This week had the culminating event for our project.  This was defniitly the highlight and I can't imagine the workshop being complete without the reading and the books that we made. 

THE SETTING

I'm just glad we found a place to have the reading at.  We talked to the owner of the alley cat right before the reading and he was so open and supportive of having us there.  The reading was in a big room on the main floor.  I think it worked well as a space.  There were enought seats, comfortable and it was part of the coffee shop enough so that we felt like we were doing a real reading, yet seperate enough that other people we're distracting.  The only downside to it was the blender drowned out the reading at times.  I wish we would have known this before hand so we could have warned the girls and just said to stop reading if the blender starts and then just pick up again when it's done. 

The exciting thing about having the reading at the Alley Cat is that the girls kept saying they wanted to come back.  They all really liked the atmosphere.  Also, the Alley cat hosts readings on it's own, so it would be fun maybe during a workshop just to take a couple of girls over, who wanted to, to the reading.

The only possible downside to the Alley Cat is the fact that for some of the girls it might not be displaced enough from their past lives to keep them successful in their treatment.  I know one girl has a lot of friends who frequent the area. Basing this all on speculation, some of the people who go their are seperated from their families and might be doing drugs of some sort.  Obviously not all or even the majority, but I think that drugs might be a part of the culture. 

THE ACTIVIES

We spent the first half and hour or so ordering drinks.  After that we started the reading.  We began the reading by having everyone write an 'I am' statement on a notecard and then we read them aloud.  I liked doing this.  I think that the only downside is people knowing when to go, but it's just exciting that people have to think a little bit about who they are.  Some of the girls stuggled with this promt, which I think is itneresting.  It shows that they don't really think about who they are as people sometimes.  I even struggled.  It's nice that we gave the opportunity for a little self reflection. The order in the actual reading was just random and people could go up as they wanted.  We finished with all of us going up front and doing the 'I believe' poem.

THE GIRLS' RESPONSES

Almost, every girl read.  Even a girl who didn't have anything in our book read.  I loved the way everyone supported each other.  I think that getting in front of people is hard for the girls, but they all wanted to be part of something.  I'm proud of the way they make everyone feel like they have something to offer.

MY REFLECTIONS

One of the most itneresting things for me was watching the girls order.  They were so excited.  They had to look through the menu and get other's opinions.  It's amazing how some of them have missed out on something that is such a cultural phenomenon- coffee shops.  The cofee shop is such a big part of my social ife that I know what I like at just about every coffee shop in town.  I know which ones are good for studying and which ones are good for the atmosphere.  The girls at Turning Point haven't had this same experience with coffee shops that I have had.  Many of them hadn't had chai tea or had developed a taste for coffee.  They stuck with familiar tihngs like milkshakes and pastries.  Going out to the coffee shop was developing a cultural literacy in a way.  I don't think it matters whether or not these girls know what chai tea is, but it's fun that they got to experience something new.   Plus they were getting excited about something, which is pretty rare in my interaction with them.

There was one downside to the reading.  One girl, C, who was in my small group, didn't have anything in the book.  I feel horrible.  C would often write during our prompts, but a lot of it she would throw away or just not turn in.  I wish I would have targeted her and made sure she turned in at least one piece of writing.  She was the only girl who didn't have anything to read. 

Finally, I think seeing their work published had an impact on the girls.  Most of them wished they would have written more or maybe less ridiculous things.  When something you write is going to be read by a lot of people, there is defnitly a higher motivation to make sure it's good.

THE SETTING

Today we stuck with large group in the living room.  It has been interesting to see how we've come to the conclusion that this is actually the best setting for our group. In the beginning it seemed to be chaotic and out of hand.  Now, it's still chaotic sometimes, but it seems to be the happiest place for the girls and maybe for us.  Breaking into small groups was useful in helping us learn more about the girls and I think was necessary in the end.  This connection with the girls in our group may have helped with having more control in the larger group.  Overall  though, the larger group seems to help the girls feed off of one another.  They have more of an audience. 

THE ACTIVITIES

We began this week by looking back to the I believe poem we had written.  This took a lot longer then we had planned.  The girls were very passionate about the poem and wanted to make sure it was just right.  There were some lines that they grappled with, changing the order or the entire line.  From here we went to a simple writing activity to just have them write a little using descriptions and odd metaphors.  The prompt was if they could be any animal what would they be and why?  After that we had them write about a hero or influential person. 

THE GIRLS' PERSONAL RESPONSES

The girls' responded really well to the writing prompt to write about their hero.  I think that it was one topic where the majority of them could think of something that fit. For some girls in particular the writing had a definite purpose.  Two specifically wrote responses about a parent that they wanted to make sure to show to a parent.  I think that this promt helps them think about what's important in their lives.  It also emphasizes qualities that they admire in others, that they can hopefully transfer into their own lives.  The revisions of the "I believe" poem  brought on some heightened emotions that I thought was interesting to observe.  Some of the girls weren't very passionate about keeping their line in the poem and were okay with other girls suggesting to change or take it out.  Other girls though would stand up for that person's right to keep that line in the poem.  Many of them were very adament that if you wrote it, you got to decide where it went.  I loved watching them stand up for each other.  Also, it showed how they view writing as something that's very personal and that needs to be accepted by everyone.

MY REFLECTIONS

This last session a girl asked if we got paid to do the writing workshop.  Camryn and I told her no and kind of tongue-in-cheek I told her our reward was making other people passionate about English, or something corny like that.  Even though I may have said that kind of sarcastically, it's obvious to me that the rewards that I receive for going to Turning Point are way more important then getting paid.  With the end drawing near, I'm already thinking of how I can continue participating in the house for the fall semester.  I guess I really just love the connections I've made with the girls.  And even the ones that I don't know very well, I love the things that I learn from them.  I'm constantly amazed by their young wisdom, their writing, and the very fact that they have lived lives completely different from anything I see on a daily basis.  They remind that people go through things that are trying and make it through wiser.  They remind me how important family is.  They remind me that happiness isn't the easiest thing to come by.  And they remind me to have compassion.   

THE SETTING

We decided to stick with the living room and stay in a large group this week.  It's so weird that this week went so well, when in some ways this setting wouldn't necessarily be conducive to that.  You'd think the girls would be loud and too relaxed and not get any work done, but that wasn't necessarily the case.  The setting allowed them to get comfortable while we wrote and also had a front area for them to 'perform.'  The large group still allowed for everyone to share who wanted to and some girls stepped out of their comfort zone and shared becase of the encouragement from everyone else. 

THE ACTIVITIES

The main goal of this week was to get the girls to do some serious writing.  We began by having them each write down at least two I believe statements.  After they did that we had them just read randomly one of their statements and write the order down so we could complie it.  Halfway through people's responses the girls already wanted to read it aloud and hear how it sounded.  We had about 12 lines, we added some more and finished with about 20 or so.  After that we had them read the whole thing, each person standing up when it was their turn.  Having them stand up was a quick intro being in front of people, plus it is kind of a physical reminder to stand up on your beliefs.  I loved this activity so much and the girls really got excited by it!  Next we started talking about voice.  We had the girls draw a character that we had come up with before and then tell a story to their partner in that character's voice.  The characters included Usher, Paris Hilton, and a rock star.  Then the girls all wanted to come to the front and act out the story with that character.  It was really fun and they are all great performers.  Everyone did it, even the people who don't normally share.  After this we tried to segway them into their own voice and had them write down four words that describe themselves.  Next we had them write silently for ten minutes about a happy time in their life.  We encouraged them to try to tell the story in their voice.  The transition from this didn't go so well.  The girls thought that they had to use the words that they described themselves with in their story.  Many said that they couldn't think of  a happy time in their life.  In the end though they all pretty much wrote down something.  What was great was that they were all quiet and respectful of the silence that other's needed to work.  Finally, they shared.  It was amazing the variety of responses that we got.  Some simply told a story, very basic, while some did poetry.  Not all of them wrote about happy times, but they still wrote about a moment in their life.  And without even trying each of the girls really did capture their own voice. 

THE GIRLS' RESPONSES

Doing the I believe statements was very interesting. Almost all of them were serious, only E from my group had two funny ones.  Some weren't very hopeful, but the girls wanted the poem to end with I believe in myself, so they obviously have some hope.  Two responses stood out especially to me.  One is from K, a girl that I don't really know at all, but she said I believe my chance is slim.  This was a little disheartening to me.  How hard to live like that.  It might be true that the statistics are against the girls at Turning Point, but I hope they know that people believe in them.  The other reponse was from B who is in my small group.  She is the girl who hates Turning Point and doesn't like to share or write unless proded to.  She is friendly and nice, but I think she maybe has a ways to go in her treatment.  B wrote I believe that I did this to myself.  For some reason that makes me sad.  I don't know why, but I guess when I think about what 'this' is and how hard it is to realize that you alone messed up your life is so hard.  It's a good realization and it's one that most people her age don't comes to terms with.  I can't wait to see the final I believe poem.  I think it is going to be very powerful.  The second writing promt wasn't as successful because the girls couldn't think of a time they had been happy in their life.  T, the loud outspoken girl in my group, wrote a metaphorical poem about a rollercoaster ride and dream that I think was an allussion to getting high.  I also watched as C spent tons of time writing, but after five minutes tore up her paper.  This was the same thing that she had done when she had to describe her house. For C I wonder if writing things down is just too hard.  Or if it is therupuetic in a way.  Even though she tears it up, she still thinks about that situation for just a moment.  I hope that someone can some day build enough trust with her so she can feel like she can share.

MY REFLECTIONS

This week was amazing.  When I left Turning Point I felt so excited about the work we had done.  It goes to show that the girls just need a project to work on.  They will write if people are going to see or hear it.  They will write if they are encouraged to.  I think that for any literacy program to be successful it needs a final product.  This session also reminded me to be flexible. When one writing promt doesn't work, such as the happy time description,  it's good to have an alternative one ready.  I feel like we're starting to get to know the girls better.  It's nice just knowing their names and being able to say them.  I also know their personalities a little more.  I want to helpt draw the more quiet girls, like E and C, out a little more.  Hopefully this last week will be a topic that they enjoy more. I'm really just excited for the reading and the book.  I hope we can cram it all together in this last session.  I think that having this focus in the beginning would have been helpful, but oh well, we're learning.  Good advice for the next group.

I finished Growing Up Literate about a week ago and realized that it would probably be good to draw some connections between their research and the work at Turning Point. 

IMPORTANCE OF FAMILY

One major aspect of this book is the fact that Taylor and Dorsey-Gaines are researchng whole families.  I have no idea what the girls' families are like at Turning Point, but it would be interesting to know whow their family life has affected their literate lives.  In Growing Up Literate the writers concluded that the families that have survived in the inner-city have the characteristics of a functional family.  These characteristics include the parents providing loving environments, stuctured home environments with rules, parental concern for children's safety and parents' determination to raise healthy children.   (194)  I wonder if the families of the girls at Turning Point have these qualities.  I also wonder how much family counseling is part of the girls' treatment.  I know that there is some family counseling, but I also know that sometimes parents can't visit for quite some time. Even if the girls are successful at Turning Point, does this fall apart when they go home?  I think that literacy programs have realized the importance of the whole family being included in the process, that's why so many are focused on families. 

TROUBLES IN ADOLESCENCE

Talory and Dorsey- Gaines focus on families that have a first grader that is doing well in school.  Because of this they introduce some adolescent members of the families but the focus isn't on them.  These less highlighted children interested me the most though.  In one family the woman had two older sons.  One, Danny, who was in middle school became the victim of physical abuse by one of his teachers and was also falsely accused of stealing a car.  These two incidents were looked at by the researchers.  After this happened it seemed like the boy just went down hill.  He eventually ended up in youth detention center for stealing a car.  What happened to cause a boy who is doing so well in school to suddenly stop going and start committing crimes?  Considering this major turn around it's obvious that adolescence is a pivotal time to reach children.  The teacher who beat Danny failed to nurture his student during this time.  Nothing happened to the teacher who hit Danny and Danny was referred to a phsycologist to be diagnosed as special needs.  His mom refused to sign that papers the would put him in this catagory.  It seems like in this situation the only person who was punished was Danny.  I think that he didn't see himself as successful at school anymore and that he might has well get out, especially if there wasn't anyone there to help him succeed.  There is also the cycle of dropping out of school.  Danny's older brother had dropped out of school (he eventually got his GED) and was the person who helped get Danny a job as a shoe shiner after he got out of the detention center.  In their conclusion Taylor and Dorsey-Gaines believe that the education system is to blame for many of the litereacy problems of inner-city families.  In the case of Danny I'd have to agree.  They encourage teachers to get to know about their students' everyday lives, even the bad stuff.  They should also make literacy useful in everyday lives and help their students learn to appreciate their own literacies.   

This book was written in the 1980s and I think that educational pedagogy is going the route that Taylor and Dorsey-Gaines are advocating.  Today classrooms are trying to be more student-centered.  I think that the book I'm currently reading, On the Brink, will take their recommendations and show how it actually works in a middle school classroom.

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Camryn Strickler, camrynstrickler@yahoo.com
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THE SETTING

This week we started out in the large group in the living room.  This was necessary for the video we were watching and it was pretty conventient because the girls were already set up in that room.  After that we broke up into small groups and it was pretty interesting decing where to meet.  The options were in the living room, the dining room, or the family meeting room.  My goup ended up in the family meeting room which is a small room with two couches and chair, very cozy.  I also has a door which my girls really wanted to close, but their teacher asked us to keep it open.  It's obvious that in Turning Point they don't get a whole lot of privacy so they really relish having their own space.  This room worked well, but it definitly allowed for some lounging, which was fine since we were just cutting our of magazines.  It would be interesting to hear from Melissa who was in the dining room (and whose girls wanted to be in our room ) how things went in there.

THE ACTIVITIES

Tobi had recommended to us a movie called the United States of Poetry as a possible visual for the workshop.  We decided to check it out.  I got the video over the weekend, but didn't pick out poems to watch until the night before.  I was actually pretty discouraged as I watched the video.  It was made in 1996, but looked pretty 80ish.  Also, some of it seemed kind of corny.  I picked out two poems though.  One was by a Latino poet and it was a mix of English and Spanish which I thougth would be good for our girls because some of them speak spanish.  The second one was of a guy doing a type of hip-hop/rap poem.  The girls' reactions to the poems was a lot better then I expected.  Right away one of the girls who speaks Spanish realized that the poet would say something in Spanish, then the opposite in English.  This lead to discussion about identity and how people sometimes have two sides to themselves.  The second poem was harder to hear, so the conetent of the poem was hard to grasp.  The girls actually liked the first one better.  They didn't think the guy did a very good job with the beat on the second one.  The videos helped show though that poetry can be visual and we got to talk a little about reading poetry aloud and why people might do that.  The large group discussion actually went really well.  After this we broke into our smaller groups to work on collages.  I begin our small group discussion by playing high/low again and this time everyone had a high and a low for the past 24 hours.  It was really nice. After that we did a brief writing exercise where they had to fill in the blanks. One blank they had to fill in was When I see intolerance it makes me want to... I declared this time a no talking time which worked for the most part.  B talked some, but I and the girls were able to ask her to be quiet so she didn't distract anyone.  After writing we shared our answers and everyone participated in that.  Next we worked on the collage which was challenging because they mostly wanted to read the magazines and didn't really understand what we were creating.  They were fine with cutting out pictures, but they kept asking if I thought that would be a good picture or not.  We finished the rest of the time working on the collage and then for the last 15 minutes Tobi came and took pictures, which the girls loved.

THE GIRLS' PERSONAL RESPONSES

During this time there wasn't a lot of personal response, expecially with the collage.  In the large group though there was a pretty interesting dicussion surrounding identity.  We talked about whether or not they had two different personalities like the speaker of the bilingual poem did.  Most of the girls said they did and some were willing to talk about it.  I think it's good to identify the fact that we aren't always our 'true' selves and that it's important to fit in our skin no matter what the situation.  I wish we could have talked about what our 'true' selves look like and whether or not it's good to be one person all the time.  The stuggle with identity is something that every teenager goes through so talking about it is good.  In our small group we spoke a little about intolerance again.  T, the girl who said she hates Jews the week before but then said she was joking, told us this week that she can't like Asian people.  She explained this by saying that her father fought in the war and calls them derogatory names and that she just can't like them.  C, who tends to be more quiet, confronted her on this a little and said that she has Korean friends.  T then admitted that she also had Korean and friends.  At this time I said that it's good that all Korean and all whites and all blacks aren't the same.  T agreed, but still said they just didn't like them. 

MY EXPERIENCES

This week was a drastic improvement over the last one.  It just felt so much more positive and I was more relaxed and able to joke with the girls more etc.  I really just had a good time.  I also think that this week I did a better job of balancing control of the group with a relaxing atmosphere.  It helped that in the beginning I set down the rule that this time was for only writing.  This allowed me to call the girls on it when they were talking. The downside though was that the time wasn't necessarily that productive.  I ended up being the one who chose the topic for the collage and they kept asking me what it was.  I told them to choose their own, but there wasn't much of a goal to guide them, so I think it was hard for them to think of one on their own.  This week I also found out that two of the girls are trying to pass into the next phase, so I'm excited to see how that went.  And as selfish as this is, I think the girls are starting to be a little more interested in me as a person.  The week before I had told the girls about my work-related low and this week T asked how that had turned out.  That just really made me excited that she would remember what I had said and cared to know. 

On a side note, when I first got to Turning Point T was crying on the couch and I didn't know what to do.  She had walked by and I asked her if she was okay and she said yes and then went to the couch to write.  It looked like she may have been writing in a journal.  That just shows how writing can be therepautic for some people.  In the end I found out that she had seen a friend while on an outing, but wasn't allowed to talk to him and that hit her really hard. 

I've been working for the past couple of weeks to find literacy programs that specifically target at-risk youth.  It's been challenging to find programs that are so focused.  Mostly what I've found is programs for adults and children.  It seems that programs fail to notice the very specific needs of at-risk teens.  Here is a list though of websites that give information about literacy programs, most focusing on youth. 

The Lionheart Foundation: National Emotional Literacy Project for Youth-At-Risk

http://www.lionheart.org/youth_proj/about_nelpyar.html

Keeping the Faith- The Prison Project

http://www.communityarts.net/readingroom/archivefiles/2004/06/writings_from_w.php

http://www.patgraney.org/faith.html

Applied Scholastics: Compton Learning and Literacy Project http://www.freedominla.org/issue01/page08.htm

DC WritersCorps 

http://www.dcwriterscorps.org/

El Centro De La Raza

http://www.elcentrodelaraza.com/

Living Literatures Colors United

http://www.cominguptaller.org/profile/pr126multi.htm

Boulder Reads!

http://www.boulderreads.org/

The Virtual Y

http://www.ymcanyc.org/sub.php?p=about&sp=prospect/prospectteens

Linden McKinley High School Developing Composition and Writing with Technology Skills

http://cstw.osu.edu/outreach/programs.cfm

Write to Read

http://juviewrite2read.aclibrary.org/

Youth Communication- True Stories by Teens

http://www.youthcomm.org/

Many of the programs I found focused on tutoring, but some are definitly more innovative.  The Youth Communication and DC WritersCorps are my favorites.

I'm still going to keep searching and hope I stumble upon some programs that can give us some ideas.

I also found some other resources

THE SETTING

This week one of the staff members recommended that we meet in the dining room because the girls tend to be a bit more focused.  We decided to try it to see what the change in setting did for the group.  So, we broke into our three groups, with two in the dining room at seperate tables and the third at a table in a room adjoining the dining room.  From the get-go the girls didn't seem to happy about our choice which may have added to the overall attitude during the workshop.  The girls just didn't seem happy or relaxed or anything.  They were real BLAH.  Which may have just been the way the day had progressed so far, but tables and chairs probably didn't help with this.  I think that our workshop is fairly causal, less schoolish, so we should meet in the living room.  Help the girls to relax, write, and discuss the reading.  What do Melissa and Camryn think?

THE ACTIVITIES

This week we chose to focus on tolerance.  I began my group by having them write about their homes, decribe the street that they grew up on.  This writing topic was a challenge from the beginning for many different reasons.  For B, she said that she smoked too much pot and couldn't remember anything about where she grew up.  E had lived in a number of different places, so she had trouble choosing one to write about and finally C's childhood setting brought up too many of her issues, which was like taking backward steps in her treatment, so she chose not to write.  The only one who really embraced the topic was T who likes to write in general.  During this time B did a lot of complaining about Turning Point and ended up writing about the previous treatment facility she had been at which she also hated.  E wrote about what is like to live at the carnival.  Her desciption was very vivid and she had everyone try to guess what she was describing.  T's description was of a run-down area in the Denver area that was filled with meth labs.  After a lot of discussion around the places they grew up I had us read the excerpt from a House on Mango Street.  In this excerpt the writer basically talks about people being afraid to come into her neighborhood because they don't know the people who live there.  From here I tried to lead our discussion to what people might think of their neighborhoods and whether or not those ideas are justified.  This was a hard area to discuss because the girls really didn't have a connection with their neighborhood like the character in House on Mango Street did.  I think in the end they thought their neighborhoods were the bad parts of town and people should be scared in a way.  After this discussion I tried to transition us into looking at tolerance.  This was a hard transition and I don't think they really saw how the activities connected.  But I read them some statistics on how many gays, whites, hispanics etc. are victims of hate crimes every day.  This kind of got their interest and C asked for a copy of the paper.  After this we spent the rest of the time talking about tolerance in Turing Point and then in the world and what they could do about it.  We read a poem about intolerance and they all really liked it.  T, who has a very strong voice, liked the poem because it was straight forward and chose to read it aloud when we got back into the larger group.  After we finished with the small group we got together in the large group for about 15 minutes to share what people had written.  About three or four girls shared. 

THE GIRLS' PERSONAL RESPONSES

I was personally surprised by the lack of interest in describing their homes.  I thought that the girls would have more of a connection with a place then they showed in their writing.  All of them hate being at Turning Point, yet it seems that there isn't necessarily a place that they can call home to go to instead.  Their descriptions of their homes in a way seemed like a competition to see whose home was more ghetto, or violent, or drug filled.  They each told stories trying to top the one told before it.  I was also surpised and frustrated by the responses when it came to the tolerance discussion.  When they were talking about tolerance at Turning Point and I asked they what they could do when someone did something that wasn't nice they said they could just tell her to f-off.  This to me doesn't sound tolerant and later I was able to make that point, but it was hard.  Also, they have all these mized points on how to fix intolerance.  At first they said that they can't do anything.  Then they blamed the president for all of the problems.  And then they said that everyone has to do their own part for anything to be fixed.  All these different answers came out at different times and there often contradictions in what they said.  This is expected because they are only in junior high and high school and it takes a long time to figure out what you think is right and possible, but I was still surprised.  One second T would be talking about how she hates how people judge her because she's fat and then the next second she's saying I hate f-ing Jews.  She was quick to say she was just kidding after she saw the look on my face.  She also explained that someone (A Jew I'm assuming) shot her boyfriends little brother in the face with a bunch of people around.  Our discussion did finish on a good note after we had read the poem against intolerance.  They all agreed that the poem could have an impact, even if it's a small one. 

MY REFLECTION

This week at Turning Point was such a challenge.  I definitly have some personal growth to do on my own to be any help to at-risk youth.   I need to work on frustration and understanding.  I was mostly frustrated by the language and anger in my group.  For T and B every other work was the f-word which I just feel is inappropraite.  I want them to feel like they can say what's on their minds and I understand that people swear, but when it's directed at someone in a hypothetical situation it's pretty insulting.  I was also frustrated by their anger and unhappiness.  They hate Turning Point, yet would they rather be in jail or in the streets? beginning I had them tell their high and low of the past 24 hours.  B couldn't think of a single good moment in that time frame, so she just complained about Turning Point for five minutes.  I just let it go, but I wanted so badly to be that stereotypical person and tell her that she could be starving in Africa or dying or something.   (I really want to find a way to harness this anger towards Turning Point and turn it into something productive or some type of writing).  I was also frustrated by their inability to see how their actions affect people in positive and negative ways.  They don't believe they can have an impact in any way, but they can.  They don't think that their words mean anything.  C, who is mostly quiet at Turning Point, says that she feels like she's ignored, but even when she was loud and verbal at a different facility she still felt ignored.  Why does this girl feel invisible when she should really be in an environment that ideally cares about her?  I was also frustrated by the way they don't see how people affect each other.  They think drugs is something that only affects them, when it can have repercussions beyond the user.  Anyway, this is a big rant, but hopefully by gaining some understanding about their situations I can deal with my frustrations.  The more I hear their stories, the more I understand where they're coming from.  T may or may not dislike Jews, but she obviously experienced a tragic situation when she say her boyfriend's brother get shot.  C grew up among meth dealers, so it may be hard for her to see how people care about her.  I hope that through each new session at Turning Point I'll just learn more about the girls.  I need to remember that at that age I also was struggling to decide what I believe and to fit in and I had a lack of respect for other people.  I want to show them that I care about them, even if it's just because I can relate to being 16 and a girl.  I want them to know that I think their opinions and stories matter and that if they matter to me they'll matter to other people.

Currently I'm reading "Growing Up Literate: Learning from Inner-City Families" by Danny Taylor and Catherine Dorsey-Gaines.  While reading this book I'm trying to take their observations and apply it to the workshop at Turning Point.  I still have a chapter left that will provide the major analysis of the research that they've done, but I've started doing some brainstorming with what I've read so far.  One section of this book focuses on at home literacy of some first grade children that live in the inner-city.  Even though there is a big age difference between the children studied and the girls at Turning Point I think some of their observations can apply to our group.  Taylor and Dorsey-Gaines focus on drawings that the children do of their homes and of their families and how there is often writing on these drawings.  The focus that the children have on home and family can apply to the teenage girls at Turning Point.  Two of our girls have children and it's obvious that those children are very important to them.  Also, from the project last semester, I noticed that for some girls in particular family is one of the most important things in their lives.  The emphasis on home also carries through.  For the girls home is usually a better place, especially compared to Turning Point.  It might be interesting to 'harness' these passions in writing and do promts that revolve around the girls' family and home.  Taylor and Dorsey-Gaines also noticed how many of the children's drawings became cards and messages for important people in their lives.  A picture of a child's family might also have written across the top "I love you mommy' or something similar.  In this sense it might be good to explore more personal types of writing that can be influential.  I don't know if it might be worthwhile to look at letter writing or cards and how they can send powerful messages.  I know I love to read through all the cards at the grocery store and then pick one out.  Sometimes 'speaking out' can be to someone close to home.

So far this book has been mostly just a presentation of their research, but I'm looking forward to getting to the last chapter where they tell how the information that they've gathered might be used to helping inner-city youth overcome all of their obstacles to be better students and ultimately better citizens.

THE SETTING

Coming into this first workshop I was expecting it to be similar to my experience with the Zine project.  That was a mistake on my part considering that while the place and topics are fairly similar, there are different people involved and things are just simply different.  For starters, the group is about twice as large, there are twelve girls that we will be working with.  Even with three 'leaders' this  is a pretty large number to manage because everyone wants to say something.  We decided to work in the living room area which made the atmosphere pretty relaxed.  We sat in a circle on couches and chairs, which made the workshop seem casual, but it spread us over a pretty large area, which further emphasized the group size.  This made it a little hard to connect as a group.  There were also fans going which made it a little hard to hear each other. The girls sat in pockets of friends, a few sat more by themselves.  As leaders we tried to scatter ourselves throughout the group so that we could help control everyone in that way and also not isolate ourselves from them.

THE ACTIVITIES

We came in with a pretty solid plan of what we wanted to do and for the most part stuck to that plan.  The only variations were on who actually said what, but what we planned to say and do still got done.  We began by going in a circle and introducing ourselves.  This included our name, age, where were are from, and one thing we like to do.  At this time I wrote everyone's name down because I really struggle with names.  From there were inroduced the purpose of our workshop.  This part turned out really well.  The girls had a lot of opinions about people who had prominenet voices in the world.  Next, we did a quick survey to get to know them.  After this we read a chapter from A House on Mango Street about names and did some discussion on this.  In my opinion, this part was the most successful.  In my high school experience talking about literature in an indepth way can be challenging unless there is a lot of guidance.  But for the girls at Turning Point this excerpt about changing one's name had an impact on them.  It lead to a very strong discussion.  We finished the workshop with some writing prompts that connected with the name essay we had read.  The promts included things like if you name were a number what would it be?, a sound? etc.  At this point things got a little more crazy.  Some girls were able to think of a response more quickly than others and then they would start talking while they waited for the next promt.  Also, it seemed that they wanted to share as they wrote, instead of just sharing at the end.

THE GIRLS' PERSONAL RESPONSES

For my observations during the workshop I've chosen to focus on the personal growth that occurs.  I want to see how the group discussions about the reading and writing help the girls to grow as people.  In this last workshop the girls really focused the discussion on the concept of changing one's name and whether or not this affects one's identity.  I think exploring this is really important.  The girls at Turning Point are working to change themselves, to leave part of their lives behind in a way.  For Esperanza, in A House on Mango Street, she wants to change her name in order to leave behind all the expectations that come with it.  The discussion about the emphasis on changing one's name began with D thinking that this essay was too focused on the power of changing your name.  D believed that the Esperanza should focus more on changing herself, not her name.  Another girl though, C, disagreed with D's opinion.  She saw the name as a representation of changing her life.  That if Experanza changes her name it will be a step in leaving behind the parts of her life that she doesn't like that she associates with her name.  Another girl agreed with C's belief that Experanza's name change is just a microcosm of changing her identity, but she thought that was a bad thing.  For V, your name connects you to your life, to your experiences, and you shouldn't let those go.  From this conversation I was really struck by the way the girls were able to interpret the larger meaning of a name just from reading this essay once.  It also shows how differently they view their past expereinces.  For some it seems like those experiences are something to grow from, for others they seem to be something to abandon and forget.  I think that it's just important for them to look at different ways to change your identity.   For Esperanza she wanted to change her name to abandon all of the expectations of it.  In the end she doesn't change her name, but she does leave behind those expectations associated with it and that's what is important. 

MY REFLECTION

I thought this first session went very well.  The discussion was very successful and I think that for the most parts the girls were engaged by what we were showing them.  I'm excited to start building relationships with them and getting to know their personalities.  I hope that this can happen quickly.  The biggest challenge with working at Turning Point is managing control, but at the same time not being too strict.  I want the workshop to show that reading and writing can be fun, social activites, but in order for that to work there has to be some control  I think that breaking into smaller groups can help with this.  Smaller groups will also help us to get to know the girls more quickly.  With all of this in mind we decided to do three groups of four next week.   We're also going to look in to publishing opportunities for the girls.  They kept asking us if we were going to make a book like the Zine project did. For them it's obvious that the highlight of writing is having other people see it.  I think that once we find some publishing opportunities it will help motivate them to improve their writing.  This should also help with doing complete pieces of writing.  In this first session the promts were short and didn't elicit a paragraph etc.  With publishing opportunities the girls will hopefully make their writing public pieces of work that flow well and are readable.  I'm so excited for the next five week and hope that we can find examples of powerful voices that are positive and provide opportunities for the girls show develop stronger voices.   

Replies to this Entry:

Re: Our first session!

Tobi Jacobi, tjacobi@colostate.edu
Reply Created: June 28, 2005

Re: Our first session!

Leigh Pogue, Lena1799@aol.com
Reply Created: July 3, 2005

This is the first blog entry.

Replies to this Entry:

Re: First entry

Camryn Strickler, camrynstrickler@yahoo.com
Reply Created: June 21, 2005