TBGC Session 3/ABGC Session 6

The program in Troy continues to progress well. There was not much math instruction today, and much more helping the kids weave their baskets. All but one of the students completed their design on the computer and started their baskets. Three students were able to finish their baskets today.

Surprisingly, the students in the eight- and nine-year-olds are progressing more quickly than the ten- to twelve-year-olds. It seems that the younger kids are able to focus on a single task for longer, but get bored easier. The older kids are more interested in doing things other than learning about math.

Another student told me today that they never expected math to be so fun. They had expected the program to be boring when they signed up, but now they were enjoying it. It was nice to hear this from the kids. The ones who finished their baskets today seemed very proud of their work, and they were excited to take them home and show their parents.

Next week I think we will start using the graffiti grapher to design shirts for the kids and let them finish their baskets on their own time. Since some of the kids are done, there is not a lot they can do while they wait, and the kids who are lagging behind will have something to do when they have free time.

Albany is a different story. When we arrived today, we started preparing our makeshift beadlooms so the kids could make some beadwork. At 1:15 there were still no kids present, when they usually arrive at 1:00. We saw some of our group across the street from the BGC, so we went and talked to the counselor in charge and told them they were supposed to be at our program. The counselor brought the kids back, but by that time it was almost 1:30 and the kids were very unhappy that they had to learn math rather than swim.

We decided we wouldn't have enough time to cover the things we wanted in half an hour, so we left early. After talking to one of the senior staff members, we found that the BGC had to cut some counselors' hours, and the schedule was a bit jumbled right now. She assured us that it would be fixed by Tuesday.