Still Learning

                  Disappointment would always linger after session because my kids never paid attention to the book I was reading or answer any of the questions I had prepared and could not recognize what I was doing wrong. Every time that I pulled out my book they would automatically yell, “No reading! Goodbye JumpStart!” and I would act excited to read and exclaim that this was my favorite book but that did not keep them engaged. It became traumatic and nerve-wrecking during reading time because they would purposely fall out of their chairs and hit their heads against the wall and they did this frequently that I did not know if I should have been concerned or ignored them and keep reading. When I would tell my kids bottoms on chairs please the classroom teachers would yell, “No thank you Sam!” and they would automatically sit on the chairs. It was like magic. I realized that when the other Corps members walked into the room, their children would be super excited and run to them; however, my kids where never excited to see me and then I felt awful because I didn’t want my kids to think of JumpStart as a drag. I thought I was doing everything that I was taught to do, I was always excited to read and I had my book prepared with questions and vocabulary words; I was ready. Then I attended a training session for the coming semester and I realized something depressing, I was boring to those kids! That is why they never wanted to come with me and read, I thought I was being fun and silly but the reality was, I wasn’t pushing my limits and I was not making it enjoyable to my kids.

                  Although I am an introvert I always tried to be active and enthusiastic when it was time for reading but it probably was not enough for my kids because they were never engaged. I never pushed my limits or go as far out of my comfort zone as possible because I did not believe it was necessary but I learned that it would make all the difference. I have to bring my “A” game and go all out when I am reading with my kids and if they get distracted I will give them their name tags or the binder rings so that they have something to play with and pay attention. My grand mistake was believing that I was done with learning in JumpStart but after training I discovered that I was wrong (like always) because you are always learning especially when it comes to children. I want my children to be excited when they see JumpStart and not dread reading because I do not want them to have a negative connotation when they think of reading. In my opinion, reading is extremely important and essential for life and if you had a pleasurable experience as a child then you will always carry that throughout life. I am determined and eager to go back into the classroom and be more excited, be sillier with my kids, and be imaginative when asking questions. Some sessions will most likely be better than others but as long as I incorporate the new strategies that I learned from training I will hopefully be able to make JumpStart more entertaining for my kids.  

~Natalie Giron

Corps member

Team Kindness