Downtown Eastside Neighborhood House

Week 1 Reflections

During my first week, I have seen 3 different programs at the Downtown East side Neighbourhood house. I have participated in the Community Drop in program where we serve nutritious meals to residents at low income houses on Mondays and Wednesdays. Most participants were grateful for the food and were eager for nutritious food such as salads and fruits. During the orientation meeting, it was explained that fruits and vegetables were not easily available for many of the residents due to the lack of supermarkets and the high cost of these foods.

The second program they ran this week was the Family Drop-In on Tuesday and Thursdays. During this program, families come to play, learn and eat a nutritious meal at the end of day. It was a time to interact with the kids in a non-formal setting and many were very young (3-8 years old). The other student teachers and I were responsible of the craft activity given to us that day which was to create a coloring book. Some children participated but others were more interested in playing with their friends and the toys located throughout the building. One child sat down and burst into tears saying she “couldn’t do anything right” during another craft activity (to build a bell ankle bracelet). I was initially surprised because the task seemed easy enough and children younger than her were happily doing the activity. I began to break down the steps patiently and gave her lots of encouragement and it reminded me that not all students may have the same experience when learning. Some students may internalize the idea that they can’t do things and as teachers we need to show them that they can. We need to build their confidence and help scaffold their learning.

The Family Drop-In program was very loosely structured and it was different than in a classroom setting. I realized that many of the crafts needed were to be things that can be easily explained. Odo, the director, said she didn’t want the students to sit down and be reminded of school which was something most of them didn’t enjoy. It makes me wonder why exactly was school so unpleasant for them and what opportunities they had after school.

The third program was a toddler program but no toddlers showed up so I wasn’t able to see how the program worked.