8.7.18

Hi my name is Madison! My four weeks here in Cape Town have been a whirlwind. It has gone by so fast and it has been the best experience of my life. Having the opportunity to be a research assistant has really opened my eyes to many different things. It has given me the chance to come back to South Africa for a second time. I have worked with amazing children and have been given the chance to mentor four amazingly intelligent students. This experience has shaped me into the person I want to be and has helped me in gaining insight into teaching. I started my first two weeks with mentoring four students. With this, I helped prepare the students for the upcoming mentors. I worked with the students on math and writing. Each student was on a different skill so I had to find an equal balance between the four of them to make sure they were all okay with what they were doing. With the help of a culture coach and ninth grade mentor, I was about to help the students in their own individual ways. In the second two weeks I took on more of a leadership role to help the Kutztown University students mentor the kids. It was a hard transition for me because I went from working with my kids everyday to being on the sidelines and not really teaching them as much. During our second two weeks, I have been helping out the Kutztown students and have taken on an advisory role. I am providing the mentors with lesson plans and support to benefit the students they are working with. Also, it is extremely helpful because I worked with the students before so that benefits the students and mentors.

I was really excited when Dr. Bernstein asked me to be a research assistant. I was a little nervous at first because I did not know what to expect or what it would entail. As I got into the swing of things, it felt natural and easy. I think it came easier because I was able to keep the kids in mind because I had worked with them in 2017 when coming with the course. Knowing that I was coming back and that I would see them again gave me the incentive to take the position of research assistance. In addition, I was happy that I would be given the chance to create culturally responsive lessons for the students. When I first got here, I thought that I would be mentoring students when Kutztown got here and helping them out on the side. However, when I got here Emily and I were told that we would be in more of a leadership role throughout the classroom. I was a little upset at first but I was excited to be a leader in classroom and looked forward to helping the Kutztown mentors with their lessons and getting to know their students. It was amazing to see the kids that I had been working with make connections with other mentors and see the progress they made throughout their literacy program.