I worked for the Salvation Army Aug 2015- Aug 2017. My title was the Youth Center Director. At this program, at risk students from around the area joined the free after school program for a safe place to have fun. The youth program was open three days a week and we offered thirty minutes of tutoring at the end of each day. In the program, students were provided an after school snack, dinner, and dessert. The Major and I organized field trips, fun crafts, and many educational activities that the students enjoy. This job provided me ample opportunities to practice the skills necessary to manage my future classroom.
The Salvation Army has given me such a great opportunity. Of the many many things I have learned working there, one thing that stood out the most to me is that each student who joined our program came with different needs in their life. For example, a student who comes from a large family might just want a one on one conversation and someone to care about what they say. Another example could be a student coming from a home where parents aren't involved and he/she only needs an adult to believe in them. At the Salvation Army, I was able to figure those needs out and work to give them what they needed. I became very close with the students who attended and was someone they could trust.
This was my first attempt at having a pajama day... everyone, except me, forgot. This was taken closer to when I started working at the Salvation Army and these students are the reason I still work there today. They are all so special because they have taught me more than I have taught them. They taught me how to handle conflicts, to relate to them in a way that they are able to trust me, and how to let them experiment if it means learning.
This was the first field trip I organized. At this time, we only had 6 students on average attending and this made a great opportunity for me to experiment with a field trip. We went to space aliens for lunch and then spent an hour in the arcade winning prizes. This field trip was definitely a success.
Our second field trip we had 16 students and went to the pumpkin patch. It was difficult to plan this trip, however with three other adults helping it made things easier. I arranged groups for the students (based on who got along and enjoyed the same things) and each adult had four students. This second field trip gave me a better idea of how field trips will be planned in the classroom.