This is Only The Beginning

As Jumpstart comes to an end I have the opportunity to reflect on everything that I have learned while being a part of this program. The first thing that I learned very early on while doing Jumpstart is not to judge or predetermine what or who people are without knowing them. When I heard that I would be working in Anacostia my initial reaction was intrigue and a little fear. I had never visited Anacostia, I never even heard of it before I came to DC, where to many living in  Northwest  DC, it is a very “dangerous” place. When hearing these remarks I initially registered them as true, thinking “these people must know better than I do what goes on in Anacostia.” The reality is that yes, Anacostia is a very poor, very violent area, but that does not mean that all of its inhabitants are violent, bad, neglectful people. While working in Anacostia I have come across many helpful, kind, happy people that are dedicating themselves to making where they live a better place. I find these people to be inspiring, because this is a lesson that everyone could learn from. No place is perfect and everyone can do more to make their community a safer, happier, better-educated community.

            Another thing that I have learned while working with Jumpstart is that just because these children come from low-income areas, and are at a disadvantage to children their age whose parents have money, this doesn’t mean that they are stupid, or that they can’t think for themselves. These are people, they can have conversations with you, and they will call you out if you say something that contradicts yourself. Most importantly it is astonishing to see them grow just over the course of a year. Each and every one of the kids in my Jumpstart classroom have grown and changed so much and I cant wait to see what they accomplish in the future. It is endearing to know that they all have so many possibilities in front of them, and they can do anything with their lives. I can only hope that everything that we have done for them through Jumpstart can give them the extra push they need to succeed in life, but only time can tell. I am so thankful that I was given the opportunity to work with a program that offers young children the opportunity to succeed and have a bright and full future.

~Loren Grier
Team Leader
Team Inspiration

On Imagination

The imagination of a child is a beautiful thing. So often, as we grow up, we forget the countless hours spent with dolls, trains, and building sets, and narrow our focus on to what is real and tangible. We forget the endless possibilities a cup, paper towel roll, or sheet can provide, and we instead only see things as tools to be used in set ways. We lose our sense of wonder, we stop asking “Why? But, Why? But, Why?!”, and we instead take things at face value, not bothering to verify what we are being told. Once, when I was eight, I turned a brown paper bag into a play home using bamboo skewers to hold the bag’s shape, and the fallen seeds of a Sweetgum tree as lights. Today, if you gave me the same materials, I would laugh, and tell you I’m too busy to be Last week during session, I was in charge of dramatic play, and decided to bring down magnifying glasses for the students to use. As students rushed from circle time to centers, I asked who wanted to play detective. “I do, I do!” Shouted their little voices, as I handed them each a magnifying glass and small handheld mirror to be used as their detective supplies.

“Ok,” I said, “We’re detectives. Detectives solve mysteries. What are we going to solve?”

“We’re going to find the treasure with the map!”, Abby* decided.

“Great!” I said, as I began to scan the area for something we could use as a map. But before I could find a piece of paper that could work as a map, Abby held her hands up in front of my face.

“Here’s the map! We have to go all the way around the big pond and then to the monster’s cave. Then the beach and we’ll find the treasure.”

“Ok,” I replied, “You lead the way!”

            We walked around the pond (the table), to the monster’s cave (a large cardboard box filled with Styrofoam bowls), and to the beach (the carpet at the front of the classroom), where we began digging for the treasure. Again, I began looking around for something to be our buried treasure. Markers wouldn’t work, and neither would a book, and I couldn’t give her my bracelets, for fear of them getting lost. And again, Abby stuck her hand, this time clenched tightly into a fist, in front of me to show me the “buried treasure princess necklace” she had just found.

            It’s in moments like these that I learn the most from my students, as they remind of the power and joy of imagination. Just because we have ‘grown up’ in no way means we aren’t allowed to step out of our black and white lives, and into the colorful imaginations of our students, who show us the colorful world inside of ourselves.

~Becca Goldstein

Corps member

Team Joy

Sight Word

In Jumpstart last week, we were on the second implementation of “Dog’s Colorful Day.” While reading and asking questions, the girls in my reading group kept pointing out words they called “sight words.” They counted how many times they could find the word “the” or “to” on a page. Now, I was very proud of the questions I had decided to ask that day. “Dog’s Colorful Day” was very conducive to the types of questions and conversations I like to have with my scholars around the core storybooks. I had questions like, “I see that Dog got a red spot from jam, what other foods can you think of that are red?” and “If you had blue paint, what would you paint?” I wanted to make sure I could include as much discussion around MY questions as we could possibly fit in, because usually my reading group loves talking about stuff like that. But on this day, they were all about sight words. So that’s what we talked about, in addition to as many of my color questions as I could fit in with the time allowed. We counted how many sight words were on each page, and how they were used in the sentence. I was very excited about their ability to read! They were basically reading! I knew the girls in my classroom were very smart, they know all of their letter sounds and can spell many words so long as someone helps them sound it out. But having them point to a word in a book and be able to identify it was a very cool moment for me. I remember learning certain words and letter patterns to look for when I first learned to read (with a Dr. Seuss-type workbook involving all sorts of rhyming words). I just loved seeing that moment of them being so proud to share their new ability and knowledge with me. I have a cousin who is 2 years younger than me, who I taught how to ride a bike and whistle and blow bubbles with bubble gum, and the excitement of a new bit of knowledge is contagious. I couldn’t help smiling as the girls spelled “the,” “to,” “at,” “look,” and other words to me, because I could tell how excited they were by their new knowledge. I know that “sight words” aren’t part of the Jumpstart curriculum, and I am sure they learned them in their regular class time, but they were happy that I found a way to incorporate their new knowledge in with the book we had already read. Besides, we still had time to talk about ketchup and spaghetti, and painting the sky and oceans.

~Caitlin Simpson

Corps member

Team Compassion

All 15

I thought that I was making a smart move by planning two blog posts at the beginning and end of my time with Jumpstart. But more and more I have realized that committing this last post to paper has been more difficult than I had originally imagined. I wish I could give deep insights into my last months in Jumpstart, but all I can think of how much I am going to miss it. I am going to miss the knee hugs that our kids give to us. I am going to miss their mis-timed clapping of ‘Bingo’. I am also going to miss the team of girls who have made this experience even more enjoyable. Without them, our time would not have been nearly as enjoyable. As we prepare to begin our last session, I am faced with some very real realities about the boys and girls we have spent the year with. DC graduation rates are one of the lowest in the country, coming in at about 60%. That means statistically, of our classroom of 15, only 9 will graduate from high school. I look at the bright faces our 3 year olds and wonder what will happen to them. For now, I can quell my anxieties by remembering to see the successes that they are achieving now: correctly identifying letters, reading words, rhyming words, and having intelligent questions about the activities we do. But that feeling can only last for the 2 hours that we run session. Then, we leave their fate up to the other adults in their lives. But the silver lining is that by intervening in their lives now, introducing tactics that will put them on the right track, maybe 10 out of 15 of our kids will graduate. Maybe even all 15. That is the beauty of intervening now: maybe we set one extra child up with the tools to succeed. Allow one more to enter school prepared to engage their learning environment. That is the reality that I have chosen to put my faith in. That is the reality that Jumpstart has helped create, and one I am proud to have been a part of for the last 7 months.

-Hannah Holley

Team Leader

Team Opportunity

Proud to be Jumpstart

It is funny how you don’t really realize how much of an effect Jumpstart and your kids have on you until you go away for a week.  For me, spring break couldn’t have come any sooner. It saved me at the exact moment that I felt like I was going to lose it from the stress of midterms and those last minute assignments that the professor wanted to get done in between the snow. Going home was literally the only thing I could think about, that is until Tuesday morning during spring break came around and I literally felt a little stabbing in my heart. Jumpstart for more than half a year was my therapy, and at some point around there, it stopped feeling like work and started being fun. And even though I was on vacation I felt like I needed to see our students. And I realized how much of an effect Jumpstart had on me. Its funny how I have come to feel more accomplished upon the completion of a cardboard mailbox that I just spent six hours making than on an A on an exam, even with the knowledge that in a few hours it will have been crushed by the weight of preschoolers who have decided to crawl inside it.

But this past spring break I realized how much I missed being in the classroom. With all the snow days and missed sessions leading up to spring break, I really hadn’t been in the classroom for two and a half weeks. I realized how much service meant to me and how much more accomplished I felt doing it. The feeling of achievement after a child recites back to you the story you had just read to them the session before, means more to me than a crumpled mailbox on the floor. Jumpstart has grown to be more to me than just a paycheck at the end of two weeks; it really has become my source of pride. I am proud of our children, I am proud of their success and growth, and I am proud of my own growth and success through this program. I feel as though Jumpstart is helping the children just as much as it is helping its own members. It instills in its members a sense of purpose and responsibility that I was lacking. And because of that I am proud to be a Jumpstart member.

~Sinead Brennan

Corps member

Team Inspiration