Rory Plewman
July 3, 2014
Peninsula Bridge
Rolando Victoria
rolando.victoria@menloschool.org
1. The Peninsula Bridge organization attempts to "bridge" the economic divide between East Palo Alto and Menlo Park by providing much needed summer school opportunities. They believe firmly in the mantra, "education leads to eradication," in this case the eradication of poverty for future generations of students living in East Palo Alto. I was struck at how privaledged our community is and the bubble in which we live and was motivated to make a difference. Over the course of my 4 weeks at Bridge I alternated between being a Math and English TA. During these classes, especially in math where I spent most of my time, it was apparent that these kids never received a strong grounding in basic math concepts. For example, one particular girl, Asupa, believed that she was dumb and that she would never be able to make the leap from elementary school to middle school because she didn't understand math at all. I made it my mission to transform her origional 2 out of 5's on the weekly quizzes to 4 or 5 out of 5. She had very low self-confidence in regards to math, she was constantly telling me to help other people because I was wasting my time and that she was never going to get it. The root of all of her math anxt was multiplication tables. She had never properly memorized beyond 5 and decided to just fake her way through the next 2 years of math class. I helped her memorize these tables and the last quiz of the year she got a 4 out of 5. Asupa came up to me after and gave me hug and said, "Thanks Rory." That one moment, of knowing that I actually made a difference, was worth the 4 weeks I spent over the summer.
2. I perceived Peninsula Bridge as an organization which through money at EPA, like many other organizations do, instead of attacking the root of the problem. I was pleasantly surprised then, when I discovered that it was a summer school program and I would get to be teaching lessons! I discovered that I am a very patient person, sometimes, the kids didn't want to work, it was summer after all, and would directly disobey the teachers instructions. I would use a wheedling tone and if this was un-effective a harsh one to get them back on track, but I never lost my temper. I firmly believe that I have had an impact on these kids, I acted as a positive role model in their lives and helped them to grasp the true power of education.
Rory
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