At the beginning of the semester, I decided I was going to actually get on top of things and find an organisation that I could volunteer as a tutor through. I’ve been meaning to do this for a while, and figured now would be as good a time as any. After searching through Chirps (the Pomona message board that gets emailed to us every morning), I couldn’t find an organisation that worked with my schedule and was a good fit for me.
I didn’t give up on my search, but I stopped actively looking. And of course, this is when I saw a poster for Learning in Collaboration that had been hanging in the adjacent hall for weeks. I was a bit late to the party, but they were very helpful in getting me set up as soon as possible.
I got placed in a kindergarten class earlier this week, and today was my first session. I didn’t realise how close the elementary school was to our campus; it literally took me a minute to get there on my bike. (In fact, I accidentally passed it at first and had to double back.) I am helping the class each Friday afternoon, during which we will be going to music and art class. So pretty much, I get to go and have fun with the kids. However, I didn’t quite realise how difficult it is to hold the attention of 5-year-olds, particularly when it’s the end of the school day at the end of the week. I think I have a bit to learn in terms of balancing being a friend and being an authoritative figure. (It’s absolutely adorable and kind of weird to be addressed as “Miss Sarah.”) But hopefully I’ll get there in time. It was a really rewarding and fun way to spend my Friday afternoon. And I absolutely melted when I was leaving and heard, “Can I have a hug?” and then proceeded to get hugs from about a dozen adorable kids. I’m really looking forward to going back next week!