Mary on the nursing home visit and art

Here's another view of the visit to the nursing home, this time from Mary:

As we near the end of the school year, Project Bridging Cultures continues to stay busy with senior projects, after school clubs, tutoring, and group trips. On Friday, May 16^th, Jennifer, Peter, and I accompanied twelve students on a visit to the nursing home. The staff had prepared several activities for the students to participate in with the residents. Students had the opportunity to help find clothes for the upcoming nursing home prom, give manicures, called out bingo numbers, made bouquets of flowers, and walked around visiting various residents. This trip would be the first time that many of these students had ever visited a nursing home, especially because these facilities are more commonly utilized in America. A few students were emotionally moved by the conversations they had. This later provoked the discussion of why senior citizens were moved into such facilities, away from their families. I was extremely proud of the behavior of our students. They were all extremely attentive and compassionate towards the seniors they met.

Mary also has an update about Art Club and other related projects:

On another note, we are nearing the end of our after school clubs. This includes the Thursday art club. The last meeting was held May 22^nd, and this week I will display student work all over our room. We plan to have a reception for the artists that Thursday after school. Many students have been working on their own comics. I am hoping to compile their stories into a small book that can be handed out at the art show. I feel that it is important for students to see their work on display and receive the recognition they deserve. This school has some extremely talented artists.

We have also been incorporating art in some of our classroom interactions. Illustrations are being used as a tool to promote conversations between students and building vocabulary. Students are encouraged to draw pictures that depict various aspects of their lives, such as previous homes, old schools, family members, and places where they once worked. After they complete these drawings, they discuss them with one another. Through these shared stories, students are also able to see the similarities and differences between their cultures.

A day at the nursing home

On a drizzly gray afternoon last Friday, we made a journey to a nursing home to do some community service.

It was a project that was many months in the making. In our fall focus group, a student had suggested taking trips to places like hospitals to help out. Later, when I asked students where they might like to go, they suggested a nursing home. This made sense, as many of them were interested in pursuing careers as nurses and doctors.

I got in touch with Greater Philadelphia Cares, which matches volunteers to service sites throughout the region. After talking with many students last week, Pete and I brought a dedicated group of eleven students to Mount Airy for our project.

It was a long trip. First, we took the Broad Street Line up to Olney. The students--half of them clad in orange All-City badminton shirts--dozed on the way. Opposite the bus terminal, we saw an opossum sitting on a high ledge as we waited for the bus.

We got on the bus and rode through several low-rise mixed-use neighborhoods until we reached our destination. As we walked to the nursing home, a student remarked on the leafy green beauty of the area.

Mary was already there as we entered and were greeted by a staff member named Ahmadullah. He took us on a tour and described the activities the students would be doing. There was a prom coming up in June, he explained, and that was something many residents were looking forward to. There were also games to play and people to meet.

We split into several groups. In the rec room, two students called bingo as a couple of stations were set up for residents to receive manicures from several other students (several of whom happen to have experience working in nail salons). A checkers game was set up.

Ahmadullah and three girls picked gowns from the racks. They then dropped by different rooms so residents could choose dresses for the prom. Afterwards, they visited another lounge and played balloon volleyball with the people there. We were also invited to visit different rooms, and the students fanned out and had conversations with residents with ages ranging from 60 to 103.

It was an emotional afternoon, full of smiles and tears. The students treated the residents with great respect, listening attentively and helping with daily tasks. Afterwards, they were thoughtful about their experience that afternoon. They talked about what they would do when their parents get older, or even how they themselves might experience in the later years of their lives. They wondered if the residents at the nursing home were lonely. Some of them said they would like to visit again.

This was the first time we had done a project like this during the current school year. I was glad that the students found the experience rewarding. What's next? We will see what the students have to say about that.

Senior successes

It's senior project presentation week here at the high school, as students take all the hard work they've put into their topics these past several months and speak about it in front of a panel of judges.

Because of the projects, seniors have been rushing in and out of our room perfecting their PowerPoint slides, printing their mission statements and letters to the judges, and polishing their words for their moment in the spotlight. They are nervous and excited.

In the Bridging Cultures classroom, we've been seeing these students come in and lending them index cards and advice. And every day, a few of them return with a smile of relief and a button declaring "I Survived Senior Projects."

It's an exciting time for seniors, as they are almost done with classes and many of them have plans set for the fall and beyond. We help them with their housing deposits and Stafford loan promissory notes and even questions about their classes, as Amy did with her workshop on college academics yesterday afternoon. After this, there will be a number of senior events coming up, including graduation on June 16. We will be there.

Teacher collaborations

Here are some ways in which we've been working with teachers in the past month:

Teacher 1: Graffiti Artist on Trial! Mary and this teacher collaborated to design a mock trial for her class. Students played the roles of defendant, prosecutor, judge, and many others.

Teacher 2: Cinco de Mayo Pete worked together with students from Mexico to design a holiday workshop in this teacher's class. The students shared their history, culture, and photographs from their native country.

Teacher 3: Alibi Amy was invited by the teacher of this class to play a mystery game with the students. Steve then suggested a game that he used with his students from Austria. Students enjoyed using their English skills in this real-time whodunit adventure.

Teacher 4: Practice Makes Perfect While visiting this teacher's math class, Oumar noticed that students needed additional practice in certain skills. By integrating these skills into the weekly math club exercises, he observed that participants in the club understood much more on their tests.

Teacher 5: Aesop's Fables Pete noticed that some students he worked with had trouble writing about what they read in their own words. In this teacher's class, he used classic stories to show students how to paraphrase and summarize.

Teacher 6: Reading Together This teacher wanted the students in her first-period class to practice reading aloud. We arranged for them to visit our room to read once a week during their lunch periods or after school. Working individually with a mentor, each student had the opportunity to ask questions and practice pronouncing new words.

The relationships we have built with these teachers and others have allowed us to work with students in more ways while ensuring that our efforts are aligned with the school's curriculum and standards. We deeply appreciate their support in welcoming us into their classrooms and sharing their thoughts and suggestions with us.