Pamela Buckard
EDF-1005-6794
Spring 2001
Volunteering
has been a wonderful experience this semester. I want to be an elementary
school teacher, so volunteering is also giving me first-hand knowledge
working with children. My goals in the beginning included helping the
children who need help the most, learning as much as possible from the
teacher and her students, and getting ideas for when I become a teacher.
I believe I am working toward my goals at a continuous rate, and I will
never stop learning new things.
I volunteer
in kindergarten classes at both Wiles elementary and Williamselementary.
The two different schools give two entirely different experiences. At
Wiles I rarely see the children for more than fifteen minutes out of the
two hours I volunteer. I first observe the teacher teaching the children
for approximately ten to fifteen minutes. Then the class leaves for their
special classes such as music, gym, library, and art. I work with the
teacher while her students are out of the classroom. I help her set up
lessons and prepare future projects for her students. I cut things out
on the die-cutting machine and learned to use the paper cutter proficiently.
I helped her plan projects and make examples of the project the children
were going to make. I assisted her in ideas for projects for the children
to do and ideas on how to improve on the existing projects. I straightened
up her room up after the children left, and set out their snacks for when
they returned. At first I was unhappy about not working with the children.
I am still disappointed about not working with them, but I enjoyed learning
the background work to teach kindergarten. I’ve learned to use the die-cutting
machine for punch-outs, as well as other tools available to the teachers
in the school. I have also gained some creative ideas for if I teach kindergarten.
The experience working behind the scenes of teaching is actually a good
thing for a prospect teacher to have.
The experience
of working at Williams elementary is extremely different. I work with
the students for the entire three hours I am at the school. First, is
story time and the teacher or I read to the students. She asks them recall
questions as well as prediction questions while she is reading the stories.
Next the children choose which center they would like to go to. They can
choose the reading, writing, art, math, or the computer center. I help
the children with different projects they are working on. In the reading
center, a volunteer or Grandma (an elderly volunteer) reads to the students.
In the writing center, the students write stories or write the alphabet.
In the art center the children color and make various things. One project
in the art center was learning about Kenya and making a Kenyan flag. In
the math center, the children work with blocks to measure objects around
the room. In the computer center, there are four children working on two
computers. At first I thought that it was a bad idea, but after seeing
the children work together, I realized that it was a way of learning to
share and cooperate. After center time, the children gather on the carpet
for different activities. One activity is working with word parts. The
children all have a string with beads on it, used to count out parts of
the word. This helps the students with spelling and sounding out words.
Another activity is with a puppet named Alfie. Alfie has a hard time putting
words together, so the students help him. The teacher says the beginning
of a word then the end, and the children put the word together. After
working on the carpet, we take the children out to recess. A lot of my
duties are supervising and some discipline. It is easier to prevent something
from happening before its done, than to discipline after the act has been
committed. If an argument begins between the children I try to stop it
before it results in violence. It is also very helpful to know all of
the children’s names and who are most likely to start trouble. This class
has many violent children, so some of my duties were to watch various children
or to break up and prevent fights in the classroom.
One of my main
goals for this experience was to gain insight to what a teacher has to
do. I believe I am accomplishing this goal every time I volunteer, by
observing the teacher and interacting with the students. This field experienced
helped me by allowing me to witness how a teacher taught and controlled
a classroom of kindergarten age children. This experience showed me some
ways to deal with disobedient or violent children. While observing the
teachers discipline these kids, I noticed which methods worked better than
others. Another of my main goals was to get ideas for when I become a
teacher. I am learning different ways of teaching, and new ideas at each
class I volunteer. I have made a book with every project the students
have done for use when I become a teacher. I also picked up many hints
for teaching that age children from observing the teacher-student relationship.
My last goal was to help the children who need it most. Unfortunately,
I cannot work on this goal at Wiles, as I do not have much contact with
the students. I feel like I accomplish some of this goal in Williams elementary.
I try to work with the children who are deemed trouble-makers, violent,
and the children I can tell need some extra attention and help. Hopefully
with me helping them and giving them extra attention, they can get more
from their lessons. I think these goals are continuous and I will continue
to work toward achieving them. I will be volunteering at Williams elementary
until the public schools recess for summer. I am attending summer school
and the extra hours will help me improve my skills.
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