Young Teachers

Well, I had my learning moment very clearly today. I was sitting in a classroom, with my legs under a desk that only just fit over the top of them. I had two fourth grade girls explaining new words from other countries to me. Back to school I guess...

I have found that I really love doing volunteer work. As much as I want to say that I do it because I "love to help others," as the standard response would go, I do volunteer work selfishly. Is that even possible? I do volunteer work because I like to feel busy, I like to be productive, basically because it keeps my mind alert. I have met so many wonderful people and had so many exciting experiences through volunteer work that I can't say I do it for other people because I have gotten so much out of it for myself. Currently, I am leading a Girl Scout Troop of third and fourth grade girls with a friend of mine. We've been with these girls since the beginning of this school year, so at this point, we know them pretty well.

One of the badges that we have been working on is teaching them about world cultures other than their own. After my co-leader read them a story about paper cranes in Japan (which I learned is Japan's national sign for peace, thanks to another teacher today!) we let two girls talk about experiences they had had with cultures that were new to us. One girl talked about spending her summers in Egypt with a relative. After an interesting description of the turmoil that happened just recently in Egypt, she began to explain how frustrated she got when she was not allowed to walk on the grass, ever. I'm not sure how much of what she described were just rules that were set for her by her family and how much came from a cultural/environmental practice. She even went so far as to explain that while the people in Egypt were protesting, they all stayed on the pavement and off the grass. It is interesting to see how a child uses her experiences with what she sees on TV.  After her explanation of the culture, she taught us how to say "let's go," (YaLLah) "goodbye," (ma'a salama) and "thank you," (shokran). After she finished, another one of the girls talked about her father's family, who was raised (I think) in Algeria. She taught us a little bit of Arabic and some French. I wish I could describe what she talked about, but unfortunately I had to chastise some other girls for being rude and not listening. Ironic, that by scolding them I was then doing what they got in trouble for.

While going back and trying to remember all of the words that the girls taught me today, I realized that doing a Google search is how I get a great deal of my information. I'm not sure if this means that I should be thankful that I have that resource or if it means that I should be more careful, double checking my information with more educational sources. (AKA not Ask.com or Yahoo Answers) I'm even skeptical when I use Wikipedia. (even though I swear by it!) Not because I'm worried about getting incorrect information (I'm actually convinced that an encyclopedia that is edited by the public on a regular basis will ALWAYS be more up to date and correct than an old dusty encyclopedia on a library shelf.) but because I'm afraid that other people won't trust me as a reliable source if they find out that I use Wikipedia. I don't know, what are your thoughts on Wikipedia? I know my teachers always warned against using it, but I think that it is a fantastic jumping off point if you just need to know the basics about something. Along the same lines, what qualities do you look for in a person before you consider them to be a reliable source of information?