Third Times A Charm

This past Wednesday was my third trip to Johnson School, and was by far the best.  I was excited from the moment I walked into the elementary school and into the cafeteria to meet Miss Ivy, when a 1st grader from the week before ran up to me and gave me a hug, thanking me for helping her with her homework the week before.  I did not realize the impact my volunteering had on these children until that moment.  Some of these children have no support system at home, so merely helping them by checking over their work or assisting with a subtraction problem can make all the difference to their world.
Not much happened in the way of disciplining, but I think this is also a result of my confidence that I had to develop in interacting with the kids.  I had to be an authoritative figure, or they would walk all over me.  I was able to work one on one with a student this week, more of a tutoring experience, though in the middle of a classroom on a beautiful day with children running all around us, it was no easy task.  His name will be called I, and he is a bright student, but needs guidance to get where he is going.  Just in three weeks, I have experienced such joy in seeing the light in their eyes when they figure out a problem, even if it just required me holding up my hands for them to count so they could subtract two numbers.  It is wonderful seeing children learn, and knowing that your help is truly making a difference in their life.  A simple pleasure I suppose they would call this.  This is also the first day that we were able to play outside, so of course the second graders that I had been working with were more than thrilled that they were the class chosen to go outside.  There were a couple run of the mill injuries that come from kids playing and not paying attention, but it was once again so exciting to the see the happiness in their eyes and face to just be able to play on the jungle jim for a couple minutes.  It truly makes you reminisce when you were 8 years old and the only things that mattered were playtime and sleep time, and of course school work.  I had such a wonderful experience this week, and of course as I reflect every week, I cannot wait until I get to see all the kids again next week.