Kenta Ferrin -- CIC Counselor and Teacher
The following post is written by Kenta Ferin. Kenta was a CIC counselor in 2006 and then entered the Teach For America program. Kenta returns to CIC this summer.
“Mr. FERRIN!!! AHHH. Mr. FERRIN!!! I HATE SCIENCE. I CAN’T DO THIS. I DON’T WANNA BE HERE.” Wow, the first two things that popped into my head on my first day of teaching were, “Who is Mr. Ferrin?” and “What did I just get myself into?”
Well, Mr. Ferrin was me, Skip Kenta (last name) Ferrin. I had just started on my two year contract of teaching in a low-income Title I school with the national organization, Teach For America. I was lucky enough to be placed on the North Shore of Oahu, not too much to complain about there. Beautiful skies to soul search, huge waves to soul surf, and big mountains to look upon. However, I was given the biggest challenge of my entire life…to teach 180 6th graders the ins and outs of Physical Science. I had just graduated college in Virginia…with a Bachelor of Arts in Communication. How in the world was I going to do this? In addition to full-time teaching, I was required to enroll into the University of Hawai’i to obtain my Masters of Education, which I was to complete through night courses. Was anyone aware that there are only 24 hours in a day?
Thus began the beginning of my Teach For America journey. Everyday I woke up to teach classrooms with too many students and not enough chairs, a subject that I had no grasp upon. I had no idea where my beakers were or what they looked like. I spent all night researching atoms, energy, and the periodic table, and simultaneously switched off to finish the research papers and lesson plans that my professors had assigned to fulfill my University of Hawai’i requirements.
Well…let’s just say that first year flew. And did my students learn anything? I HAVE NO IDEA. Sure, the majority passed the end of year test analyzing their content knowledge. But that is not what I cared about. What I cared about is whether or not my students learned about friendships, relationships, sharing, caring, failure, achievement, and, most importantly, the desire to be a well rounded citizen that would some day have the ability to take his or her own learning into his or her own hands.
And let me tell you one thing, those essential skills, those skills needed to have a child become a better citizen, are most easily learned at a place where “standards”, and “curriculum” do not have an iron grip on their ability to learn, but in a place where creativity, play, learning, physical activity, friends, enemies, frenemies, and the like all gather in one place. This place would be camp.
All children deserve the right to the best education possible, which is the belief that pointed me towards Teach For America in the first place. However, my two years in the classroom have reinforced the notion that the best education can occur, and does occur, during the one week, two weeks, three weeks, four weeks, or eight weeks a child spends at a summer camp (specifically Catalina Island Camps!).
Fast forward to the current day and I am a little less than 4 months from the end of my Teach For America commitment, and a little less than 4 months to another beautiful summer at Catalina. I cannot wait for the sugar rushes, snooze you lose, early morning PBA, making friendships that will last forever, and most importantly, watching campers change and grow into confident, caring, well-rounded future bloggers.
“Mr. FERRIN!!! AHHH. Mr. FERRIN!!! I HATE SCIENCE. I CAN’T DO THIS. I DON’T WANNA BE HERE.” Wow, the first two things that popped into my head on my first day of teaching were, “Who is Mr. Ferrin?” and “What did I just get myself into?”
Well, Mr. Ferrin was me, Skip Kenta (last name) Ferrin. I had just started on my two year contract of teaching in a low-income Title I school with the national organization, Teach For America. I was lucky enough to be placed on the North Shore of Oahu, not too much to complain about there. Beautiful skies to soul search, huge waves to soul surf, and big mountains to look upon. However, I was given the biggest challenge of my entire life…to teach 180 6th graders the ins and outs of Physical Science. I had just graduated college in Virginia…with a Bachelor of Arts in Communication. How in the world was I going to do this? In addition to full-time teaching, I was required to enroll into the University of Hawai’i to obtain my Masters of Education, which I was to complete through night courses. Was anyone aware that there are only 24 hours in a day?
Thus began the beginning of my Teach For America journey. Everyday I woke up to teach classrooms with too many students and not enough chairs, a subject that I had no grasp upon. I had no idea where my beakers were or what they looked like. I spent all night researching atoms, energy, and the periodic table, and simultaneously switched off to finish the research papers and lesson plans that my professors had assigned to fulfill my University of Hawai’i requirements.
Well…let’s just say that first year flew. And did my students learn anything? I HAVE NO IDEA. Sure, the majority passed the end of year test analyzing their content knowledge. But that is not what I cared about. What I cared about is whether or not my students learned about friendships, relationships, sharing, caring, failure, achievement, and, most importantly, the desire to be a well rounded citizen that would some day have the ability to take his or her own learning into his or her own hands.
And let me tell you one thing, those essential skills, those skills needed to have a child become a better citizen, are most easily learned at a place where “standards”, and “curriculum” do not have an iron grip on their ability to learn, but in a place where creativity, play, learning, physical activity, friends, enemies, frenemies, and the like all gather in one place. This place would be camp.
All children deserve the right to the best education possible, which is the belief that pointed me towards Teach For America in the first place. However, my two years in the classroom have reinforced the notion that the best education can occur, and does occur, during the one week, two weeks, three weeks, four weeks, or eight weeks a child spends at a summer camp (specifically Catalina Island Camps!).
Fast forward to the current day and I am a little less than 4 months from the end of my Teach For America commitment, and a little less than 4 months to another beautiful summer at Catalina. I cannot wait for the sugar rushes, snooze you lose, early morning PBA, making friendships that will last forever, and most importantly, watching campers change and grow into confident, caring, well-rounded future bloggers.
posted by Tom Horner at
7:43 PM
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