Placement strategies and best practices

¶ … Upward Bound program. I learned much about myself and others throughout this time period as I was put in a new situation that required personal adjustment and flexibility. I will express my thoughts in the "three what" model that will first, recollect my events and observations, next I will interpret these events and how they relate to my own personal education, and finally I will suggest ways in which this adventure will help me in my professional career in the near future.

I remember the students as being the most important part of this particular experience. Many of the children attending these classes were from extremely diverse backgrounds. Many of these children had problems beyond the scope of a normalcy. I felt blessed and sad at the same time due to the conflicting ideas swirling in my head. I knew that many of these children were not going to have an easy road through the educational system, and while I was contributing to their needs, I felt I needed to do more for them.

The instructors working were all very polite and proficient, while each one bringing their own particular style to the table. I learned that many of the teachers also had diverse or challenging backgrounds. Ms. Milazzo's story was of particular interest to me due to here history with family dependency issues, a subject I feel gets overlooked in many educational challenges and needs to be addressed more effectively if we expect children from challenging backgrounds to have more a chance of success.

I enjoyed the company of many of the children, which made me feel that I was on the correct career path, and my goals and objectives are really what I want to do and accomplish. On a more sad note, I noticed some of the children had emotional problems and did not get along with each other at times. Often, strong language was used we shocked me a little a first, but by setting the example and spot correcting I was able to achieve some level of control of the situation.

Meeting some of the parents showed to me that there are many lifestyles that people may choose to live. It was hard for me not to negatively judge people at times due to some of their unfortunate circumstances, but I could not help but think how they found themselves in this situation and that failure was a way of life. It was very eye opening and intense at times, but I was content and pleased about the situation as a whole.

After having time to reflect on the whole experience I could now begin to put my thoughts together and answer the question "so what?" The strong and sometimes disturbing feelings I had towards the sometimes hopeless cycles of poverty and abuse can now be focused into my actions of change. I realize that I am following the correct path in my life and education needs to play a strong role in whatever I do.

During my time at Upward Bound, I realized that there is much work to be done, and new problems are continuous and intense. But once again, "so what?," what does this mean? For me it means that much patience is going to be necessary in order to tolerate some of the unfair and more brutal aspects of this field of education. I also came to conclusion that the community is responsible for helping solve these problems. The community is not solely responsible, but social groups and teaming with parents and the children must come together in support of one cause in order for any programs to really work. It will require a team effort, where all parties can contribute to ideas and solutions from their own personal and unique skill sets. Expecting only one side to totally fix the problem is unreasonable and guiding principles must be clearly understood by the community at large. I also realize that only with a strong leadership presence can this be achieved.

Now what? Understanding more of the big picture now, some of the finer details of how to achieve these objectives are now more clear to me. Practicing the art of patience is a must for me if I am to expect any real success in this field. The problems we witness did not develop overnight, so we should not expect a solution to appear overnight. Steady improvement coupled with disciplined methods will help in achieving a more tolerant and ultimately patient attitude.