Cultural Reflection Paper

1. After the last few months we have had the privilege to spend at People’s City Mission, it became increasingly prevalent that the cultural lens that my group and I had versus the lens which the kids came from was entirely different. When we first began our fieldwork there, being told that their lives were structured, I thought that they would have no problem switching from one task to the other without difficulty. However, I couldn’t have been more wrong. It isn’t that the kids are bad, but rather they have been so excited to play that they almost can not handle the anticipation, and structural schedules go out the window-- quickly! The first two weeks were overwhelming, partially because we were still in a transition phase, trying …show more content…
I have learned so much from the kids at people’s city mission. It was pretty difficult the first two weeks, and I was uncertain if we were ever going to be able to get through the lessons fully without total chaos. But, once we broke through the ice and the kids began to see we genuinely wanted to have fun, yet there was control, the field experience was much more enjoyable for both us and the kids. I definitely learned that if a kid decides that they don’t want to do something, they won’t do it, you can try to force them to do something, but you can’t make them listen nor like it. You just have to be okay with that, but be firm with them and be unafraid to give them the consequences for their actions. I also learned some kids want attention more so than others, especially the younger kids! I have had numerous occasions where a girl or boy had decided they were hurt and literally nothing happened, or they try to distract other peers while in the middle of instructions or lessons. Again, I had to learn how to be firm, which is something I was not good at before, and I definitely still have a long way to go. Thirdly, I learned these kids seriously just need all the love you can possibly give them! They really just want to have a relationship with you and they want to play. I found that the more I actually engaged the kids and played with them the more fun I had. I think the best feeling I had was when one of the girls I had taught a game to the previous week, saw me standing at the check-in table, ran up and hugged my waist and asked if we could play the game again and that she wanted to teach some of her new friends. This was super impactful, and my heart could not have gone out to her more in that