Bridget Weber

1.    I volunteered with my brother at his school back at home in Chicago.

2.    Many of the students my brother works with are from a poor community. He has to learn how to handle new situations that he was not used to. Many of the teens parents are divorce, single parent house hold or they are on free or reduce lunch. Some of the girls are teen parents themselves and tying to get through live as a teen parent and going to school. The school also has gangs in the school and there is violence in the school.

3.    I talked to my brothers friends who work in the school, which were the councilor and the FCS teachers in the school. I learned that it is difficult working in school and you need to put most of your personal feeling aside and be a professional. You need to understand that everyone does not have as much as you do because of education or the type of work you do. As a professional you need to leave your personal problem at the door and force on students that you were working with. I learned that not every high school is the same. Many schools have their own issues and problems that can occur while working them. It was eye opening to see the students that are involved in different gangs and violence acts. Would I want to work with in a school like this? I am still not sure. I think I have a lot to growing up to do and a lot more to learn.

4.    I think this school is a good place for students need to go to because it can give them a different change to get an education and out of the poor area of town. Hopefully the school could teach the children that gangs and violence is not a good thing and they could change their lives. The students if they try they could go to college and get a higher education. The students need to see others that have gone to college and see what they can do in life.

5.    It was hard to go to my brother’s school. I always said I was going to see him teach and help him and this gave me a reason to go. I enjoyed seeing him teach and now understand what he goes through every day while he at work. I was surprised that I saw as many students on a free or reduce lunches. This also got me to rethink if I want to work in a school with students that are a higher risk.