. This is the same principle that later on in an assembly calls the kids stupid and then gives certain students awards. I just think these children's' emotions are being pulled in so many directions that it is hard for them to respect someone like that. I think the problem in this school begins with the administration.

Out on the playground I witnessed these "Red Caps" in action. Essentially they are hall monitors of the UK. What I saw was them restraining two children from play fighting. But what was concerning was that these Red Caps were all white, and the children they "keep in line" are almost always the black children. And they do so in a very violent way. If the child tries to escape the Red Cap, they will drag him back and restrain him again and again until a teacher can attend to the matter.

It seems like despite the teacher's resentment towards Kids Company, the children know and love the staff and their programs. One girl begged me to take her with me when I was on my way to a lunchtime playgroup in one of the Kids Company shacks which are used for therapy. The hour long program consisted of playing football, painting, and for a brief period doing the planned activity of talking about emotions and displaying them using an emotion die. The kids enjoyed their time in the shack and had a wonderful friendship with the man who ran the playgroup. It was a relationship I know they do not have with their teachers. I am glad they have someone to turn to when their difficult home lives grow even more difficult.
11/9/04

I am beginning to see that safety is not as much of a concern in this school as in the schools I grew up in. For example, the class of nine year olds I was working with was allowed to plug in the stereo. In my schools we were not allowed to touch electrical outlets period. Later on in the day I worked with a group of four and five year olds and it was what the called "Big Toys" playtime. These "big toys" were things like mini bikes and a barrel which the kids rolled each other around in. They were an accident waiting to happen. One child fell out of the barrel and scraped their knee. But I suppose it is all in an attempt to let kids be kids.

Another difference between the U.S. and British schools I have noticed is that the children "tattle tell" a lot more in the school I work in. I remember as a kid, if I told on another child for misbehaving, the teacher told me that I should not "tattle tell"; they would eventually find out. But in this school it seems to be widespread and the most basic way teachers use to discipline children. I think this method is flawed because children are often spiteful, wanting to get back at each other or even simply stir up drama. At one point during the day a girl came up to me and said another girl had said something about her mother. I told her I had not heard it and therefore could do nothing. She looked absolutely shocked that I was not willing to take action on a matter that I had not even seen for myself.

Today I also helped a group of nine year old girls create a dance for their assembly on Diwali, a Hindu holiday. The teacher just showed me a five minute video on traditional Indian dances and then told me to make up the dance. Not extremely thought out but it allowed me to give the girls a say in what went into the dance. Too often teachers do not let the kids have a say in anything in this school. They were for the most part thrilled about doing a dance but less than thrilled about practicing it.

So I got my first try at actually acting as a teacher and it was rather successful. Most of the children listened to me when I told them what to do. I can only think that this may have been due to the fact that I did not yell and showed them the benefit that practicing had to them, not me. For example, some of the girls would purposely do the wrong steps to be funny. But when I pointed out what they were doing wrong in a constructive manor, this made them a tad embarrassed and willing to correct themselves.

Even the students that the teacher told me to watch out for followed my directions as long as I was keeping a watchful eye. It has made me re-evaluate my career goals. Perhaps I could be an effective teacher with younger children. I had never thought I could be before this incident.

At lunch time I noticed that the teachers in my school are even more segregated my cliques than the children. I saw that in the staff break room, the English teachers sat together, and the South African teachers sat together. The African teachers were nowhere to be found. I suspect they eat lunch in their classrooms. To make matters worse the South African teachers sit at a table, share lunches, and speak nothing but Afrikaans, which puts a barrier up and blocks the other teachers out. I have not even mentioned the fact that none of the teachers really like Kids Company we stay far away at a table in the corner.

As a follow up to the incident with the girl whose father did drugs and beat her mother last week, Kids Company had me fill out a form stating the circumstances and what exactly was said. My mind was a bit hazy and I had forgotten if the girl had told me whether the little girl in the bushes was killed or not. Immediately after reviewing the form, my supervisor noticed the inconsistency and talked to me about it. I'm glad that they are so thorough and sensitive about such a delicate situation. My supervisor also made sure that my name was not disclosed to the girl, and went a step further by asking whether I was still comfortable working with her. It is great that Kids Company uses the utmost discretion in all cases.

11/11/04

Today was a very hectic day because I was trying to help out in my regularly scheduled classes and also help the girls with their dance for Diwali. I encountered the same problems; some girls weren't trying, or simply didn't understand. However by the end of the day the girls had a good chance at pulling it off tomorrow by themselves. But I wasn't willing to risk that so I stayed after I was supposed to leave to go over the dance one more time. After that trial I decided they would need me to come in tomorrow morning and do the hand motions in the back of the room.

Today was Remembrance Day as well. This is the day that the English honor those who have died in the wars of the past. The children attended a two minute silence at 11 AM. At this time they were supposed to think about loved ones they had lost in a war. If they had not lost anyone, they were to think of the wars going on in the world right now, and how horrible it must be for the people living in countries such as Iraq. From the tone of the principles speech I could tell that this was a liberal school and administration.

After the assembly I joined the class of eleven year olds I work with every Thursday morning. This time I walked in during the start of physical education, or PE. Apparently the children had be penalized twenty minutes PE time for bad behavior. I remember as a kid we dreaded PE and that sort of punishment was a blessing. At one point during the activity the teacher sent three boys, the usual trouble makers, back into the classroom with the loud booming yell I have come to identify with him. He must have seen me write down the incident in my notebook because later on he tried to cover his actions by telling me that he was fed up with these boys after they sent letters with many obscenities and threats to a girl in another class.

However, I got to see a softer side to this teacher today. At one point he wanted the children's attention so he played Simon Says which the kids found amusing. It was a very effective tool. At another point during class he announced that he had bought a new game for the class. The only catch was that students who had proven themselves untrustworthy in the past were not aloud to play with it. He softly said, "So you will all understand if I say that you may not play with it?" They kids agreed.

In the staff break room I learned that the teachers here, despite their use of the internet in the classroom, do not know much about computers. They had a half hour long conversation about whether or not you must plug a computer into a phone line in order to access the internet. One teacher argued you didn't have to; the internet just existed in thin air. Another argued you needed a phone line. Of course the later was correct, but the shear amount of debate between the teachers, with neither side sounding sure of themselves, told me that teachers in this school were far less educated about computers than the teachers in my schools growing up.

At the end of the day I got to work with my favorite class of five year olds. They were sitting on the carpet in front of the teacher and talking about what sort of things happen in autumn. One child said the leaves turn lots of colors; another said it got cold. Some students said they start their soccer practice. Whatever they said, though the later was not what the teacher was looking for, she took every answer and made ever child feel like their answer was valid. When they weren't getting anywhere near what she was looking for, she suggested an answer and sought their agreement. I think this teacher's method of encouragement worked very well to help the kid's progress.

11/16/04

On my way to school today I heard about five languages as I walked down the street. I heard Turkish, Arabic, and an African language I could not identify. It was then that I fully began to realize exactly how diverse not only my school, but London is. I think it is great that these children are growing up in an environment where other races, religions, and cultures are accepted and explored. Everyday I see children of different decent playing together; much more than you would see in the U.S. This diversity can also be seen in the teachers and Kids Company Social Workers. They are both old and young, speak different native languages, and come from different countries.

However I have also seen some racism appear in the children. I overhead one black girl saying she would never marry the boy next to her because she would have "mixed kids". She said it as if mixed marriages were not an option. Whether this is the opinion of British society or her family I do not know. But

The first order of the day was an assembly at which I noticed that all the teachers helped each other with discipline. They really seem to work as a team in this manner. But the assembly also highlighted the lack of respect most children have for the teachers and administrators. For example, one student was asked five times to stop talking before they were placed in the corner for the remainder of the assembly. As a child I can remember getting one warning and then I would be sent to the principle's office. I am beginning to appreciate the patience some of the teachers have.

When it was time for physical education I noticed that some of the children had holes in their socks. Granted, everyone gets holes in their socks, but I wondered if this reflected the fact that these children came from a low income neighborhood. However, this combined with the fact that many children complain of having no breakfast and seeing kids go straight to the playground at lunchtime suggests that poverty is affecting the daily lives of some of the children at the school.

Another bias I am noticing is sexism. Today one teacher said to a five year old, "...boys carry the balls because they are stronger than girls..." and "...[boys] are here to do the hard work..." I wondered again if this was the opinion on British society or just the teacher which she was teaching the children. Either way, it is a very old fashion way of looking at the world. I'm sure she wasn't thinking of what she was saying to these young, impressionable children but that only proved this was actually her belief.

For a few hours after school I started helping with glass painting. Kids Company's goal was to transfer paintings done by one class of graduating eleven year olds to the glass windows in the library. The project has been ongoing for about a year now. Now they would like to complete the project by the children's graduation to the secondary school. The whole point is to boost the self-esteem of the children and let them leave their mark on the school for years to come. I think it is a wonderful idea.

11/23/04

Today started off with a science experiment. I was again working with class 4U and it was time for them to learn about temperature. The teacher asked me to get two cups of water; one warm and one hot. The teacher then asked random children to come up and tell him whether the water was hot after having their finger in the cold water and moving it to the warm. The kids seemed confused about why the water would feel hot after being in the cold but the teacher turned it into a guessing game to make it more fun and keep the kids attention. As each kid came up to test the water they took it as a kind of bravery test because they were touching the hot water. After a kid guess correctly the real temperature of the water, the whole class cheered. These kids always seem very competitive.

Then the teacher played another game. He called it Around the World. It was a math game in which he gave random math problems and the child who got the question right competed with the next child in line. Again, they seem to thrive off these little competitive games. They really engage the kids. However, I realized that when I was helping the children with their math work they had no idea what the word subtract meant. The teacher had to explain that subtracting was "take away" or "minusing", which is not a real word.

I often find a lot of practices I do not approve of going on throughout the school. I found two very alarming things today. First, I asked the teacher I had been working with rather closely if he could write me a recommendation letter. He told me that he might need some time to ask another teacher for help because he could not write in English well. I thought to myself, "Should this man really be teaching children English?" And furthermore, "Should this man be teaching children whose native tongue isn't English?" Another alarming situation occurred when I realized that the children go barefoot during gym. I am not sure but I think that is a considered a major safety risk in the US.

During physical education today one kid was yelled out for "sagging" his shorts. He said he was just trying to look cool because that is how "everyone" wears their pants. It reminded me of something that happened on my first day with Kids Company. Karen, my supervisor at the time, and I picked up some used clothes in good condition that someone wanted to donate to the cause. On our way back with the clothes Karen said that it was a shame all of these clothes would go to waste. I asked why and she said that most of the kids they work with are so concerned with not looking poor that they only wear expensive clothes, even if it means wearing the same shirt every other day. I told her that thrift store shopping was a whole style in the US.

11/25/04

When I walked in today the teacher mentioned to me that he had had a substitute in class yesterday. This substitute happened to be a "spy teacher". He told me about how the children made such a bad impression on his behalf. One child was cited as throwing things at the teacher while another was talking back. As usual the teacher reprimanded the children by yelling at them and punished them all to five minutes off of their physical education time.

Ten minutes after getting to class, the children and I went to the assembly that is held every Thursday morning. I noticed a few things about the children's behavior; mostly the lack of good behavior. To prevent fighting the children are seated boy/girl. This setup did not help. Children chattered away while the principle talked. When one girl was reprimanded she rolled her eyes. For punishment she was placed in the corner after sharing with the school what she was so desperate to talk about.

The assembly was called to discuss an issue that was on the rise in the playground at lunchtime. Apparently, certain children have been bringing trading cards to school and selling them. The first problem was that children should not be selling anything on school grounds. The second, and most important problem, was that children were using their lunch money to buy these cards. Then parents complained to the school about their children coming home hungry and wasting their money and demanded something be done.

Today I noticed that these children love to tell tall tales. I found out that the reason a ten year old girl had told me she saw a girl being raped. A few weeks ago a girl was rapped and killed not far from the school. The child psychologist informed me that she thought the girl was just repeating what she saw on the news an in the newspapers to get attention. Today, the same girl told me that her cousin's camera phone was stolen. I realized later that this was a reaction to signs posted all over by the government about protecting your belongings; including camera phones.

The teacher I was working with today was once again reprimanding the children by yelling. He then turned to me and said he had come to England from South Africa. To my surprise he told me that he started teaching because he loves children which I found hard to believe considering his attitude towards the children. I also doubted his abilities as a teacher when one eleven year old girl asked me how to spell "mad".

11/30/04

Today I worked with a new teacher. Apparently I was requested because she had heard how well the other children had cooperated for me when rehearsing their assembly. The children in this class were preparing an assembly based on the plays each group of about six had written. My duty was to take them down to the assembly hall and help "direct" their productions.

But on my way I was told to take a whistle. The teacher said that the whistle would keep them in line and I should use it when the children acted up. I did not agree with this type of discipline. I would have felt like a drill sergeant if I had resorted to blowing a whistle. Instead I used my own brand of discipline and rationalized with the children. I told them that if they didn't practice they might embarrass themselves in front of all their friends.

However, maybe she had good reason to think I could not handle the children without the whistle. On the way down to the assembly hall two boys got in a fist fight. Then a couple of the children ran off during practice to the bathroom without my permission. And finally, certain children hid behind barriers and played resulting in them completely missing their cue to come on stage for their part. So instead of blowing the whistle and sending them back to class like the teacher would have done, I made them stand in the corner for ten minutes while I filled in for their part.

During playtime I came back to the classroom and talked with the teacher. Minutes into break the teacher next door brought in two boys who had been caught fighting. The teacher I was working with, filled with rage, violently pushed the two boys together and said, "Fight now!" Then she made them stand face to face for the remaining twenty minutes of playtime. She also told them that they would be skipping lunch today. I think this was the worst experience I've had in this school. I found it very hard to stand by and let her handle them like that but I was intimidated by all of the rage I saw in her. Her anger continued later on in the day when she slapped a folder on a child's head.

After playtime we rehearsed the plays again. One boy's part called for him to kiss a girl on the cheek. He refused. The funny thing was that the girl he had to kiss was the girl who wrote the play. It thought it was cute. He thought she was a disgusting girl with cooties. Another funny thing about these plays written by the children was a black girl playing the part of a girl who was "white as snow" according to the script.

After rehearsal was over we headed back to class where it was time to learn about tadpoles. Specifically, the children were learning about the life cycle of a frog. Again the teacher shocked me. When a child would get an answer wrong she would proceed to ask the class the answer. When the other children got the answer right, the teacher made the first child feel bad for getting the question wrong.

12/2/04

As soon as the children sat down this morning the teacher took a poll on who had eaten breakfast. After only half of the class raised their hands the teacher reprimanded the children. But I didn't understand why he was angry with the children; the parents seemed like the ones to blame. Either way the teacher announced that he would be sending home a letter to all parents explaining that they may not send their children to school without breakfast and the consequences of doing so.

It was then that I noticed the bad example these teachers are setting for the children. Children in all UK public schools are required to wear a uniform to school. This uniform includes wearing dress shoes or boots. However, teachers not only wear whatever they want to class, including sweatpants and t-shirts, they also wear sneakers. In addition, the teachers eat in class and yell, but the children can't. I've noticed that a lot of things in these classes are "Do as I say, not as I do".

Today a special consultant came in to talk to the girls about bullying. The consultant came as part of a city-wide campaign against violence in schools focusing on bullying. They were right to choose these girls to target for counseling. I've noticed these girls making fun of and hassling other children often.

I started to really notice how sexist certain students were today when a cup of water was dropped on the floor. The male teacher cleaned up the water with paper towels immediately. A ten year old boy Turkish leaned over and said, "You know how to do a woman's job..." The teacher snapped at him for saying such a rude thing, especially in front of a woman. Then he looked at me and gave me a very nervous smile and laugh.

12/3/04

What a wonderful way to end my experience at this school. Despite all the negativity I've found I was able to work with a great teacher the last day. This class was the same one I had worked with a few weeks ago on a Friday who had had a substitute teacher. So again I found it hard to figure out whether it was the children who were naturally obedient or whether the teacher had some effect.

This teacher said things like, "Can you sit down?" I thought this was a better idea then the average teacher's "Sit down!" because it made the child feel responsible for their actions while conveying the teachers expectations. It made the children feel like they had a choice; they didn't need to be intimidated to do what they were told. She followed the question up by counting till three and then pointing out who was not sitting. I thought this allowed the children time and it also singled them out in front of the class if they didn't follow directions.

In addition, I found that the teacher encouraged learning through the children's independence. She would not give them the answer to a math problem if they got it wrong; they had to work it out again. Nor would she allow random guessing. For example, she asked a child what time it was. It was 11:13 AM but the child answered 10:12 AM. When the child was told he was wrong, the teacher asked him to try again. He guessed 10:13 AM, then 10:14 AM, ect. He kept guessing until he said 11:13 AM. Her policy was "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again." I admired that.

One of my last observations about the school was their technology. Even after a few months I had still never seen their computer lab but I had the privilege today. One odd thing I noticed was that the school had brand new, top of the line monitors, but old, out of date IBM computers. I thought this was kind of strange but I assumed that a low income school takes what they can get and what they could get this year was cheap monitors. Another thing they had was a large projection screen for use with the computers during instruction. I was also surprised at how well the children used the computers and the teachers' utilization of the internet.

I ended my last day at Daubney Primary School with about ten kids bombarding me with hugs. It was a great way to end a great learning experience. Not only has working at the school shown me so much about the problems inner city children face but it has also taught me about race relations, politics, and children in general. But I believe the most important thing I have gained from this experience is the knowledge that I want to become a social worker. I want to help children in the city because I have seen how complicated and hard their lives are. I want to make a difference in a child's life, as utopian as that may sound.