Wrap Up

This looks like it’s going to be my final blog. I feel like Service Learning is a rare opportunity and I’m glad I took this class. From my experiences at O’Bryant, I’ve learned a lot of skills that I’ll take forever. I’ve developed my communication skills that are definitely very valuable in the future. Everyone should have communication skills in the future. It’s very important for networking. Through teaching the kids, I’ve learned how to talk to them and get what I have to say to them and get them to say what they want to say to me. At first I found it really hard to talk to the kids and get them to talk to me, but as the weeks have passed, it has become easier and they were definitely more willing to open up as well. At first, even if you spoon fed them the answer, they just wouldn’t talk to you. But last week, they came to us and asked for help; it’s honestly a good progression to see. Tutoring these kids taught me how to get what I wanted to say out. There are a lot of thoughts in my head, but it’s actually hard to get them out and on paper.  After this process, I feel like I’m better at doing that. In addition, I feel like I have more patience now. SInce the kids weren’t opening up and not answering the questions I was asking, I couldn’t help them, which they clearly needed. It required a lot of patience to withstand them, but I built it up. It’s pretty frustrating to do so. When you try and help them and their not meeting you halfway, it can get very frustrating. But I had to help them, so I became more patient. I helped them no matter if they didn’t answer, or didn’t do the assignment. This experience ties in with the class because it teaches the fundamentals of writing. Through teaching, it feels as if I have restored some of the basic writing skills myself.