Service Learning

Service learning. Some people love it, some people hate it. Some people feel that they’re naturally good at it, some people feel that they’re naturally bad at it. To me, it’s not as simple as that -- service learning is an extremely broad term and is a multi-faceted part of every good education. I think it’s really important to contribute in a positive way to a community while growing up, so when I heard that this was a service learning course, I was actually kind of excited.

If I am being completely honest, when I heard that it was a tutoring-centric type of service learning, I became a little less excited. So far, I’ve gone to tutor the students at 826 Boston twice. Both times, the actual 826 building has been closed for maintenance; so I’ve actually never been to the building that all the students are so familiar with. The first time I tutored at the YMCA (their temporary location), I left and honestly wasn’t super excited to come back. It’s a kind of work that I’ve not done before and it requires a certain kind of skill set. However, this past week, I had a pretty interesting experience with the students I tutored.

Because I work a 3-hour session every week, I work with two different sets of students -- the ones that come at 3:30pm and the ones that come at 5pm. I had a pretty normal tutoring session with the student I worked with who came in at 3:30. He didn’t have any homework, but he had one of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books to read during the open work time. For the 5pm session, I was assigned two girls. I don’t actually remember their names, but I will not soon forget the conversation I had with one of them.

One of the girls brought in some homework, and it actually brought about some serious flashbacks for me. It was Wordly Wise, which is a workbook I had to do when I was about her age too. In each of the 20 lessons in the book, you are provided 15 vocabulary words, and 5 sections with increasing complexity, from straight vocabulary definitions to applying the new words in answering questions about a reading. The reading passage section in each lesson was always my least favorite section growing up, and that was the part that she needed help with. I think I helped her significantly (even though I hoped to never open a Wordly Wise book again), and I also helped her with some math homework about fractions. The other girl to whom I was assigned did not have any homework. She was playing some educational games on a Chromebook, and then put it away and struck up a conversation with me. She began the conversation by touching on a topic that most people (even those who are much older than her) stray away from. She mentioned that she noticed that there is not much representation of gay and lesbian people in TV shows and movies. I was truly blown away by her insight not only because I agree, but many young people just take Hollywood as it is and don’t have a problem with it. We then discussed the lack of representation in terms of race in Hollywood, and again, she had a lot to say about it. We had a truly remarkable conversation, and I really hope that I’ll be able to have similar conversations with other students I tutor in the future, because as soon as you plant the seed in his/her head that minorities should be represented more, they notice and recognize it, and sometimes are instrumental in the necessary change.