1/28/15 Workshop Casa Latina Sarah White

Location: Casa Latina

Date: 1/28/2015

Time: 5 to 7pm

Overview:

Technical difficulties got me down from the get-go. I forgot to print my lesson plan, and it took me quite some time to do that from a Casa Latina computer for this reason and that. Then I couldn't show the videos that I'd planned to show because the laptops didn't have Adobe Flash player, and I wasn't given the password to download programs.

During the lesson, people were coming and going at different times, and adults and children alike were having meltdowns. I was finding it all distracting -- not sure if participants were feeling the same way or not.

The videos were about scams on Craigslist. Luckily, one of the participants had some experience with those and was able to share. (She's such a great person to have in class, and we're lucky to have her.)

I think also Craigslist ended up being a difficult topic to teach. Navigating the website required some foundational skills. Some people had them, some didn't. And though I took copious notes on how to set up language settings and translation in Google Chrome, I managed to overlook the most obvious way to translate the website. 

I was also thinking about how much to assert myself at the front of the class. For the first part of class, I don't think anyone needs to be touching their technology. It's distracting! Let's just have a discussion and then take a look at some demos on the projector before we get lost in handheld tech. Maybe I'll try shutting the lights off in the room? I was just co-teaching an SCC class on using library databases with a librarian, and she said in a strong voice (almost the type of voice a mother uses when she wants you to clean your room), "I know there are computers in front of you, but we're not using them yet, so I need you to look at me!" I don't think I have the benefit of age to get away with that statement in that tone.

Besides, I am trying to break down the power dynamic with teacher-as-expert, and students as passive listeners. But, at the same time, I don't want the class to devolve into chaos. I need to find that place where I can keep everything moving in a positive direction without forcing it....seeking balance.

1/21/2015 Casa Latina Workshop Brad Holland

Location: Casa Latina
Date: 1/21/2015
Time: 5:00 PM

Today the women in the adult digital literacy workshop worked on making personal business cards. There were not many attendees (I believe only 5) so Ivette, Sarah and I were able to offer more personal help when needed. Having one-on-one conversations with some of the women stretched my brain and seriously tested the limits of my knowledge of Spanish. Fortunately, they are all very considerate and understanding of the language barrier, and for that I am immensely grateful.

While I may not be the most competent person in Spanish communication, my tech support skills paid off today when one woman needed her computer to be cleaned up. She had some adware and pesky browser modifications that hindered web searching, which made her technology experience more challenging than it needed to be. Given about 15 minutes, I cleaned everything up so that she could move on and get back to learning the technology literacy skills.

I believe this is a prime example of how everybody has something to offer when volunteering is concerned. I enjoy being able to use my skills for the benefit of others, and in situations like this one I understand that I should not feel unhelpful to the project just because I do not speak Spanish very well. I feel that I am finally getting my feet wet as a member of this project, and I am excited to see where the next few weeks take me.

1/21/15 Casa Latina Workshop Sarah

Location: Casa Latina

Date: 1/21/2014

Time: 5 to 7

Overview: 

I'll admit I was quite tired on Wednesday, and happy that Ivette was leading the workshop and that the attendance wasn't very high.  I'll have a double cappuccino before we head to Federal Way!

Students got quite experimental looking on Google for business card templates, and waded into area we didn't know much about. Two students successfully designed business cards. A third already had a design she liked. A fourth got bogged down in google searches for just the right picture, layout, etc. Who hasn't gone down that path? It makes me think of Berkowitz and Eisenberg's Big 6 skills for solving information problems: 

1. Task Definition: Define the information problem; Identify information needed
2. Information Seeking Strategies: Determine all possible sources; Select the best sources
3. Location and Access: Locate sources (intellectually and physically); Find information within sources
4. Use of Information: Engage (e.g., read, hear, view, touch); Extract relevant information
5. Synthesis: Organize from multiple sources; Present the information
6. Evaluation: Judge the product (effectiveness), Judge the process (efficiency)
See: http://big6.com/pages/about/big6-skills-overview.php

Perhaps she was having trouble transitioning into step 5. In any project, I always have trouble starting step 5. Synthesis hurts my brain. If this comes up in a workshop again, I'll be more proactive with helping to start the Synthesizing!

Reflections on the project:
Ivette and I have synchronously been sharing thoughts, but I think it was confirmed at our meeting. As she's been moving into a more "coordinating" role, I began to wonder if I couldn't better serve the project by focusing on teaching during Spring quarter, rather than writing up the lessons. I'll admit that teaching makes me inordinately anxious, even after all these years. Please excuse any lapses in decorum as I deal with my stage fright.

I'm also starting my lit review for Capstone, and I'm happy that Ivette gave me lots of leads, and we have the annotated bibliography for class as well.

Ivette's comment about her exchange with a fellow Ph.D. student made me think about the relationships between "front-line" service providers, administrators, and academics/researchers. There's definitely attitudes and narratives in each tribe both about themselves and each other. When I worked at the Literacy Volunteers, we talked amongst ourselves about "being in the trenches" as a badge of pride. So to my fellow service-learners: here's to the trenches!

1/21/2015 Casa Latina Workshop Klarissa

Location: Casa Latina

Date: 1/21/2015

Time: 5pm

Today was an interesting day with the children. Will and I were with them. We just received mini-iPads, along with Tiggly counts and Osmo, some interactive attachments to the tablets. Luckily, there were three iPads and three children. We will have to workout a sharing strategy for times when this is not the case. We did not focus on any VIEWS2 skills. The kids were incredibly, and almost solely, interested in playing on the tablets. We did not have any infants or toddlers this week, which allowed us to be focused on helping them learn the games and engage in conversation with the kids.

Having just received them before the workshop, we didn’t have time to play with them ourselves beforehand and become familiar with Osmo or Tiggly. But its usually my experience that children are very fast at figuring out how things work. I didn’t get to see them play with Tiggly, but my impression is that it didn’t work terribly well. There are magnets which the screen is supposed to respond to, and it seemed like that didn’t happen always. The word game on Osmo was the biggest hit and I’ll have to admit that it was actually a bit difficult as you got further into the game. (a picture of a tree house was supposed to give us a clue to the word ‘door,’ which was not any of our guesses). The word game can be played with a couple people, which is great, because there is only one Osmo device. Still, three people is a bit much, so one is left out. Another complication to the sharing strategy.

At some point they asked about downloading other apps, especially Candy Crush and one that has to do with makeup. Intially we agreed to these, as age-appropriate, but they are not really learning apps. So we told them that next week we would have to stick to apps that are educational. I was a bit surprised that rather than being upset by this or trying to argue that these apps could be educational, they started to show up the apps they use at school. We had some trouble getting them set up on the math app their school uses, as it asks for school IDs but one of the kids figured it out and helped his sister. By the time they were about to leave, they were writing math problems on the white board.

Before next week, we should look up and vet educational apps, to have ready. 

We also did not plan a craft this week, so we tried origami because we had the paper and some instruction books with us. But we didn’t try this out before, either, so we had a few frustrations. I did manage to make a penguin. The kids glued googly eyes to their penguins, so cute! 

So I learned that some planning is important, even with the goal of flexibility.

1/14/2015 Casa Latina Workshop Klarissa

Location: Casa Latina

Date: 1/14/2015

Time: 5pm

Today Ivette and I were with the kids. We tried and did make maracas out of toilet paper rolls. Sealing the ends was difficult though. I thought perhaps we could use plastic wrap and rubber bands but thought against it. I also thought the glue would hold construction paper to the tubes, but glue sticks are not very strong. Finally, we glued construction paper over the ends of the tubes and but a rubber band around it to hold it until the glue stuck better. That worked.

Ivette and I looked up interactional songs while we were there but the kids were not terribly interested. With a two under 1, we also found out that we need some toys geared towards the younger ones. Craft parts are small, and almost everything wants to go in the mouth. Even things that are not too small, like the balls we roll on the floor, well we roll them on the floor and we don’t clean them. We tried a story time, but the small ones would rather flip the pages or chew- cluing us in that we need more age appropriate books as well. 

1/7/2015 Casa Latina Workshop Klarissa

Location: Casa Latina

Date: 1/7/2015

Time: 5pm 

I was with the children today. I was nervous before hand because Jen and Xochitl were not here, and I realized I would have to take over the children’s program the night before. I have never done professional childcare or storytime, and was unsure of how to go about planning activities. As usual however, worry turned out to be unnecessary. Following Ivette’s advice after our trial runs last month, I picked a VIEWS2 focus (phonetic awareness). I found a few songs that pay attention to vowel sounds or rhyming, and thought about how we can ask questions while playing that focus on phonetics.

 Ivette and Willa were with me in the children’s room. We had quite a few kids this week! With this experience and the last one, it seems we will have a few under 18 months, who require more one on one attention. I realized that the older kids are happy to entertain themselves, but also willing to help with the small ones. Like last time, we did not really get a structure established, there was a lot of free play, and no storytime. But rather than feeling failed because we didn’t get to the planned activities, I felt okay with that. Instead we focused, even in play, on asking about spelling and sounds, or even just asking probing questions about what they’re playing with.

I’m excited to be back this quarter and to see these workshops take off after our planning last quarter!

01/22/2015 Casa Latina Workshop Ivette

Location:     Casa Latina                 

Describe Context – Working in the Adult Digital Literacy workshop today.  4 women attended and the topic was creating business cards. 

           

Date:1/21/2015

Name: Ivette Bayo Urban

List things that happened today:

Left UW campus late which meant the mobile group arrived at Casa Latina at 5:10.
Sarah had computer lab set up and only 3 women in attendance at that point.
Checked in with mujeres and they wanted to explore making business cards.
Brad finished setting up the adult tablets.
Klarissa and Willa were able to unfold the ipad minis and new apps with the youth as well as do origami.
We had another Mujer show up, she had already created her business card but unable to print because she lacked the right paper.  
3 of the 4 women completed their business cards during the time in the class.

In the news:

Our Feb schedule and flyers were delivered to Casa Latina.

List Action Items from workshop:

• Print and deliver business cards to women next class.
• Email Gilda calendar for Feb workshop and topics.  
• Go to MSF to share information about the Latina Tech workshops and Feb.
• Make a tech inventory list inside of the bins, laminate and tape.
• Update website.

  Things to look up, check out and explore:

•  Set up meeting and site visit for Douglass-Truth Branch
  

Describe an important an evocative social interaction that happened today:

 

On campus today as I was preparing for the UW class a colleague stopped and asked how things were going.  I said great, shared some information about the diverse students I am working with and the tentacles of the project, including capstone teams, little free library and so forth. The colleagues says something along the lines of, "sounds like all you are doing is volunteer management."
At the moment she said it, I knodded and went on my way.  But as time passed I realized the perception that this work is not seen as neither teaching nor scholarship first (though definitely elements of that cannot be questioned) but as community work first.  And I started to think about that and the realities embedded in this vision of community work, community partnership and the heavy lifting needed to level the playing field, if you will and restructure the power and privilege to its rightful location.  Now I totally get that on the surface, it may appear like that is ALL I am doing, but just a little focus and dialogue and there is so much there that can go unseen, unnoticed and undervalued.  Similar to the work that marginalized populations do on a regular and constant basis with trying to making ends meet, learning multiple forms of navigating the world, inside, outside, within and around the power structures and learning to not only manage but to thrive, despite the patholigization of the "how" they manage it. 

Describe a success.

We managed another day in dialogue, being mindful and present (even if it was a bit messy and not as organized as I would have liked). 

Describe a failure.  What fell through the cracks?

Given the things on my plate, I realize I am currently better suited to support the project by a secondary facilitator role than as the lead.

Despite having done the workshop on business cards in the past, I felt as though my personal stresses of the past few weeks took a toll and I did not engage the women in the critical dialogue as I would have liked, have imagined and have done in the past.  While we were still able to accomplish our task, I had not anticipated the added stress with the technology - nothing that I tried to accomplish with technology was working and I was totally frustrated.  I wanted to work with my mac, the platform that was familiar and that I knew how to navigate well and this was not the case. 

What surprised me the most?

Despite my technological cluster mess in front of the Mujeres - I think there was some unintended learning that took place.  I think that I performed the role of frustrated mujer using technology better than I ever have and granted it was not just a performance, but a genuine 'nothing is working for me' kind of day.  Several students had to intervene and help with troubleshooting, including issues that I know how to troubleshoot myself. 

Reflections

I recall a Mujeres Sin Fronteras meeting months ago in which the person leading the workshop, a woman of the community,  was performing this same patholigization of Othering, the imaginary women they were describing, as we were discussing ways to learn and grow related to comfort zones and moving beyond them.  It is hard not to perpetuate this sort othering, unintentionally, as a way to talk about personal development.  But until you have walked in someone elses' shoes and carried the weight of all their identities, values, and responsibilities we need to take a step back and see that we always only have part of the story - there is always more, a lifetime, a generation, intergenerational things of more.  

I recently read an article on historical trauma and I could not help but take into account the  unseen and unrecognized violences that women face. 

According to Schuler*, there are four main categories of gendered violence and they occur in 3 main contexts:

Four Major Categories of Gender Violence:

1. overt physical abuse
2. psychological abuse
3. deprivation of resources for physical and psychological well being
4. commodification of women

Three Contexts:

1. Family (through socialization in hierarchical relations) 
2. Community (i.e. social, economic, religious, cultural institutions) 
3. State (policies and laws, military and police)

In the past few weeks, I have been doing a lot of thinking and reflecting about the coping mechanisms that we as women in particular have and make to handle stress and life challenges and prioritize information as it relates to our current situations.  This is something that I can theorize through my lived experiences as a young, unmarried, single mother who wanted nothing more than to provide a better life for her son.  Here we are, 19 years later and I'm still finding ways to cope and provide balance even in the absence of it.  We all have personal coping mechanism though we don't employ them in the same way, at the same time or necessarily for the same reasons since we are in fact individuals.    

I often hear people say in passing, 'I don't know how he/she does it, I couldn't do xyz'.  I too have been guilty of using this phrase, but when push comes to shove, we find ways to move mountains and make things happen that need to happen in order to survive and even thrive for ourselves and for those around us.  

The women at Casa are luchadoras.  They are inspirations of hope, love, courage and sincere desire. Each day I am amazed at the willingness to step outside of their comfort zones and work towards a society that is a little more just than the one we inhabit.  They are caring, insightful and provide a space in where I can be my whole self.  Where the priorities and challenges I have as a mom, are applauded and celebrated, and not seen as a crutch.  

They are similar and different to the women in my own family, to the women whose children I have taught in middle schools, and similar to the newly arrive Cuban immigrants from my days working at IRC Miami.  They have a 'CAN DO, MUST DO' attitude and no matter the challenge, are willing to sacrifice and fight to accomplish what they feel is in the best interest of their children.  

Being part of this invisible community, of this unspoken network of madres luchadoras, is humbling and eye opening.  Being part of this community means that reflections of our own work and sacrifice seem insignificant compared to the love, opportunity and responsibility we have on our shoulders.  

*Schuler, Margaret (1992).  Violence against women: An international perspective.  Ch. 1 in Margaret Schuler (Ed.), Freedom from violence:  Women’s strategies from around the world  (pp. 1-45).  NY:  OEF International, Unifem. [NOTE: pp. 1-18]

1/21/2015 Casa Latina Workshop Willa

Casa Latina
January 21st, 2015
4:30 PM  - 7:15 PM

Ivette, Brad, Klarissa, and I left from the University Washington around 4:30. We had previously been working on setting up the tablets for the children. Ivette had purchased three iPad minis for the children along with a couple games such as Osmo Words, Osmo Tangrams, and Tiggly. I set up the iPad minis with no passcodes so that it would be easy for anyone to use them. I think it allows for greater freedom of use: where one does not need to ask to use the technology, but know that s/he can use it as her/his leisure. I also made sure the location services and automatic diagnostic reporting were turned off because it helps put an additional barrier between the children's privacy and big data information. I also set up an Apple ID so that the apps that we download on one iPad would automatically be downloaded onto all of them.  I also set up restrictions so that no one could download music, videos, and podcasts. Also, in restrictions, I made restricted the adult content. I am not particularly worried about the children misusing the technology, but I would rather be on the safe side.

I worked with the children literacy program. The theme for the day was origami. However, initially, the children were more interested in playing with the iPads. There were only three children and so each could play with an iPad. We played with the tangrams first, but it was hard to tell whether or not the camera could see the pieces we were playing with. It started to get frustrating before I realized that the camera needed to be repositioned. By that time, the children were uninterested in playing with it. Then we also played with words, which was much more successful. The only issue with the Osmo apps is that you have to take the iPads out of their cases before use. We also played with the Tiggly apps. The tactile counting aids were really hard to work with and I'm still not sure how to use them. This was also frustrating with the kids.

Once they had tried all of the apps we had already downloaded, they had their own ideas of what to play including: Candy Crush, a make up game, and AngryBirds. Initially, I downloaded them, but I will remove them next week because I realized that the apps should be more focused on learning and less on play. After I explained that to the kids, they started to suggest apps and programs that they had encountered at school.

Towards the end of the time, we did do some origami. We made penguins, which was fun but also confusing. The kids were all really patient during the learning and adapting process.

1/14/2015 Casa Latina Workshop Willa

Casa Latina

January 14^th, 2014

4:30 PM – 7:15 PM

            Ivette, Brad, Klarissa, and I left for Casa Latina after class. The theme for this week’s workshop was accessing and using emails. This week I worked with the adult digital literacy class. I also worked on setting up the tablets with Brad. I set up the two iPads. When I finished, a man walked in that needed help accessing his email account. I worked one on one with him. The first step was making sure that his computer was connected to the Internet and that it would connect automatically. This way he wouldn’t need to reconnect to the Casa Latina’s network again. Next we worked on figuring out his email password. He had forgotten it. Luckily, when he set up his email, he put in his cell phone number for password recovery. Then we accessed his Skype and Facebook. We made sure that his password is the same for all of these services so that it would be less likely to be forgotten. Then I had him reaccess all of the things we discussed by himself. I hope that by doing this he would be able to access them without help. I was also able to set his Gmail account to Spanish language so that it would make using his email easier.

            It was great to work with him because when we started he did not seem to be able to even open his web browser. He also did not speak much English, but after I showed him Google Translate that would pronounce the words for him, he seemed really thrilled about using that feature in the future.

1/13/2015 Casa Latina Meeting Willa

Casa Latina

January 13^th, 2015

8:10 AM – 12:00 PM

            Ivette and I met with Emily Gaggia at Casa Latina to discuss the progress of the workshops. Emily needs all of the information about the volunteer hours, reflections, and materials by the end of January. We also discussed what type of technology to purchase for the children. One of the ideas was buying stop motion cameras and software. However, we thought that it might be too complex and perhaps frustrating for the amount of time we have during each workshops. I think that we should buy digital cameras, printers, and the proposed tablets because we know how to use those. We have a better chance of teaching them to use it. We also discussed gift cards for the staff members who also volunteered. We were thinking of $30 gift cards to Target or Fred Meyer’s. We were able to talk with Araceli over the phone as well as when she arrived later.

            After our meeting with Emily and Araceli, Ivette and I went downstairs to talk with Sierra about advertising the workshops on the Casa Latina’s Facebook. While there, Kasey also walked in. We talked with them for a while about the grant as well as the aims of the workshops. We also talked about our website and adding a link to Facebook. They wanted us to change our wording about Casa Latina on our website. It was great to meet with both of them and get their feedback. It was also really good to meet with them face to face because now we have that connection that we can draw upon.

1/7/2015 Casa Latina Workshop Willa

Casa Latina

January 7^th, 2015

4:15 PM – 7:00 PM

            Ivette, Stephen, Klarissa, and I left for Casa Latina after our class. We discussed the class plan for the day about Dropboxes and backing up information. We also discussed the activities for the children. The theme for the day with the children was playing with the alphabet.

            After we got to Casa, Ivette, Klarissa, and I worked with the children. There were too many children for a truly organized activity. I worked with one girl on her math homework – division. We worked out a lot of the math equations on the white board. I could tell that she had a hard time focusing on her homework, especially with all of the other things that were going on. However, once she started working out the board, she was able to focus more. By the end, she was solving the questions faster.

I also tried to play some word games with another girl. We spelled out the names of our family members on the white board.

I also noticed that with the babies, their older siblings were ready to take care of them and make sure they were happy. The responsibility the older children assumed helped s and also showed one of the ways the babies will learn in the future. They will follow their brothers and sisters.

            

1/6/2015 Federal Way Library Visit Willa

Time and Location:

Federal Way Library Reflection

January 6^th, 2015

8:10 AM to 12:15 PM

            Ivette and I drove to the Federal Way Library in her tiny, but loud, old VW bug. In between the loud vrooms, we talked about the plan for the meeting with Catherine Lord and Edna. Our approach, as it has been throughout the project, is to start where we are, which means that instead of bringing any kind of definite plans to the table, we wanted to have an open discussion about what the library could offer and what we could offer in return in order to create a successful partnership. Our only steadfast requirements are a workspace for the people, childcare for their children, the requisite technology, and volunteers to help.

            The library has a beautiful space with large windows that allow viewers to see the forestry outside. It is also a large space with many computers and books of course. After we arrived, we looked at the meeting rooms where we would be holding the workshops as well as providing educational activities for the children.

I think that the future workshops at the Federal Way Branch library will be incredibly successful because of the enthusiasm of Catherine and Edna. Furthermore, they had a lot of different avenues for spreading the word about the February programs.

            Afterwards, Ivette and I headed back to Seattle and stopped by a coffee shop to discuss the blog and reflection posting for the class. We also talked about a way organize the posts using tagging.

1/14/2015 Casa Latina Workshop Sarah

Location:     Casa Latina                

Describe Context – Small classroom 303 (ESL room). Table is a bit crowded, room gets warm.

          

Date: 1/14/15

Name: Sarah White

List things that happened today:

Arrived @ 4:15, printed out a few handouts re: dropbox and a lesson plan (which I didn’t really use…), then got keys, snacks and laptops and set up the room.

The new student came a few minutes early and we chatted for a bit. Someone gave her an older laptop, and she told me she only knew how to turn it on. She also recently began using her Windows phone.

After everyone arrived, I asked them what they wanted to know about email.

The new student wanted to know how to check her email on her new phone.

Several were interested in organizing email in folders, while others were interested in attaching photos.

I asked Freddy to help the new student with her phone, and when he left I asked Brad.

While he was doing that I demonstrated creating folders, manually moving email into folders, and creating rules for putting email into folders. We practiced that for a bit. A student who always uses her phone was able to figure out how to translate the directions onto her phone. I offered to give her a laptop, but she preferred her phone.

I also demonstrated attaching photos. While doing that, I showed how to cc and bcc, which students were rather interested in. S.’s practiced that for a bit.

Another new student arrived when we were in the middle of the demonstration. I greeted him, and then asked Willa if she could sit next to him and see where he was at.

It got a bit noisy and disjointed, and the two new students were doing their own thing.

I suggested we practice typing for a bit, because it seemed like something everyone could work on together. But the new students were quite engaged with Brad and Willa in tasks that interested them, and didn’t want to type. I’m never one to force the issue.

Students typed for a bit. The student who usually uses her phone said she would continue to practice (I’m guessing the keyboard is a barrier to using a laptop for her). After a bit they got quite chatty, so I thought the activity had run its course. A couple people said they would practice at home. I wanted to think of something semi-independent that the “regular” students could work on, because I wanted some time to talk to the new students a bit. I felt like I had been ignoring them, and I wanted them to feel welcome for their first class. One student was also taking care of her baby and I thought a semi-independent task would create a more decentralized class that might make her more comfortable focusing on the baby's needs.

I showed students the gcfaprendelibre.org site. I showed them a few tutorials. One student was interested in the Math tutorials because her older daughter needs help with math, and she is confused by how her daughter’s teacher teaches it. I had planned to show another student the online excel course, so that she could share it with her daughter (who had previously expressed interest in Excel), but she didn’t attend. Anyway, I asked students to choose a tutorial to begin. They had 15-20 min. to work on it. Then I said in the last few minutes of class we’d share something we’d learned.

I then went to talk to the new students (a husband and wife). Brad needed me to explain the problem with checking email on her phone. Apparently it wasn’t something that could be fixed in today’s session. I wanted her to be able to walk away with one positive thing that she’d learned, though, so that she wouldn’t leave feeling like technology was frustrating. So I gave her instructions on how to check email on her laptop (I explained it, she did all the actions herself.) She hadn’t been able to read emails for some time, so she was engaged reading emails for the last 15 minutes of class.

There was a brief discussion about cost of wi-fi in the home. After that, everyone shared one thing they’d learned.

It was a fairly noisy and casual classroom – that turns some people off, so in the final feedback, I was trying to get a sense of how the participants felt about it. (While adults tend to be polite, sometimes they’ll couch complaints in the final feedback.) They seemed to enjoy the casual nature and had positive things to say. My guess is that they prefer to chat while working on tasks, and reserve things that require more quiet concentration for when they are home alone.  

List Action Items from workshop:

Since I find myself not using my lesson plans much, I trying to imagine the final “product” that documents our work and will be for handing off to future volunteers. Rather than a packet of lesson plans, perhaps it will be a manual on “how to plan without planning.” Perhaps I’ll try to give people a lesson plan template for planning on the fly along with a resource list.  

Things to look up, check out and explore:

Think about the next women's advisory meeting. 

I somehow didn’t let it enter into my conscious mind that I need to write a 10 to 15 page lit. review for Capstone planning in the next few weeks. Hopefully can touch base with Ivette on that – we can sync up our research/pedagogical vision.

Also thinking of adjusting the scope of Capstone so that it lines up more closely with grant’s timetable – hopefully can chat w/ Ivette about that as well.

Re: Ivette’s comment on need for driver – I don’t drive; long story.  Isn’t the librarian going to lead the session on 2-4? If it’s just a matter of introducing him/her, supporting, and wrapping the session up at the end, that’s no problem for me.

I wanted to share this to brighten up our short winter days: http://youtu.be/lH0p22JVK2o 

1/14/15 Brad reflections

Location:  Casa Latina     

               

Date: January 14^th, 2015  

Name: Brad Holland         

List things that happened today:

I rode with Ivette and the other students to casa, arriving at 5pm.

After quick introductions with Sarah and some of the women, Willa and I went to find the technology supplies in the other room.

Willa and I began to set up the tablets for the women to use; Willa was responsible for the iPads while I took on the Android tablets.

For the first 45 Minutes or so, I worked on setting up the eight android tablets for use. This involved changing the time zone, language settings, and applying software updates to the tablets.

Eventually, Sarah needed my help with assisting one woman figure out how to create new folders on her email application on her smartphone.

After this was finished, I resumed working on the tablets until I had to help Freddy figure out how to use a Gmail address on windows phone. This issue was tricky and took most of the remaining workshop time.

In the news:

N/A

List Action Items from workshop:

The woman who was having trouble figure out her Microsoft account needs to bring her old password from home so we can access the account settings.

Things to look up, check out and explore:

Review common technological terms in Spanish so I have a larger vocabulary.

Describe an important an evocative social interaction that happened today:

The first time I assisted one of the women with a technology question was a very heartwarming experience. She seemed genuinely appreciative of my help, and was understanding of the language barrier. It has been almost a year since I last participated in a volunteer project, and the familiar warm, fuzzy feeling of helping others came back all in a rush during this workshop.

Describe a success.

I completed setting up all 8 tablets and successfully updated their software. The next step is to figure out which 3^rd party apps they need to install.

Describe a failure.  What fell through the cracks?

At one point I needed to explain a complex concept to one of the women, but my Spanish was not developed enough to accurately communicate this across. I had to explain the situation to Sarah in English so that she could translate for me.

What surprised me the most?

How enthusiastic these women are in learning new technology literacy.

Reflections

The language barrier is going to continue being a challenge. However, I enjoy having to stretch myself and learn new things as I go along so this obstacle will only be a positive one in the end.