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Brandon whiteman ppt
- 1. Educating the Community Brandon Whiteman [email_address] 4/22/10 EEX 4070-Teachers in Action
- 2. Early Perceptions Going into this project, I wasn’t sure what I was going to gain from this experience. I knew we were going to be educating lower-level/low income children on the basics of fire safety. I felt very prepared but I just didn’t know how the kids were going to act during the presentation. I figured they would be excited since not many people show a lot of interest towards the less fortunate kids at the Turning Point Mentor Center (Help agency of the forest.)
- 3. Introduction to the Setting Entrance sign for Turning Point Mentor Center (Ocklawaha, Fl) Back of Turning Point building 9820 SE 190 Ave, Ocklawaha, 32179 (Right): View from back of the room during pres- entation. Building is approx: 800 sq. ft. and they help about 30 children every day.(2:30-6 pm)
- 5. Personal Demographics My name is Brandon Whiteman and I am a junior at UCF. I am 23 and currently a volunteer for a 5 th grade class at Greenway Elementary in Ocala, Fl. I deal with 2 ESE, and 6 ELL students every week when I volunteer. This was my first time dealing with a group this big with a mix of issues. My main interests are sports, reading, and working with kids.
- 6. Engagement Activities While at the Turning Point Mentor Center, my group and I helped the children make fire truck posters before the fire fighters came. We also handed out and went over fire safety booklets prior to their arrival. The fire fighters came and gave about an hour long fire safety lesson. They followed that with showing the kids all of their equipment and the fire truck, which they definitely had fun doing. After the fire fighters were done, we brought everyone inside and provided food and drinks. The kids showed the fire fighters all of the artwork they made for them and thanked them for coming to visit.
- 7. Participant Demographics Ages: 5-13, most of the children were between 8 and 11. There were 28 children at the Mentor Center the day we did our presentation. The owner of the center said this is about the average number of kids they help every day. All of the kids at the agency come from a lower socio-economic class. Some of the children didn’t even have shoes and the owner said the food they eat there, might be all they eat all day. Out of the 28 kids, only one was not white. The owner said that 5 of the kids have mental disabilities but that the kids haven’t been medically diagnosed.
- 8. Reflection of your Experience After going through this process, I know that this experience has affected me in a positive way. I have not participated in any projects that have taken up this much time and effort before. After seeing the joy on the kids faces when the fire fighters showed up, all of the time and effort we put in was well worth it. Seeing the children with no shoes and worn out clothes really showed me that there is a problem in this area. It isn’t safe for children to be out in these wooded areas without the appropriate clothing and shoes. After the presentation, I played basketball with 5 of the kids. I was talking with them about their school work and none of them had anything positive to say about school. This really shocked me and I started to wonder why none of them enjoyed school. I later learned that many of the people in this area go to school because they have to, and most of them drop out at the age of 16 so they can start contributing money to their families.
- 9. After completing this project, I realized that this experience has impacted me in a lot of ways. It has helped my personal learning experience by making me do a type of project I haven’t done before. As far as my future teaching techniques, this experience has given me some ideas of what to do in my class. I think it is very important to be aware of the backgrounds your students come from so you can try to be accommodating to any of their needs. I would definitely try to keep these children engaged in schoolwork and keep them motivated about school so they won’t try to drop out at the age of 16. I also learned a lot about these children who are all considered to be living in poverty and about the five who were mentally disabled in some way. All of these children were very excited to meet the fire fighters and ask them plenty of questions. They had fun creating the welcome posters and pictures as well. All these kids need is a little extra attention and motivation because they really don’t receive it at home. My goal is to not give up on kids like this and treat every student the same no matter what problems they may have.