By Timmy Macrae ’12, Contributor
Words cannot describe how much I enjoyed working at Breakthrough Cincinnati (BTC) this summer. The program’s mission is twofold: “To increase the educational and social opportunities for motivated under-served middle school youth through high quality summer and school year programming,” and “To inspire, motivate, and train talented high school and college students to enter careers in education.” Keeping this mission statement in mind, I worked hard over the summer to create a math class that was both academically challenging and fun for 6th grade students. It would be impossible to account for the entire six week session, but one day stands out: the first.
After a week and a half of teacher training, and decking out the commons with posters inspired by the World Cup, I was ready to meet and to teach my 6th grade class. When teacher Don McKinnon yelled “BUS!” on the first morning, all of the teachers eagerly ditched what they were working on, and sprinted out the back doors towards the North Gym to greet the students. We then assembled into a double file line creating a pathway for the students to walk through. The singing of the first good morning song, accompanied with lots of clapping, commenced: “G—O—O—D—M-O-R-N-I-N-G GOODMORNING, HEY HEY GOOD MORNING!” The students all smiled and there was the occasional high five as they walked through the aisle of teachers. I knew right then that this was going to be an awesome summer. After the good morning song, the teachers then leave the bus drop off area to accompany the students while they eat breakfast in the dinning terrace. There is a breakfast period between 7:40 when the buses arrive, until about 8:20. Usually this time is spent checking in with your advisory and helping them with homework that they may have struggled with the previous night, but on the first day I spent the entire breakfast period meeting and talking to all of the new students.
After breakfast, I journeyed over to room 203 to teach my first math class of the year. We spent it playing an icebreaker game called “snowball fight” (made famous by CCDS grad Jayne Caron ’10) so that I could get to know the students that I would be teaching that summer. I had heard from many different people that the students were great, but I didn’t truly realize it until I was in the classroom with them. My sixth grade class was awesome! What amazed me was their eagerness to participate and learn in the classroom combined with just their pure excitement to be there. After my first bell class I had about an hour and a half break until I had to teach my next class, but between my two free bells was the first ASM.
ASM is a fun-filled 20 minute All School Meeting that takes place in the U.S. Commons. It starts out with the teachers all chanting “A-S-M clap, A-S-M clap,” and we keep repeating that, accompanied by crazy hand motions, until everyone is seated in the Commons. ASM is similar to CCDS’s assemblies, but way more fun (no offense Baldur). There are crazy cheers, a Word of the Day, a Question of the Day, an MVP of the Day, Big Ups, and sometimes even a Skit of the Day. My favorite part about ASM was dressing up in a costume from BTC’s awesome collection, and participating in a skit. I also enjoyed seeing Dr. Tionary (aka Cody Pomeranz – super classified information, so don’t tell anyone) make appearances to settle the correct definition of the Word of the Day. After ASM and planning periods (free bells where I went to the BTC teacher lounge and hung out with the other free teachers), I had my second class of the day at 11:15 a.m. Afterward, I led my sixth graders out the doors to the fields behind the Upper School for recess, one of my favorite things at Breakthrough. During recess the students liked to take the teacher role and taught me things like the reject dance and how to Double Dutch.
Lunch, my second favorite part of the day, was spent getting to meet new students. Just like at CCDS, BTC students are able to enjoy the outstanding cooking provided by Sage Dining service. I love lunch at BTC because I got to meet many of the students I didn’t teach. After lunch I headed off to my first Spanish class, where I had the pleasure of co-teaching with Seven Hills student Sydney Larkin. Sydney and I had a blast teaching a class of ten beginners Spanish. Fortunately, I had another planning bell during academic elective period.
Once the bell rang for students to be released from academic elective, I made my way to the Commons to meet my mini course class, Outdoor Adventures. Throughout the course of the summer, I enjoyed taking my Outdoor Adventures class on nature walks and writing poems with them in the outdoor classroom. Finally, after an action packed day, the students reconvened in the Commons to meet with their bus groups. After some last second announcements, the other teachers and I quickly walked out to the bus drop off spot, and reformed our double file line. Once the first students were in sight we began singing my favorite BTC song, the Goodbye song. I greatly enjoyed this song because it involved a lot of loud singing, and a lot of dancing, where I was able to show off the dances that I learned at recess.
Over the summer at Breakthrough I found a passion for teaching and a new-found respect and admiration for my current and past teachers. I loved teaching, meeting, and hanging out with the students. But overall I really enjoyed the environment Breakthrough was able to create: a place where learning was cool and fun.
Photos and video courtesy of Breakthrough Cincinnati Executive Director Meghan Morgan
