Day 3

Thank you so much for your prayers. Today went SOOOOO much better (minus the fight at the end of the night (where a staff member had to tackle a kid) that led us to keep a bunch of kids late afterwards, suspend some kids from the program, etc.) So, not counting the end of the night, things went pretty well. The homework time in my class went so much better. I was more prepared for those kids who finished homework early. I was able to keep kids seated better. I had a great volunteer who was able to take a kid out in the hall and work with him for a while. He had been having trouble focusing on homework, but worked really well when he was away from the rest of the class. I talked to that same kid after he went into the hall and was able to encourage him a bit. I told him that he did a great job, but sometimes he just gets a little overexcited and has trouble focusing on work. He loves to be involved in the activities of the program, but has trouble doing things like raising his hand—he just gets too excited. Anyway, I told him he did a great job today but needed to work on staying focused and raising his hand. And he said, "Yeah, I know. Ms. Jen (his team leader last year) said that same thing." He had a great attitude about it and I'm really excited to working with him a bit more.

I had two girls who got in a little fight and are now suspended for the next day of kids club, but it was not a huge fight. Please just pray for them, especially S., who has a major attitude problem.

My elective class that I'm teaching, which is on world cultures, went okay. It was the first day, so I wasn't sure who was going to be in my group (kids pick which elective they want to go to, and then attend that elective for 6 weeks). Some of the kids had trouble listening today, but hopefully when I am able to make the class more interactive, they'll enjoy it much more.

Thanks again for your prayers. Please keep praying…especially for those kids who were in the fight today, as well as for my boss who had to deal with the kids in the fight.