Pipeline Project Alternative Spring Break
"Education is an ornament in prosperity and a refuge in adversity."
Aristotle
With my fellow UW Pipeline Project volunteers (going clockwise, Brian, Zoe, Karla, Evan, and me) at Tonasket Elementary school
Overview:
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I was a participant in the 2019 UW Pipeline Project Literacy Arts alternative spring break (ASB) program. I traveled to Tonasket, WA, a rural town near the Canadian border with a population of just over 1,000, for a week to work with 4th graders. I worked with the 4th graders at Tonasket Elementary for a week to help them write stories about their “everyday heroes”. I worked with a set group of students for the entire week and helped them to brainstorm ideas for their stories, write and edit a draft, and publish a final book. At the end of the week, all of the students had their stories printed into a bound book.
Personal importance of task or work:
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I was interested in participating in the Pipeline Literacy Arts ASB program because one of my favorite hobbies is writing. I wanted to help the 4th grade students to recognize their potential as writers and to express their creativity. When I was in 4th and 5th grade, I wrote a comic book series called “Super Fat Cat” and I felt really empowered by writing those stories. I also wanted to participate in ASB because I knew that kids in rural communities such as Tonasket often do not get the same type of exposure to college education that kids in suburban and urban communities do. I wanted to encourage those students to think about pursuing higher education.
With one of my "Super Fat Cat" books in 5th grade.
Tasks Accomplished:
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Worked with four 4th grade classes at Tonasket Elementary to help them write and publish books about their “everyday heroes”.
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Provided individual feedback and help throughout the week to 18 of the students to aid them in writing their stories.
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Collaborated with fellow UW volunteers about implementation of the program at the school throughout the week.
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Prepared materials for the classes with fellow UW volunteers outside of school.
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Edited and proofread drafts of student books before allowing them to be printed.
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Gave talks to the classes about certain college experiences of mine, such as studying abroad
I gave a talk to one of the classes about my semester abroad in Denmark. I told the kids that studying abroad is one of the countless incredible opportunities they can have if they go to college. Here, I taught them how to say "Hi, my name is Bridget" in Danish!
Some of the stories my students wrote
Leadership Competencies:
Others’ Circumstances
The community of Tonasket was unlike any place I had ever visited. Truth be told, I don’t think I had ever been to a town as small and remote as Tonasket in my life. I quickly realized that the children in Tonasket lived much different lifestyles than the one I had when I was a kid. I grew up in Kirkland, which was a very suburban environment, but when I arrived in Tonasket, some of the kids I was working with started telling me about how they had to take care of all of their farm animals before and after school. One kid I was working with told me that he had 6 goats, 5 cows, and 11 cats! Some of the kids in Tonasket also worked at their family businesses. When my group went to the tiny restaurant at the city community center, there was a 5th grader working the cash register. It was clear to me that many of the kids in Tonasket have several more responsibilities that I had when I was growing up, and that made me think about how those responsibilities can affect their learning in the classroom.
Providing Feedback
I worked with a total of 18 students during my week in Tonasket. We would work with groups of 3-5 students from each of the four 4th grade classes at Tonasket Elementary, and we would work with each group for about an hour each day. That gave me plenty of time to work with each student individually to help them develop their stories. One problem that I faced with several of the students was that they would have writer’s block. Many of them would write 1-2 sentences and not know what to write after that. However, rather than writing their stories for them, I instead asked them questions that would help drive the prompt of their stories. For instance, when I was working with one student, he had written a sentence introducing his dad as his “everyday hero”. He didn’t know what to write next, so I asked him why he thought his dad was his hero. When the student thought about the answer to my question, he was able to come up with a few more sentences. Towards the end of the week, I also helped the students with grammar and sentence structure.
Self Understanding
Participating in ASB was a great learning experience for me because I discovered how much I like teaching and working with kids. I had previously been a swim instructor, and prior to that week I didn’t think that I would want to go into teaching because I had gotten a bit burned out with teaching swimming lessons. However, I realized that teaching is a bit of a different profession when you don’t have to worry about kids letting go of the wall of the pool in the deep end the second your back is turned and sinking to the bottom of the pool like a stone. In other words, participating in ASB allowed me to gain more experience in the field of teaching without having to worry about also simultaneously being a babysitter and a lifeguard. Because of my ASB experience, I have revisited the idea of pursuing a career relating to teaching because I felt a great sense of fulfillment by helping those students with their writing.
Group Development
I went to Tonasket with a group of 4 other UW students and together we worked to ensure that every student had an excellent book written by the end of the week. We met every day after working with the students to discuss the progress we were making with the students, as well as what we wanted to present to the students at the beginning of class on the next day of class. In addition, towards the end of the week we also worked together to manually create the bound books that the students would be writing their stories in. We definitely had some late night bonding moments when we were pasting together the books and making certificates for all of the students. In addition, my group also bonded through excursions that some of the teachers took us on after school, such as going for a drive through the surrounding wilderness to the Canadian border and riding on a pickup truck through a cow pasture. As a team, we helped all of the 4th graders succeed at writing their stories.
Service
It truly felt incredible to give back to the kids in Tonasket. In addition to helping the kids write stores, each of us also gave a 15 minute presentation on what our college experiences were like. It was very evident that the teachers and kids were very thankful that we were there because kids in communities like those rarely meet college students. It is less common for kids in communities like Tonasket to go to college, which is why it is so important for college students to visit those communities to plant the idea of going to college into the minds of those kids. I was truly incredibly grateful to have been able to give back to the kids in Tonasket in that way because I know all of them are capable of accomplishing great things in the future.
During my week in Tonasket, I discovered how much I liked teaching and working with students. I also loved having the opportunity to deliver talks to the different 4th grade classes about what it was like to be a college student. I greatly enjoyed the opportunity that I had to encourage those kids to go to college, as I am sure that they do not meet college students very often. Because of this trip, I am considering exploring the path of teaching or some other career that involves helping students to get to college.
Lessons Learned and Future Oriented Statement