AmeriCorps Success Story

My time in Orange County AmeriCorps Alliance was quite a challenge. One of the most disheartening experiences of the term was the way that the students interacted with one another. There were constant put downs. As a Character Educator, I felt it was due to a lack on my part that the students treated each other the way they did.

I really wanted students to become aware of their actions, so I implemented a "star of the week" and "star of the month" program. If a student modeled good behavior I would try to recognize that by giving them a star, but they weren't handed out like candy. Some students expected stars every time they did something they were already supposed to do. I tired to give them out for random acts of extra good behavior that I could tell were not coming from expecting a reward. They would put their name on the star, and it went into a jar. At the end of the week we would choose a "star of the week" from the jar. We did the same thing for star of the month.
There was one boy in my character club who never received a star. He was one of my favorite students, but he too often retaliated when being the target of ridicule by other students. One day, I decided to challenge him. I asked him why he thought so many other students had gotten a star, yet he hadn't. His response was that I liked the other students better. I told him that that wasn't the case and that I really wanted to give him a star, but he had not earned one yet. I presented him with a challenge: if he could get a star within two weeks I would give him a reward. He said that he would like a candy bar if he got a star.

Normally, he got picked on everyday. And everyday I have to reprimand him for fighting back or resorting to name calling back. The very day after I made my deal with him, he was called a name by one of the other students while he was waiting to use the computer. His immediate reaction, however, was different than normal: right away he turned to me and said, "Hey, she called me [an inappropriate name]." Then I pulled him aside, and he asked why he was in trouble. I told him, "hold on," and went to the desk. "You're not in trouble," I said. Then I handed him a star. He started to walk away a bit confused, but he was going to take what he could get because he had never gotten one before. "Do you know why you got that?" I asked. "NO!" he said emphatically. "Because you didn't call her a name back or hit her," I said. "Oh," he said plainly. I waited a moment. "Don't I owe you something?" "Huh?" he questioned. "I thought I owed you a candy bar because you got a star?" I reminded him. "Oh, yeah! You do," he said as a large grin came over his face.

The next day I wasn't at the center, but the other AmeriCorps member called me and said that he came up to her bragging that he had gotten a star the day before. We both thought it was really cute and we were both SO proud. I finally felt like I had made a difference.