O'Bryant

This past Tuesday was the last day at O’Bryant.

Overall, volunteering at O’Bryant was pretty nice. I don’t know if I learned a lot, especially in terms of my own writing. It was interesting to see the way different teachers lead their classes and the different ways students approach assignments. Except for two of the days, we were in the Writer’s Room and different classes came in with different assignments. I think we mainly worked with the same classes. We were able to see the same students and how the same papers progressed over time. I remember it was hard to work with the students in the beginning, especially since they preferred to brainstorm on their own. But it was definitely easier to work with more content on the page.

There were three teachers that I remember working with. One of the first teachers had a very clear structure and specific goals for the students. At first, I thought this was a suffocating way to learn the writing process but I found out that she’s very accommodating to certain students. Many of the students stuck with the structure but some students were very adamant about deviating and those papers were just graded a little differently. After seeing that, I was more reassured (?) knowing that the students weren’t forced to stick to one thing.

Seeing the students work reminded me a lot of my own high school English classes. One teacher in particular reminded me of my high school teacher. He would passive-aggressively ask you a question when he knew you weren’t paying attention and if you happened to get the answer right, he would somehow make it seem like you said a wrong answer. Anyways, it was funny to see that after high school.

I think having college or grad students come in and volunteer with the high school students is really helpful. A lot of the students talked to me about random college things that pertained to me as a freshman. They were usually like 9th or 10th graders so they just asked like “how’s college” type of questions. I think this served as a conversation starter, especially since they were resistant to us only helping them. A lot of the students seemed genuinely eager to learn but others didn’t even care about the class and did the bare minimum to get a decent grade. That reminded me a lot about high school. There are always going to be students who don’t care and I don’t think it’s possible to force someone to care. I think the students also found it easier to relate to someone closer to their age.

Leaving O’Bryant was kind of bittersweet because the teachers and staff were really welcoming and accommodating. I’m glad I don’t have to wake up early on Tuesdays anymore but O’Bryant was definitely educational and enjoyable.