The digital divide is a crazy thing. I always thought it was an economic divide but today I learned that it goes deeper than that. Some parents don't want their children to have access to technology. They are afraid of technology.
About half the kids have email addresses and MySpace accounts. The rest don't have email addresses. Some said their parents don't allow them to have MySpace accounts.
So I helped the students who don't have established email accounts to start them on Gmail and then they filled out the Community Needs Survey on Survey Monkey. After they completed that, their job was to forward the survey to as many friends as possible. I am taking statistics in Grad School now, and the scientific term for that technique is called "Snowballing", which is a fast way to get participants in a desired community. You find a small sample, and they tell people they know.
Simultaneously as I had a group in the Computer Lab, Ms Iris worked with the other group downstairs on a project in Module 4 which was to take an established business and re-design their business card to make it more exciting.
Monday, July 30, 2007
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Day 7: Plotting our map
We continued Module 3 today and continued our color-coded map. We broke down the map into categories (like a mall map). Red construction paper for the Health & Beauty stores, Yellow for the restaurants and food establishments, Green for Home and Hardware, etc.
I felt like I should have planned more activities today because we got done Module 3 quickly and after the map was completed the kids were growing ancy and started running around.
I felt like I should have planned more activities today because we got done Module 3 quickly and after the map was completed the kids were growing ancy and started running around.
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Day 6: Neighborhood Walk
Today might have been the best day so far at SEAMAAC. It was a warm and sunny day and the kids were excited to walk around. Before we left, we talked about the rules and how we are representing SEAMAAC. They all behaved superbly.
Every student was armed with a pencil and paper and we walked around for a few blocks and wrote down every business we saw, what they sold, their name and location. We walked into a huge Asian grocery store on 6th and Washington.... which the kids were very excited about. I was excited too, since I have never seen a grocery store like this before. The prices were surprisingly cheap as well.
A few children asked if they could buy stuff. I said "Sure, if you have money." A few girls brought some lychee candies and banana chips and were kind enough to share with the class. One boy followed me around the grocery like a little kid, and said "Ms Devalina, can you buy me this?" He was aggressive and sweet at the same time.... it was hard for me to say no. So I said "I really like your technique Anthony, I think you are gonna make a great salesman!" I bought some fruit to share with the class for being so good.
Since it took us so long at the Supermarket and we started getting stares, I decided to not to into anymore stores, just walk around. We got done a lot more, but the kids started getting hot and thirsty so we decided to turn back. One outgoing child
who is interested in opening a drug store, walked into a drug store and interviewed the owner. I was very proud of him.
When we got back to SEAMAAC, the kids drew a map of the neighborhood and we started plotting the stores on the map.
I felt like the kids had fun today and had smiles on their faces, which made me really happy.
Every student was armed with a pencil and paper and we walked around for a few blocks and wrote down every business we saw, what they sold, their name and location. We walked into a huge Asian grocery store on 6th and Washington.... which the kids were very excited about. I was excited too, since I have never seen a grocery store like this before. The prices were surprisingly cheap as well.
A few children asked if they could buy stuff. I said "Sure, if you have money." A few girls brought some lychee candies and banana chips and were kind enough to share with the class. One boy followed me around the grocery like a little kid, and said "Ms Devalina, can you buy me this?" He was aggressive and sweet at the same time.... it was hard for me to say no. So I said "I really like your technique Anthony, I think you are gonna make a great salesman!" I bought some fruit to share with the class for being so good.
Since it took us so long at the Supermarket and we started getting stares, I decided to not to into anymore stores, just walk around. We got done a lot more, but the kids started getting hot and thirsty so we decided to turn back. One outgoing child
who is interested in opening a drug store, walked into a drug store and interviewed the owner. I was very proud of him.
When we got back to SEAMAAC, the kids drew a map of the neighborhood and we started plotting the stores on the map.
I felt like the kids had fun today and had smiles on their faces, which made me really happy.
Monday, July 23, 2007
Day 5: Another Hump Day
I planned to do the neighborhood walk today, but was disappointed to walk out of my house and see how rainy, hot and humid it was. Especially depressing after such a beautiful weekend. So we stayed in and did more of Mr. Bones. I felt like the kids were losing interest more by this point and felt like I didn't have control of the group as much as I did last week. I felt like I had to do something without letting it slowly spin out of control.
So I brought out the thumb drives and had the kids present their "All About Me" presentations. They really enjoyed sharing that. But even then, its hard for them to sit and watch for a long time. A few of them wanted to work more on it, so we broke up into groups and some kids worked more on their Power Point Presentations and the rest worked on editing their business logos and store fronts.
Later that day more kids presented their business ideas and drawings.
So I brought out the thumb drives and had the kids present their "All About Me" presentations. They really enjoyed sharing that. But even then, its hard for them to sit and watch for a long time. A few of them wanted to work more on it, so we broke up into groups and some kids worked more on their Power Point Presentations and the rest worked on editing their business logos and store fronts.
Later that day more kids presented their business ideas and drawings.
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Day 4: A Hump Day
Today was one of those days that things didn't go as well as I would have hoped.
It was my first day using the projector and I think the kids liked Mr. Bones and Module 1.... but after 20 minutes or so, I saw kids laying down and starting side conversations. I realized that the modules might be too long to do in one sitting. We didn't do any splitting up into groups or using the computer lab. We pretty much sat in the circle the whole time. I gave the kids a break to go outside, but then we came back in and presented our business store fronts and logos.
Iris, Peter and I judged the kids on creativity/originality, clarity, and positive impact on community. The kids asked the presenter questions like "how many people will work in your business?" and "How will your chicken shop be different from the others?" I felt like the kids were getting ants in their pants and losing attention, so I stopped after 3 kids and called it a day.
It was my first day using the projector and I think the kids liked Mr. Bones and Module 1.... but after 20 minutes or so, I saw kids laying down and starting side conversations. I realized that the modules might be too long to do in one sitting. We didn't do any splitting up into groups or using the computer lab. We pretty much sat in the circle the whole time. I gave the kids a break to go outside, but then we came back in and presented our business store fronts and logos.
Iris, Peter and I judged the kids on creativity/originality, clarity, and positive impact on community. The kids asked the presenter questions like "how many people will work in your business?" and "How will your chicken shop be different from the others?" I felt like the kids were getting ants in their pants and losing attention, so I stopped after 3 kids and called it a day.
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Day 3: Creating Spreadsheets
My kids at SEAMAAC overall I feel are much more shy than my West Philly kids. So I wanted to work on some public speaking. Also I am having more kids trickle into the program. Overall, I am happy to see the same faces everyday.
We started the day playing a game where everyone stood in the middle of the room. Then I asked questions with two possible answers, such as "Do you prefer chocolate or vanilla?" All the kids who prefered chocolate walked to one side of the class and all the kids who prefered vanilla walked to the other side. If you liked both equally you had to stand in the middle. I continued doing this with a few other questions such as "Do you prefer basketball or baseball?" then later I let the kids get in front of the classroom and ask the questions. The point I was trying to make is that everyone has different preferences and how we need to take these preferences into account when creating our business. Then we had a contest.
The contest built upon a short lesson I did on surveying techniques. I wanted the kids to get up and interact with each other so I had each kid come up with a question with two possible answers on a piece of paper, and the kid to get 10 responses (with signatures) the fastest wins. Everyone completed their survey and later I pointed out some of the things I liked that the kids did. For example, saying "thank you" after someone answered your questions, or verbally asking "Can you please fill out this survey question?" instead of shoving a piece of paper in the person's face.
Then each child got up in the "speaking chair" and presented the results of their survey.
For the technology portion, I broke the class up in two again, and taught the kids very basic Microsoft Excel, and how to input the data that they collected. I was very impressed by how easily they got it! I think later on, I would like to move on to created graphs and pie charts.
Like Monday, Iris took the other group and they created on paper their "Dream Store Fronts" or "Business Logos."
We started the day playing a game where everyone stood in the middle of the room. Then I asked questions with two possible answers, such as "Do you prefer chocolate or vanilla?" All the kids who prefered chocolate walked to one side of the class and all the kids who prefered vanilla walked to the other side. If you liked both equally you had to stand in the middle. I continued doing this with a few other questions such as "Do you prefer basketball or baseball?" then later I let the kids get in front of the classroom and ask the questions. The point I was trying to make is that everyone has different preferences and how we need to take these preferences into account when creating our business. Then we had a contest.
The contest built upon a short lesson I did on surveying techniques. I wanted the kids to get up and interact with each other so I had each kid come up with a question with two possible answers on a piece of paper, and the kid to get 10 responses (with signatures) the fastest wins. Everyone completed their survey and later I pointed out some of the things I liked that the kids did. For example, saying "thank you" after someone answered your questions, or verbally asking "Can you please fill out this survey question?" instead of shoving a piece of paper in the person's face.
Then each child got up in the "speaking chair" and presented the results of their survey.
For the technology portion, I broke the class up in two again, and taught the kids very basic Microsoft Excel, and how to input the data that they collected. I was very impressed by how easily they got it! I think later on, I would like to move on to created graphs and pie charts.
Like Monday, Iris took the other group and they created on paper their "Dream Store Fronts" or "Business Logos."
Monday, July 16, 2007
Day 2: Teaching Power Point
Today was my first "official day." I am so happy to have the support of the wonderful staff at SEAMAAC. I truly feel lucky to have them. In the morning I met with my two supporting teachers, Iris and Peter and we went over the lesson plans for the day. Since we have such a large group, we decided to break up the 30 students into 2 groups according to age --- Junior 1 and Junior 2.
I talked briefly about what the business project will be like and we played the name game again. Lillian joined us and we brainstormed about some business ideas. Lillian emphasized the importance of community, and what we can do to better our community and honor our heritage.
Some of the business ideas the kids came up with were....
1) a lead pencil store
2) a pet sitter
3) a person to give rides
4) a video game fixing service
5) a grocery store
6) a swimming pool
7) a rent-a-bike service
8) a zoo
After our morning circle I took one group of kids up to the computer lab and did a brief and simple tutorial of Power Point. Then I introduced the kids to the thumb drives that were given by PECO and gave them an assignment to create their own Power Point presentations: All About Me. They were really absorbed into this activity and did a great job. Many wanted to keep working on this project and make it better. I told them they had to make at least 5 pages and they included information about their families, friends, favorite foods and tv shows. Simultaneously, Iris had the other group downstairs in the classroom and the kids worked on Module 1 on paper. I know this must not have been exciting for them but we didn't have a projector.
Then we switched groups. I was very impressed by how at-ease these kids were with computers. It made me hopeful.
I talked briefly about what the business project will be like and we played the name game again. Lillian joined us and we brainstormed about some business ideas. Lillian emphasized the importance of community, and what we can do to better our community and honor our heritage.
Some of the business ideas the kids came up with were....
1) a lead pencil store
2) a pet sitter
3) a person to give rides
4) a video game fixing service
5) a grocery store
6) a swimming pool
7) a rent-a-bike service
8) a zoo
After our morning circle I took one group of kids up to the computer lab and did a brief and simple tutorial of Power Point. Then I introduced the kids to the thumb drives that were given by PECO and gave them an assignment to create their own Power Point presentations: All About Me. They were really absorbed into this activity and did a great job. Many wanted to keep working on this project and make it better. I told them they had to make at least 5 pages and they included information about their families, friends, favorite foods and tv shows. Simultaneously, Iris had the other group downstairs in the classroom and the kids worked on Module 1 on paper. I know this must not have been exciting for them but we didn't have a projector.
Then we switched groups. I was very impressed by how at-ease these kids were with computers. It made me hopeful.
Friday, July 13, 2007
Day 1: First day at SEAMAAC
Today Justin and I visited the site in South Philly. The kids were very well-behaved and respectful. We played a name game with a ball and toured the site. The friendly staff at SEAMAAC invited us to a family barbecue and Justin shooted hoops with some of the boys as I sat and talked to the girls. The kids were very sweet and polite. They brought me over food and drinks so I didn't even have to wait in line!
The day before, I spoke to the director Lillian over the phone and she gave me some useful advice for working with this community and age group.
Justin and I toured the computer lab, which was typical for a Philadelphia school. Not the latest computers, but workable. Justin struggled a little installing the software, but after some time we got the software from ED Tech to work. The only problem now was that we had to get speakers and a projector.
The day before, I spoke to the director Lillian over the phone and she gave me some useful advice for working with this community and age group.
Justin and I toured the computer lab, which was typical for a Philadelphia school. Not the latest computers, but workable. Justin struggled a little installing the software, but after some time we got the software from ED Tech to work. The only problem now was that we had to get speakers and a projector.
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