I am very happy with the way the program at the Troy BGC is progressing. Today, the kids finished up their designs on the computer, and some started weaving their baskets already. I went out and bought craft supplies last night and taught myself how to weave the basket. I'm glad I did, because I hadn't expected the kids to progress as fast as they had.
The first group we had today was smaller and therefore more manageable. They were very well behaved and almost all of the kids in this group started weaving their baskets.
The second group was a bit bigger, and the transition was somewhat chaotic. I lost track of time and didn't realize the second group would be coming in, so I had a hard time regrouping and getting all the kids in the second group together to do some review before working more on their designs. The review with this group was difficult because they wanted so badly to work on their designs. When we finished with the review and told them they could all work on their designs, they became very excited.
There were only two girls in this group who gave us trouble. They were more interested in talking to each other or trying to find music on the internet rather than making their designs. Then when they found out the baskets they would be weaving were not large enough or authentic for their tastes, they said they wanted to quit. I told them to talk to the director of the BGC if they wanted to be done. They left, but I'm not sure if they ever talked to the director.
The rest of the kids who started their baskets today seemed to enjoy it very much. One even said that he had not expected math to be fun, but that he was having tons of fun making the basket.
The kids at the Albany BGC were a bit better behaved today than they have been in the past. We found out today that one of the kids we have had the most problems with has ADHD, and he had forgotten to take his medicine last week. This made me feel a bit better about the situation.
The supervision at the Albany BGC is still a bit lacking. The counselors who are supposed to be present during the whole session are in and out, and there are teen-aged counselors in training who sit in the back, watch the kids, talk amongst themselves, play on the computers, or encourage the kids to do things other than what we are trying to teach them. It is very difficult to try and teach the kids in the situation with which we are presented.
We were able to have the kids finish designs on the the virtual bead loom, and we are hoping to have physical bead looms ready by next time so they can start making some physical artifacts.
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