Standards

Most of my service learning has revolved around assisting students with Math and with Reading. While working individually and in groups with students to help them understand these subjects, I have noticed that Mrs. Saunders has taken the time to recognize the weaknesses and strengths of each student. I help the children gain a deeper understanding of concepts that they learn as a class, but each student is given a project that is appropriate for their own level of understanding of the subject. Some students are very fast readers and so are given more complex texts which demonstrate literary principles that are taught to less-fluent readers using more simplified texts. The same care for student understanding is displayed in assigning them Math work to go over with me.

I feel that this behavior on the part of Mrs. Saunders displays a solid grasp of the purpose of the standards listed on the UEN website. The standards typically begin with the phrase, "students will understand." Mrs. Saunders takes that seriously and makes a great effort to ensure that each student understands what is being taught, even when that requires extra work and attention to her students on her part. 

As I mentioned, I only really see Math and Reading addressed when volunteering. I am positive that Mrs. Saunders is addressing the other important subjects, I just don't see it because I don't come at the time of day that those things are covered. As I start my own career, I hope to perform my work as diligently as Mrs. Saunders.

Engaged Learning

It isn't hard to see that Mrs. Saunders tries very hard to engage her students. Her entire classroom is set up to encourage group work. While working in groups, the children earn points towards group rewards. They are encouraged as well to help their group mates. I feel like this practice helps students develop a sense of community. It also helps to ensure that they do not feel lost and helpless.

On top of that, she will do impromptu games with the children. This past Thursday, the children finished their work early before lunch. Instead of assigning more individual or silent work, Mrs. Saunders connected her laptop to the classroom TV and had all of the children participate in the educational game, Carmen San Diego. The students helped to solve a crime by answering math questions. Even though the children we doing math, they were all having fun.

Although I haven't had a chance to participate or witness this, I have seen evidence of it as I come to help in the mornings. Mrs. Saunders has her children complete various art projects that relate to social studies topics. The art is displayed in the classroom and the students are able to enjoy their own art.

I really admire how engaged all of the students are in their learning. Of course there are students who struggle still, but despite struggling they enjoy being at school. I feel like as long as the students can hold on to that desire to be in school, they will be able to overcome their individual learning obstacles.

Learning Environment

In focusing on how Mrs. Saunders manages her class and what sort of environment she creates for her students, a few things have stood out to me:

How does Mrs. Saunders encourage a positive classroom community?
I have seen firsthand how excited Mrs. Saunders's students are to be in class. Of course there are students that would rather be at recess, but I think that applies to any class in any grade. Mrs. Saunders is very big on respecting others, especially classmates. If students begin to show disrespect for a classmate, she will take time out of her lesson to remind the students the importance of being kind to one another.

What clear routines does Mrs. Saunders have that promote a productive learning environment?
Mrs. Saunders starts each day the same way. When I arrive at around 9am, the students are writing in their journals. In their journals, students will respond to writing prompts from the teacher, or just reflect on what they are learning. If there is something the students would like Mrs. Saunders to know about, they can bring their journals to her desk and she will read the journal entry to learn what the student would like her to know. She also has classroom jobs that rotate periodically. The students know that they are expected to help in the classroom and understand what each job requires of them. Because the students know what to expect each day, they are able to focus on learning the content of the lessons instead of worrying about when an activity will be done.

How does Mrs. Saunders make each student feel loved and safe?
Mrs. Saunders takes the time to chat with students from time to time and she will joke with them. She will listen to them when they have something to share. She will give praises when something is done well. She trusts the students to know the answers to questions and so she will allow the classroom to have discussions rather than having the students listen to her lectures.

An Opportunity

Since last I wrote, quite a bit has changed.

I struggled during the first week of school to find an elementary teacher that I could volunteer with. After reaching out to many different teachers and school, I began to worry because I wanted to get started on volunteering as soon as possible. I really do enjoy offering service and giving of my time to others, but I admit that my worry was fueled by my desire to complete my school assignments. Tuesday came and went this week without any contact from anyone that I had reached out to.

With only a little anxiety knotting up in my chest, I headed back to Orem Elementary School. My children's literature professor gave me the option to work on a group project to present at the end of the semester or complete a service project in an elementary school library or children's section of a public library. Call me antisocial if you like, but I think I prefer to work on my own when offered the choice. I'll say it's because my schedule is usually pretty difficult for others to work around. So I went to Orem Elementary to talk with the librarian about volunteering with her (Mrs. Tanner was thrilled, by the way). While there, I decided to ask the secretary, Shirley, for the emails of the 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade teachers so that I could contact them myself. After reaching out to them myself, I was finally able to hear back from someone! Ms. Saunders contacted me fairly quickly and we decided that I would volunteer Tuesdays and Thursdays between 9:30 and 11 AM. (Because I have to catch the bus to the school, I think it will end up being more like 9:10 to 11).

The day arrived, after much anticipation, for me to make my journey through snow and bus stops to meet Ms. Saunders and her students and I was ecstatic. Ms. Saunders asked me to oversee some students as they typed up some essays they previously written by hand about what life would be like on Saturn. This gave me a good opportunity to observe the classroom dynamic and pay attention to how she managed the classroom.

Despite not having much of an opportunity on Thursday to ask Ms. Saunders about why she did some of the things she did, I was able to pick up on some vary useful ideas. Ms. Saunders has a sort of class money system that she rewards good behavior with. The kids seem to respond well to the opportunity to earn money. As a plus, the students are learning to do math in real-life situations. On top of that, she employs a point system that is dependent on the behavior of tables, or groups, of students. This point system is sort of reminiscent of Harry Potter's house cup system. The next strategy I noticed was that students that hadn't finished work that the rest of the class had were made to stay in during recess to finish. This last one I'm not sure is a regular strategy, but it seems to be in line with the other strategies.

From what I have seen so far, Ms. Saunders seems to use behaviorism as the backbone for her class management. While I have some concerns about making children stay in from recess to finish work (mainly I feel it could make children resent learning and I think that learning should be fun), I can't deny that Ms. Saunders seems to have a good grip on managing her class and encouraging students to work efficiently.

On a side note, I do appreciate that Ms. Saunders has taken the time to identify students that require additional attention and support in their learning endeavors, even if that attention might keep the students from enjoying play time with their friends. I was able to work with a young boy, we'll call him Jared (name changed), who struggled with division. Ms. Saunders had prepared cards with alien faces on them and little blocks which we called "alien cookies." To go along with the aliens and their cookies were cards that had division problems on them. On a work sheet, Jared would process the information on the division card into phrases such as "45 cookies shared with 5 aliens" and he would then place equal amounts of cookies on each alien card. Jared seemed to really enjoy it and it was awesome to see him figure things out for himself.

I can't wait for next week!

Finding Volunteer Opportunities

When I set out to find opportunities to volunteer with local elementary school teachers, I didn't expect to find any difficulties. I expected public elementary school teachers to jump at the opportunity to have a helping hand in their classrooms. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find a teacher to volunteer with yet.

I currently volunteer with local Title VI program as a tutor. The director of the program, Meredith Lam, suggested I contact Shaun Yellowhorse who works at Canyon Crest elementary school in Provo. I emailed Mr. Yellowhorse and haven't received any response. This was particularly disappointing because Mr. Yellowhorse works with the age group that I feel I would enjoy working with. While I wouldn't mind teaching any grade between 1st and 5th, I would prefer to work with older children. On top of teaching the age group I would like to teach after graduation, Mr. Yellowhorse is a Native American and a man in a female-dominated area of work. I was hoping that I would be able to learn from Mr. Yellowhorse's experience as I am also a Native American man entering the same field.

Having received no response from Mr. Yellowhorse, I decided that it might be good for me to branch out and get to know a wider variety of educators in the area. I have worked with Mrs. Vitters, a first grade teach at Orem elementary school, so I decided to go a bit farther west. I reached out to the secretary at Vineyard elementary and was unable to get a response from her either. In an attempt to be proactive, I drove to Vineyard elementary with hopes to speak with someone in the office about my desire to volunteer with their teachers. The doors were locked and I couldn't find a way to enter so I decided I would wait to hear back from the secretary. 

At that point, I figured I was starting to run out of time, if not options. I visited Orem elementary and was greeted enthusiastically by the office staff. They were excited to see me and learn that I was again looking for opportunities to volunteer in their school. The secretary was eager to assist me and offered to email all the teachers to inform them that I am willing to help in their classrooms as well as let them know my availability and contact information. 

While I was hoping to be able to branch out and experience something different, I am very excited at the thought of volunteering at Orem elementary school again and hope that one of their teachers will contact me soon.

Orem Elementary school is in a semi-residential area. It is located at 400 west and 400 South in Orem. Being so close to UVU and downtown Orem makes me feel like the homes are a little more expensive, and the families typically a little more well-off, than would be the case on the west side of the freeway. From what I saw while volunteering with Mrs. Vitters last year, the class sizes are not very large. The class size seems to be manageable for a single teacher. 

If I hear back from anyone at Vineyard elementary, I am not sure quite what to expect as far as class size or demographics go. Being that it is on the west side of the freeway and farther from the downtown shopping, I expect that housing is a bit less expensive. My initial impression would be that a larger percentage of students at Vineyard would come from low-income families than at Orem elementary. I would really appreciate the opportunity to work with students from low-income families as I came from such a home myself.

All in all, I'm very excited to be able to observe an experienced teacher's classroom and assist in the education of their students. I love service-oriented learning because it gives me a chance to practice and apply what I learn from textbooks and classes. While I am practicing those things, I am able to refine my approach and deepen my understanding of any principles being taught in my UVU courses. I hope to be able to begin volunteering next week on Tuesday.