Week One: Summer at Gateway

We wrapped up the first week at Gateway Homeless Services today. We began teaching late last week so we've had some extra time to get to know our group. It's a small group of kids who are coming but they are having a blast. We've built our terrariums already and once we get the supplies we'll be moving forward with the aquarium piece of our ecocolumns. There's been some adjustments to the curriculum based on the ages of the regular participants and we've already learned valuable lessons about classroom management and self control. I'm really proud of this group of teens. They went into a situation with which most of them were unfamiliar, and have been able to handle themselves like mature young men and women. They're also developing relationships with the youth who come to class. One of the most important things I've noticed so far is how hard they are working to make sure they support each other as a team. During our daily debriefing sessions they always point out what good things they saw each other doing and offer teaching tips to each other for areas of improvement. Go team!