Narrowed Down

I think I've pretty much narrowed down my project. It wasn't easy but with the help of some people I did it. I want to create a Chinquapin summer program where students will volunteer to tutor and counsel other kids throughout the U.S. It will be like a Big Brother, Big Sister program for where the Chinquapin students will be the "Big Brothers/Sisters. After talking to Lorena about my project, she informed me that Kathy Heinzerling was one of the main people who coordinated Breakthough and that I should talk to her about giving me advice on where to start on this project.

Status of Research

Well so far things are going pretty good. I've conducted research on several programs that I will try to come into contact with. I will ask for advise on our to conduct and control my project. What I have in mind so far is that I want to incorporate this project with our school. I realize that we already have some kind of tutoring program during the school year but I was thinking about having a summer program where our fellow Chinquapinians would volunteer to tutor and counsel other students. I want it to be a kind of Big Brother, Big Sister program. I've looked into their website http://www.bbbsfl.org/ and found out that their volunteers "must live or work in Hillsborough, Polk, or Pasco County." I know that there are many people who are willing to volunteer for this program but are unable to due to the fact that they are not members of Hillsborough, Polk or Pasco County. I don't like that there are restrictions on volunteering for this program so I would like to expand my summer program for anyone who would like to help once it's functioning properly. http://www.childrensboard.org/ and http://www.americaspromise.org/ are other websites that help me in this developing program. They act as a sort of boundary for what my program should include and what it shouldn't have. They are other organizations that I hope to come into contact with. Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson is a book that was requested to me that I plan to read. I already found a website that gives me 299 of the 332 pages so I am extremely thankful that I found this site. http://books.google.com/books?id=HbezCyqr3q0C&printsec=frontcover&dq=three+cups+of+tea&source=bl&ots=mW3GMf1vfU&sig=boh_bkMuDu89f4WgOGMwZ6dMt3w&hl=en&ei=WxO8TKL5LsGclgfBo_WZDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CFUQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q&f=false this is the site if anyone would like to read it. It is about Greg Mortenson's journey to build schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan where they are failing many students to recruit them into madrassas. It describes his difficulties and struggles in these dangerous parts of these countries. After I read this book I hope to have a better understanding of what it is like to create this program. I also hope to become even more inspired for creating this program.

One Word: Inspirational

Well as you can tell from the title, this TED talk by Dave Eggers is very inspiring to me. This video to me was the ideal inspiration I needed to conduct my project. I like this idea of "one-on-one attention." I have realized that there are a lot of people who need tutoring and this "one-on-one attention" may be a problem. If I can create this community service project that Susan has brought to my attention, then the "one-on-one attention" will probable be successful. Well going back to the TED talk, it talks about how Dave Eggers and his companions had trouble bringing in the kids to tutor because of "trust issues." I didn't take into account about "trust issues" prior to watching this video but now it has made me think of ways to create a child-friendly area. Does anyone have any thoughts of how to do this?
Another reason why this TED talk is inspirational is because if the factual truth it has in it. Dave Eggers has the right thinking and is trying to spread his thinking to anyone who is willing to absorb the truth. He says that the children do not realize how good they are and how smart they are. They need people to tell them how and show them how things are done, listen to them and guide them to a better education. He says that we "can shine that light on them one human interaction at a time"

Dave Eggers' wish: Once Upon a School

Embed Video in Blogger

View more presentations from Lisa Huff.