Citizen Schools

I wish I had a skill that I could teach youngins that would help them in the real world. Unfortunately I don’t think that a teaching plan involving my ridic tambourine skills fits the bill in this setting.
I worked with a big group of Citizen Schools students from all over the country that would tour around area colleges. I would give them tours of my college, talk about my experiences, and play theater games with them (I went to an arts school, so a theater group stopped in). One of the teachers always used to ask me about the admission process to my college. You see, instead of writing a traditional college essay, I wrote an ad for myself telling my dream school that I was a STEAL. especially since I was paying them to go to their institution. lol I was also an average student in high school that had a ton of extracurriculars/​volunteer work on my resume. The idea of their visit was to let them know that there are ways of getting into college that don’t require straight As and millions of dollars. That stuff helps and that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t try to get straight As, but they shouldn’t count out their dream college because of their current circumstances. Giving them tours was a good wake up call for me and definitely helped me realize how lucky I was to be in Boston.
Anyway, if you like working with children or love/​want to teach, I think you should seriously take a look at their site. I’ve heard a lot of good things from past Citizen Schools teachers. Seeing a child take a class and work on a project to its completion can be incredibly rewarding. Help Boston’s youth learn good. ;)

I worked at Citizen Schools for a brief school semester, after college. Citizen Schools is a non-​profit organization, which provides supplemental after-​school programs to help ‘at risk’ youth. It’s main goal is to improve test scores, increase youth’s self-​esteem, and provide «at risk» youth with a firm leadership background. Citizen Schools has a unique take on the basic supplemental program, by working with different businesses and people to create apprenticeships, in which a variety of people ranging from lawyers, musicians, accountants — etc — will volunteer their time to teach workshops. They hope to take the very real mental obstacles out of classrooms and teach these youth — that yes — you can do and be anything.
The individuals that work at Citizen Schools are nothing short of extraordinary. The time and dedication which they throw into preparing curriculum, working with middle school and elementary school kids, and researching what teaching techniques work best in classrooms — is unmeasurable. They have such a deep love for the children and learning, that it inspired me to keep on going back to a chaotic classroom each day. Citizen School staff strongly believe that it takes a village to raise a child. You need the committed efforts and love of family and teachers for a program to be fully effective. They believe in instilling a clear and collective message for at risk youth, through all of these elements. And I agree.
I took so much of the Citizen School mantra to heart, that I couldn’t understand why I still felt so lost and confused in the classroom. Straight out of college, I was not prepared to teach a vigorous curriculum, in a classroom of 13 nine years olds. I was prepared on paper, but not emotionally. None of us were. Despite our previous experiences with children, we weren’t equipped to wield that magical balance of discipline, education and leadership on a class of tired and antsy nine years olds. Many of these nine year old were dealing with stressful home situations. They would internalize that stress and bring it into the classroom — just hoping to be heard. They figured out early that the louder they were — the more we listened. The more they kicked, the more we watched them.
Citizen Schools is all about setting high expectations for these children. Don’t assume they can’t follow directions, complete all their reading, or figure out math problems by themselves. They can do it — you just have to believe in them. And so each day I would take a deep breath and walk into that classroom hoping I could inspire them, or inspire them to find their inspiration.. I adored each child and their unique quirks. Even the ones that liked to stir up trouble, could never sit still and liked to talk above everyone else — had their moments, when they were quiet, insightful, and knew when to give you a hug. I grew to see the strength that each child had, dealing with absent parents, addicted parents, and tumultuous home lives. The problems in the classroom were far bigger than not wanting to do homework — they were dealing with life. Someitmes I would go home and tear — after a long day of them shoe throwing, paper ripping, and pencil sharpenings poured down a girl’s back.
Teaching is such an unbelievable skill. I have nothing but mad respect for those that do it five days a week. Teachers work their butts off, trying to make a difference, and trying to reach each of their students. It is one of the toughest jobs out there. The flow of disciplining a disruptive child, while still trying to keep the attention of the rest of the class takes impressive skill, which many people will never full master. Each day I learned more about the flaws in our school system, and more about my students and myself.
At Citizen Schools I learned how to listen. Often times I felt like I lacked proper support in the classroom, but it only made me stronger — as I learned that so often children are starving for attention — and crave structure and sternness. They feel lost without rules and just want to know that they’ll be safe and that even though they tell you they hate you, that you’re mean, and don’t care — they just want to know that you’ll be back the next day.
My last day at Citizen Schools was hard. I was relieved that I was leaving a situation, which I needed more training to excel at, and sad to leave the children that had transformed my perspective on everything. A quick note from some students, made me smile and is framed above my dresser. «thanks Ms. Jessica for being the best teacher ever. We’ll miss you.» One of the two students that wrote it, wasn’t even in my class and the other rarely showed up, but it still makes me glow. It still makes it all worth it.