Final Blog

What themes did you notice across you experiences?

            During this experience there were a few themes that I noticed. The biggest one was that not all children are the same when it comes to learning, communicating, listening, and understanding. All these things are major roles in the communication process and it’s all taught at different times when these tools are most important in that child’s life. When it comes to learning, children all learn in different ways. Some children on kinesthetic learners, some are visual learners, and some are auditory learners. With there being so many different types of ways to learn, we as volunteers have to adjust our perspective on how to teach different types of learners. This leads me into the second theme that I noticed during this journey, perspective.

 

            Since we all come from different backgrounds and different sides of town doesn’t mean we are different form one another. These children have a different perspective on life then what I had. I have a stay at home mom that runs a daycare facility in our home. My mom was my babysitter, my family always got to go on trips, I had a traditional family, and I was never alone. These kids don’t have everything that I had when I was their age. Some of them don’t have full families, some have never traveled, and some live with other relatives and have blended families, some feel alone. This experience has changed my life by seeing how happy these kids are when they have nothing compared to what I had growing up. I have opened my eyes and seen a different perspective of life that I could have never imagined if it wasn’t for these awesome kids.

 

How will this experience shape your future interpersonal interaction?

 

            This experience has changed me dramatically. I loved going to see those kids and seeing their faces as I walk in the door. I plan to continue to visit them when I can because the satisfaction that I get when seeing those kids and helping them achieve something inspires me to help other in any way I can. With all the relief work still being done for the people of Haiti I plan on visiting there with a family friend to help the children realize that there are people in the world who care about them. When this occurs I know I will use many of the same communication concepts that I used at the Lydia Home and I am sure many more since there will be a accent or language barrier.  I am so blessed to have met these children and to have made at least one child smile each day!

Blog #4

            While visiting the Lydia Home today something about the children’s language struck me and I haven’t noticed this as much in my prior visits. I noticed that many of these children were speaking in slang vocabulary and some of what they were saying I didn’t understand. I know that there is a common semantic society language for multiple meanings but it seemed as if they had their own language and accent. Many of the words that society has come to a consensus on is a connotative definition. Many of these different forms of vocabulary are forms of influences of perception.

           

            These influences can be mood, social, and self concept. Mood can change your outlook on something altering how you speak and the words you may use. Self concept can impact how you view yourself then that would also reflect your mood. Lastly social influences can change how you act by who you are around. I feel that these children may use this new language or vocabulary with their friends and maybe family member but I don’t believe they would use this slang with their doctors or teachers.

 

            Language is a strange thing and it is always changing. There are so many different words that have multiple meanings and now we are getting new words with new meanings. With the different types of communication we have I have asked they children to explain what they mean in a different way so I can understand just like I explain things in a different way when helping them with their homework. This will help them in future interactions to make sure what they are saying is clear between the sender and the receiver.

Blog #3

Today I had a great time at the Lydia Home. I got to help serve the kids snack, help with them with their homework, and then we had free playtime outside. As I looked around and observed the children as we were playing outside I noticed that the kid’s age range was from approximately three to eight years old. There was one kid that was an exception to this age range, his name was Javon. He was a twelve year old boy who didn’t necessarily fit in with all the other children based on his age. I went over and started talking to him once I noticed he was sitting by himself. Without even saying a word I could tell he wasn’t a very outgoing person just by his non verbal communication actions. When talking with me he held his head down, fidgeted with his fingers, and spoke in a soft tone, he was shy. Once we got to know one another a bit more I started kicking a ball back and forth with him as we continue to talk. As this went on Javon started opening up more to me with his non verbal communication actions. His head finally rose up and I started to see a smile as we talked.

 

            From today’s experience I am happy that I could make a kid who wasn’t very happy or comfortable in his environment open up to me and smile. Just by analyzing his nonverbal cues and his characteristics before approaching him I knew I needed to be the main contributor in this communication exchange. While speaking with Javon I made sure to use the four stages of listening to make sure I was showing interest, understanding, evaluating, and retaining all the information he was giving to show that I cared and I was there to be his friend if he needed any advice.

            By this experience I plan on letting children open up to me and making sure that they have someone in their life that they can turn to when they are in a tough spot or they just need a friend. I also realized how important those four stages are when talking to someone who wants someone to listen and they don’t always say what they are saying with their words but also with their non verbal cues.

Blog #2

Today was the first day to a long journey at the Lydia Home. As I walked into the Lydia Home I noticed immediately that all of the children were from an African American decent. I assumed that this would be the majority but what I did not expect there to be only one race. After meeting a few of the children it was time to do homework. Since these children were surrounded by their friends many of them didn’t get much or anything accomplished. When trying to help them they didn’t understand of at times it seemed they had more struggles paying attention or understanding they way I was explaining the problem to them. I understood that they had been at school all day and some other didn’t have homework so they could talk, so the ones who had work to do were distracted. Another assumption have manages to see is that without this program I don’t believe these children would get they homework they needed done because I don’t believe they have the proper guidance or teacher at home to help them.

 

When relating these actions to communication I feel like the external noise is a large issue. Another issue is that some of these children may have neurobehavioral challenges that interrupt their communication and focusing skills; these challenges could be for example ADHD. Also these children may be going through a linguistic thought process that influences how they see something and the behavioral response due to their surroundings.

 

For my future visits I plan on pulling one child aside each visit and working on a one on one basis with them to fulfill their needs and limit their distractions, whether those distractions are other or even themselves. With this type of process I feel the child will get more out or this homework time and in return be more successful. However, this will only work if the child I am working with is willing to be a comprehensive learner and willing to focus on the task at hand.

Blog #1

What are your hopes for the service learning project?

            My hopes for my service learning project is to try and get a new perspective on someone else’s life and try to improve others while improving myself. I would also like to see what I take for granted and the different things I had at the age of these children that they don’t have. In general I hope to not take what I have for granted as much as I do and hopefully this well be an eye opening experience for me.

 

What are your assumptions about your service learning site?

            When it comes to my assumption of the Lydia Home where I will be serving, my assumptions are not very positive. I assume that these children come from lower income families. I also assume that these children have not had the opportunities that I have had at their age. At the age of 6 I had been out of the state of Iowa plenty of times. I had also been to Disneyworld the place where all children can only dream of going and I’m going to assume none of them have every even been close to having these opportunities.

 

What do you already know/or assume about the work they do?

            They work that these people put towards all of these children is a gift that not all humans can say they have. They are the ones with the warm hearts who open up their lives to helping these children and are there as a support system when the children need some guidance. As for the children I assume they will be working on homework and learning team building skills since they are in an environment that is filled with kids they all have to work together and share.

 

What do you know/ or assume about the population that they serve?

            I feel like they population that the Lydia Home serves is lower income families. I assume many of them live in the ghettos of Davenport and attend public schools. I also feel the population will be younger children since old children are involved with activities at school or they are of age to stay home alone until their guardian gets home. Another thing I assume about this population is that these children are not only bring raised by their mother and/or father but also by grandparents or other family members.

 

What connections/ interests/ passions do you have for this site or the population it serves?

            My parents are fosters parent and we have had under privileged children living in our home for the last six years. Many times I try to make them feel comfortable and loved since that’s what most of these children aren’t getting enough of. Since I have experience with children this is why I have chosen to do my service at the Lydia Home since it’s a comfort to me to help children as much as I can just like my parents.