These students completed homework and school assignments Monday through Thursday after school for the last three months. In addition, they showed great initiative in tutoring and encouraging one another to do well in school. When they didn’t have homework, students did other enrichment and academic-related computer activities such improving their vocabulary using FreeRice.com or their math skills through the Great Multiplication Challenge online.

Thank you for your tireless and dedicated efforts, your enthusiasm, and your drive! Keep up the great work!

 Volunteers at RecTech offer their technology skills and know-how, patience, compassion, and creative energy to RecTech programs in various ways.  If you are interested in a Saturday position or other volunteer opportunities click here.

On Friday, May 11, eight students who participated in the RecTech Youth Media 24 Hour Film Competition at Delridge Community Center attended a Gala event at MOHAI. Three of our film teams walked away with honors.

“History Is… Repetition,” created by Bryan Shickley, Thien Vo, and Liban Mohamud won the MOHAI History Award. Film makers Bryan and Liban were winter quarter students at the RecTech Youth Media Interns program located at Delridge Community Center. Thien is a current RecTech Youth Media intern who has been working with us since the beginning of this year. All three students signed on for the 24 hour film challenge this spring and their team received the $1000 MOHAI History Award, which they split three ways.

Bryan Shickley is 16 and attends Big Picture High School. Thien Vo is 16 and attends Evergreen High School’s Technology, Engineering & Communications School. Liban Mohamud is 14 and attends Chief Sealth International High School.

“History Is…Invention” took the Best Youth Group Project award, and Samira Hussein and Hibo Mohamad received a $500 prize which they split two ways. Samira has been working with the RecTech Youth Media program since January 2012. She is 17 years old and attends Chief Sealth International High School. Hibo Mohamed signed on just for the 24 hour film challenge. She is a 17 year old student at West Seattle High School.

“History Is…Basketball”, by Issa Mohamed, Evan Williams, and Sterling Espinoza, received an Honorable Mention.  Issa is a 15 year old student at West Seattle High School.  Evan Williams joined the Youth Media Interns for the first time to participate in the 24 Film Challenge. He is a student at Franklin High School. Sterling Espinoza is a 16 year old high school junior who has been with the RecTech Youth Media Internship for one year.

All of our winning interns came away with a great “swag bag” that included a SIFF short film festival weekend pass and a MOAHI membership. Congratulations to our RecTech Youth Media Filmmakers, and many thanks to our partners, SIFF and 911 Media Arts!

Our Story
The demand for homework help in our community is so great that our primary neighborhood tutoring center has a waiting list over fifty students long. Yesler Computer Lab has the space to accommodate a portion of that waiting list. So, we started our program with the intent of providing computer and human resources one afternoon a week for those kids who wanted some extra help.

And that approach works fine for an elite group of self-motivated kids who have the support and ambition to get started on their homework and other educational activities shortly after the school bell has rung.

But what about the perfectly smart and capable kids who did not meet those foundational criteria? Initially, when kids were acting up or perusing Facebook during the time allocated to homework help, our solution was to give them a choice: work or leave. And, more often than we liked, they left. So, we went in search of more tools for our toolbox. After performing basic research, consulting our primary neighborhood tutoring center, attending workshops from the Seattle Tutoring Coalition, and getting advice from those dealing with behavioral challenges in other contexts, we initiated a positive behavioral support strategy for working with these students.

Our Strategy
In the book Succeeding with Difficult Students, Lee and Marlene Canter write: “Once you’ve taught a difficult student the appropriate behaviors you expect, you need to immediately turn to positive reinforcement to motivate the student to choose these behaviors.” Our current strategy for motivating kids offers both immediate and delayed gratification. For each and every behavior that we wish to see repeated by a student, we give her a “ticket” (a piece of an index card) for her to write her name on. The ticket then goes into a special bag for a prize raffle held at the end of the tutoring session. We have taken to explaining the program to the kids in this way: Each ticket is an opportunity to win a prize. The harder you work and the more respectful you are, the more opportunities you will have. As the kids themselves have admitted, these rewards (as modest as they have been so far) help motivate them to change their behaviors for the better.

Our Successes
In the brief time we have been implementing this strategy, we have observed conspicuous improvements in student participation. We have gone from having participation be solely dependent on the whims of the kids to having an element of control over how the afternoon goes. Just recently, we encountered an initially reluctant and defiant student who, after finally spending about 45 minutes working on his math homework, unconsciously blurted out, “This is fun!”. That was a new one for us. Numbers of returning students have increased, activity has increased, and student willingness to try harder and harder material has increased. In short, we are getting there.

Our Next Steps
Each improvement we make in our weekly after school program also seems to highlight a new challenge. We now need some dependable support to help us build on our successes. While we regularly provide snacks at the end of our sessions, due to limited resources, we have not predictably provided them throughout. However, these kids come to us hungry, and we are seeing distinct value in feeding them early and often. So, we hope to find at least one reliable source for weekly food and beverage provisions. Currently, our positive behavioral support strategy relies solely on us finding little trinkets around our homes or having them gifted to us by friends. It would be great to bring more variety and opportunity for surprise to our pivotal reward system. Consequently, we are looking for monetary or in-kind donations of gift cards, toys, games, books, and anything else that might be of interest to kindergartners through high schoolers.
Aside from these basic next steps, we plan to keep learning, researching, and improving our approach to after school help. There is much room for growth, and we are always looking for serious and committed volunteers. Mostly, however, we plan to continue being consistently responsive to the needs of the community.

Homework Help @ Yesler runs every Monday from 4-6pm at the RecTech Yesler computer lab (917 E Yesler Way). Contact Asfaha Lemlem at asfaha.lemlem@seattle.gov for more info.

In the summer of 2011, RecTech hosted its inaugural Sampling History Internship* at Rainier Community Center serving 10 promising high school students.

While all participants were gifted, Akeda Jones’ drive (as big as her smile) seemed to push her to a level of excellence seldom seen in such a young person.

“100 Bars Closer,” a combination of several pieces she’d written during her time with RecTech, made the final cut and is featured on her latest mix-tape, Consider it Done.  Listen Here:  http://rectechseattle.podbean.com/mf/web/mq8ug/Kneak-100barscloser.mp3

*The Sampling History internship is an amalgamation of history, music theory, creative writing, and sample based hip-hop production.  RecTech is currently considering bringing the program back to serve a second cohort for summer 2012, but until then you can join us in the recording studio Tuesdays, 4pm -6pm, at Rainier Community Center for our Music Production program.

1st Amendment : Occupy Movement – RecTech

…a project from RecTech’s fall 2011 Digital Media Internship at Garfield Community Center. For more information about programs at Garfield, contact RecTech Site Lead Tariq Sahali (aka Tarqnology) at tariq.sahali@seattle.gov.

Petronilla hopes to create Lava Lamps for her science project

Lovely, RecTech Lead @ South Park, sat down with one of the seventh graders to ask about her Science Fair project. The following is a transcript of this brief, but very exciting interview.

Lovely D.: What’s your Science Fair project about?

Petronilla M.: I’m making a homemade lava lamp without heat and electricity.

LD: Cool! What kind of materials do you need to do that?

PM: Soda bottles, water, vegetable oil, Alka Seltzer, and food coloring.  For my lava lamp I’m going to use green, red, and blue food coloring.

 LD: How did you find out about your topic? Did you research it online?

PM: Yup, I went to http://www.sciencebob.com.

 LD: Why did you choose your topic?

PM: I wanted to pick something I’ve never done before and because no one else was doing it for class.

LD: How is the lab helping you do your project?

PM: It’s helping me do my research, look for images for my project, and use [Microsoft] Word to type my project.

LD: Thank you! I’m looking forward to seeing your completed Science Fair project.

RecTech @ South Park hosts Homework Hour from Monday through Thursday, 3-4 pm. Teens are also welcome to drop by any time during the week to get help with other class assignments and projects. For more information or to find out more about Homework Hour, contact Lovely Domingo at lovely-frances.domingo@seattle.gov.

Click to watch 

A project from RecTech’s fall 2011 Digital Media Internship at Garfield Community Center. For more information about programs at Garfield, contact RecTech Site Lead Tariq Sahali (aka Tarqnology) at tariq.sahali@seattle.gov.

**Miller is located at 330 19th Ave E. 98112. **

Listen to more songs by RecTech students here: http://southparkhiphop.podbean.com/
Original Music composed by Laura “Piece” Kelley for Music Production workshops at South Park Community Center RecTech Labs
Vocals and lyrics by Lonzell, Dante, Jaiyeer, Dempsey