[ed. note: this post picks up on the previous post, part 1 of jen’s report from the field here, where she was talking about the question “But how are you preparing them for college?”]
Jen:
…by creating a space where students can relax and be themselves, a space where a very wound up hard driving valedictorian student who takes all honors classes and has does drama and plays sports and is on student council…and is the one in her household that takes her 2 year old nephew to the hospital at 2 a.m. and doesn’t get much sleep and was diagnosed with severe anxiety…we create a space for this student to be with others in community, to learn to enjoy each other, to laugh and create stories and have fun. The Spanish was a by-product. This girl was going to succeed no matter what she did in Spanish class. So I cannot take credit for her testing out of the college curriculum. The big ‘Aha’ for her was the relaxing part: “chime time” and “el circulo de amor” and “se amable” and laughing about giraffes and stuff….