Hello Readers! 

Last week I finished preparing our summer camp curriculum. The week went by extremely fast as we prepared to serve about 32 kids starting Monday, June 24th. My curriculum focuses on social emotional learning and drug prevention. Along with teaching all the students I am also a summer counselor for a group of 7 girls at Bright Lights Summer Camp. 

My two days of summer camp have been a whirlwind. The kids have so much energy and sometimes I find it challenging to keep up. Keeping up with the kids, although draining, at the end of the day is a fun learning experience. As a counselor, I am met with the challenge of teaching my group what boundaries are, why listening is important, and how to have fun while being kind. Every opportunity is a chance to teach them about problem solving. For example, my group and I went to play outside with the other girl group and when we came back to the classroom they had about five issues to relay to me. So and so said this, so and so did this, I think so and so is going to start a rumor, I feel left out, and I hate going outside. So many personalities and feelings to appease and understand whilst following a schedule, however, we talk through each issue and I give them advice on how to approach each problem. Then I tell them that they have a chance to solve the problem amongst themselves, but if it gets out of hand to let me know. What the kids do not know is that I am learning whether the methods I use are actually working. My group of children are stretching my own understanding of how to communicate. This is also due to the variety of ages. Within my group the age ranges from 7 to 12 and all together I believe the age ranges from 6 to 14. 

When I taught my first class my 30 min presentation quickly turned into an hour presentation. Only because I felt I needed all of them to know that I wanted to hear from them. I have learned that children easily feel shut out if they do not get to participate. As the instructor, I have to think of the schedule and the time I have allotted, but the child will think why doesn’t she pick me and why doesn’t she want me to speak? If I ask everyone a question and one of them has a hard time giving an opinion they shut down. Now I am seeking to find this balance where I can communicate with children in a way that reaches them. Yesterday, while talking to all the girls during my lesson on social emotional learning I said that in order to communicate effectively they needed to talk to me. I told them I could not understand why they are not listening to me or why they are in a bad mood if they do not tell me their worries or issues. Then I explained, in order to communicate effectively we need to let people know how they make us feel and why we feel the way we feel. Right after I finished saying this three hands went up from three kids who were not listening. All three told me issues they were having some health issues and some personal. As soon as we talked I felt that all three of us were in a better place and that they felt they could rely on me more. 

I will continue to bring my best for the kids and I am hoping I can keep up! 

Talk soon!

Ladan