Leslie Wexler

My third quarter has been my most productive, challenging, and engaging. I pushed myself in ways that I hadn’t before. I had the freedom to come up with ideas and make creative improvements. AmeriCorps has given me the opportunity to do this. AmeriCorps has given me the setting to do this. When I speak about setting, I speak of all the players involved – the supporters, the naysayers – everyone. I have gotten support from some teachers, mentors, and other AmeriCorps members, but not from a few others. I did have expectations for the camaraderie. But, you know, what? This is life. Did I learn from this? Absolutely.

I was given an award by the Tucson Mayor and Arizona House of Representatives for my service. Being acknowledged for one’s service at least once in your life is a good feeling. I’ve had employers tell me I’ve done a good job, but this was different…this was framed…ha, ha. The thing is, you’re just going with your gut…no one is telling you what to do. You see an issue and you say to yourself, that’s not right or that’s not working for me. For example, I know I’m least productive early in the morning and I wasn’t connecting with the a.m. REP teachers I met. I wanted to see what was happening in the center at night. I enjoyed my time in Nour Tiba’s evening classroom and she agreed to have me there.

This presented another challenge, if I came in the afternoon and worked until the evening, how would I fill up my schedule? There was only one afternoon class with Jennifer Makowsky and I was serving in it. I asked Sara Fearnow if I could work in the lab during the afternoon. I remembered another AmeriCorps member doing this last year at his center. I knew there weren’t that many students attending and there was a teacher already there. I offered a proposal. I could go into the classrooms, present the benefits of meeting up with me in the lab after class, and I could either bomb or succeed. At first, I got one student, then two…three, then four. I managed to have a study group without interfering with the teacher or the students using the computers. I also signed students up for self-guided learning on USAlearns.org. Some of them also needed to create their first email accounts. It was good to see the progress every time they went back to the site. I also was able to help some ABEC students, as well.

My “Word, Sound, Power: Life Skills Phonics Lessons” idea did not end up the way I initially perceived it. The idea came out of a frustration with a lesson that was being presented to adult REP students. The music that accompanied the ABC lesson wasn’t level appropriate. I checked online for ABC songs with more mature content and something with some good adult music. Initially, I thought I would just choose a couple songs from Youtube and add pictures to the songs using Wevideo.com. I had already used it to make my own digital story. But then I thought I wanted to put this on Youtube, so many people could view it, not just the students in the centers. I started gathering approved pictures for some songs I chose. I thought I would ask the artists’ permission to use their songs.

I spoke to Ellen Swanson about it. She suggested I chose words that were relevant to the REP students instead of the typical ABC words. That was a great idea, but where would I get the music, the words, and the voice? ….They would end up coming from me and the music would come from teacher, Kacey Todirita’s husband, Marius Todirita, a local reggae musician in Tucson.

Since my computer skills are fair, the graphics are simple. This works out well, though. Wevideo had some fancy moving graphics, but I was advised that it was distracting to a student trying to acquire a new language. I have also collaborated with another AmeriCorps member, Israel Gonzalez. He helped me a lot with my digital story. He will record the intros and help me edit the digital video.

I have learned so much about language and phonics doing this project. I watched other phonics videos and practiced pronunciation myself. It will be great to see the final product and use it in the classrooms. Pronouncing “th” has been a challenge for many of the students!

During this quarter, I also organized a Mother’s Day fundraiser to make money for our graduation. I hadn’t done flowers in a year. It was enjoyable teaching the other members how to create small arrangements, especially a daughter of one of the members. One of the guys told me he was nervous to participate, but found it to be very relaxing. Making an arrangement from scratch can save a lot of money, too. I did not feel I got all the support I needed to be as successful as I wanted, but I’m happy it was completed. It would be great to have the other members teach something they know to the rest of us.

My biggest personal hurdle through all of this was public speaking. The AALL Conference presented this challenge to us as a group. I practiced with Iveth Reyes, one of the staff at El Pueblo. She’s really helpful and makes you feel really comfortable. I must have practiced ten times with her. I then went home and recorded myself on my phone until I got my spiel down to a reasonable three minutes and stopped stuttering. My partner needed some support and guidance. We all did well. That was a big hurdle for me. Doing the presentation on the history of the 29st Coalition Center beforehand helped as well, though I felt my partner was not supportive.

Barrios and Barriers Event was engaging and stressful for me. Coming from NY and NJ, I’m used to more solidarity among different groups of people. It feels more segregated here than South Florida. There are different issues here because of the border to Mexico. This is the first time I’m meeting Native Americans and that’s been enlightening. I’m glad I grew up in a diverse community.

On a final note, I’d like to mention how wonderful the teacher Michelle Borowski is. She’s the third teacher I’ve helped in the same ELAA 40 class and the best. I’m learning so much from her. She’s a kind soul. Also, all the teachers that filled out paper work for me to take the course for the TESOL certificate…Christy Schramski, Jennifer Makowsky, and Sarah Fearnow. The grant was given to me by Arizona One-Stop. It took many months to get the C.E.S.L. school on their list for professional training. Hopefully, other people will take advantage of it.

Thank you for the opportunity to serve in AmeriCorps.