Breakthrough Greater Boston Service-Learning
Creators: Katherine Hall
A brief description of my experiences volunteering with Breakthrough Greater Boston this semester as part of my Human Services Professions course, and an analysis of the learning curve involved in the experience through the lens of the Self-Authored Integrated Learning Model.
My service-learning partnership with Breakthrough Greater Boston at Boston Community Leadership Academy has been a truly academically enriching experience. Since October 16th, I have served as an Academic Mentor for their after-school program every Tuesday from 2:45 to 4:30 pm. For the first two sessions, I was matched with one 8th grade student and
after that, the director of the program asked me to mentor her twin sister as well.
The schedule of the after-school program is generally the same each week. From 3:10 to 3:30 the students are signed in, get a snack, and choose between three activities. These options include football, step dancing, and games. As an academic mentor, I get to float between activities, building relationships with students and encouraging their engagement in whichever activity they chose. After 3:30, the students go to their respective advisories with their mentors.
At the first session of the after-school program, Michael and the other director, Lindsey, clearly expresses the expectations for the mentors and the mentees. Before the students arrived, Michael led me through a brief training session on what Breakthrough does, and how my role is involved in their goals for the students. Once the students arrived, he presented a PowerPoint to them about what is expected of the students and how this semester of programming would work. The rules and expectations were very clearly communicated to both the students and the mentors, and prepared everyone well for the first advisory session. Michael took a very hands-off approach during advisory, which allowed me to build a relationship with my student(s) and build my skills as a mentor. If I ever really needed help, I could contact him. However, I was given complete autonomy during the session to choose a lesson plan and execute it on my own.
During my time with Breakthrough, the Self-Authored Integrated Learning (SAIL) attributes that I have utilized the most are Comfort with Ambiguity, Open-Mindedness, and Communication. When I came into each session, I did not know which subject we would be working on, let alone the specific assignment. I had to be comfortable not knowing what we would be working on and using quick thinking to be able to create and adjust a plan for the day within minutes of arriving. I also tried to go into each session with an open mind, so that I could learn from the students just as much as they learned from me. A perfect example of this is when one of the students approached me during free time and asked if I had ever done step dancing before. I had not, but I tried it because the student asked me to do it with her. It ended up being a great experience where the students could show me something they were passionate about.
Communication was a key part of effectively completing my service-learning hours at Breakthrough. Often times the reason my student was not understanding the material in class was because she didn’t understand the way her teacher was explaining the material. I had to test out and try various new ways to explain the material to her so that she could master the material. One of my favorite moments from service-learning was when my student finally understood her math homework and exclaimed “That makes so much sense! I don’t know why my teacher didn’t explain it like that”. This showed me that I was communicating effectively, and therefore having a successful session with my mentee.
I learned that being a mentor is much more than just being an academic tutor. My role as a mentor combined the responsibilities and authority of a teacher, the compassion and understanding of a friend, on top of the academic knowledge of a tutor. Part of this learning curve involved me developing a particular type of leadership. Although I wanted to be their friend, I also needed to use my authority to take charge with my students if they were losing focus. It was sometimes difficult to be firm with them to keep them on task, but as the sessions went on I was more comfortable being in that position of authority. I found a way to balance being someone they felt they could talk to about issues outside of school, but also someone that would keep them on task and focused on getting their work done.
Learning the value of being a mentor will be important as I enter a career in human services. Often, someone is more likely to listen to your advisement if you are able to build a relationship with them. If they feel that they are being heard and understood, they are more likely to be willing to listen to you and understand that you are trying to help them. A mentor does a very good job of this, and these skills can be applied in many areas of human services work.
This experience also enhanced my understanding of other foundational masteries of the SAIL model, specifically Teamwork, Creative Thinking, and Mindfulness. Seeing how all the volunteers, employees, and directors of Breakthrough work together to give the students the academic opportunities they deserve was refreshing and encouraging. We relied on our leaders to teach us about our role in the Breakthrough program, but the directors also relied on us to effectively mentor the kids they have known for years. My creative thinking skills were improved as I had to develop lesson plans on the spot for my mentees. Overall, this experience taught me to always employ mindfulness. I learned to always keep in the back of my mind all the obstacles my mentees were facing that might lead them to not do as well in school. Many of them came from immigrant families, low-income neighborhoods, or single-parent households. I had to be mindful of these outside stressors that were huge parts of their lives. Not only is this mindfulness applicable to this experience, but also to everyday life. You cannot know what each person you encounter is faced with in their life, so you should always treat them with kindness and respect.
This service-learning experience has enhanced my understanding of Teamwork, Communication, Comfort with Ambiguity, Mindfulness, and so much more. I am grateful for the experiences I was able to share this semester with Breakthrough Greater Boston and I look forward to continuing to volunteer with them in the future.