Sugar on spaghetti?

Today we continued to going through the tasks that the teachers wants us to complete. We noticed that many of the activities that teachers found tedious were very enjoyable for us. For example, we really like laminating papers for the primary school teachers and we found making bulletin boards as a way to express our creativity. 

            Many of us had opportunity to sit in on the social justice class and we were impressed by the complexity of issues these students discussed. We were also enlightened during the process of searching for “Social Justice” related current events. And we started to reflect on our past education and we realized that the students at KIPP are learning about issues we never addressed in the classroom.

            The defining moment of the day was the “student panel”. We talked students ranging from 5^thto 12^thgrade about their opinions to the KIPP Gaston. In general, they hold positive attitude toward their life and education quality here. A common theme we found was that students received lots of homework but they still had time to participate extracurricular activities.

            Following lunch we focused primarily on tutoring the high school students and we observed that not all students put forth their best effort, some were diligent and completed their work quickly, whereas they were not showing attention to learn. And we were caught off guard by the material taught we even have not been taught before.

            After returning home and resting for a while, we went to Muma household for dinner, we had opportunity to be treated to a wonderful spaghetti dinner prepared by Mrs. Muma and to view the fun-loving and genuine relationship between teachers and students. They hosted us, other students and teachers as well. And we had great time playing with their two cute dogs. 

            Finally during our reflection we explored the different components that make up our identity, for example “Race”, “Religion”, ”Citizenship”, ”Gender Quality”, “Education” and so on. We understood what made our teams felt most privileged and least privileged in their mind during this activity. We even further discussed the topic of “Stereotype” and how our behaviors are influenced by it. Today was eye-opening and we look forward the rest of our stay here.