Volunteering
has been a wonderful experience this semester. In the future I want
to be an elementary school teacher, so volunteering is giving me first-hand
knowledge and experience 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 plan never to stop learning new things.
I volunteer
in a kindergarten class at Joseph A. Williams elementary. I chose
to volunteer at Williams this semester because I like the people and the
attitude of this school. The school staff follows the school motto,
which is, “Dedicated to the Education of, and Success in Life for Our Students.”
I volunteered at Williams during spring semester last year and enjoyed
it immensely. I knew the demographics of the school were drastically
different to what I have experienced in my own education. I knew
the experience of working in a low-socioeconomic, predominantly African
American school would be a great experience to have for Teaching Diverse
Populations. Volunteering at Williams helps me experience other cultures
and differences in learning.
This
class contains students from various backgrounds. The student population
of the school is predominantly African American, with mostly young, recently
graduated, Caucasian teachers. The school is composed of 77.9% African
American children, 10.9% white, 6.3% Asian children, and 4.9% Hispanic
children (National Center of Education Statistics - 2000/2001).
These statistics are similar to what I witness in the classroom I volunteer
in. The class of thirty kindergarteners is made up of 25 African
American children, 2 Hispanic children, 2 Asian children, and one white
child. There are 18 boys and 12 girls. Students from many areas
of the world are represented in Williams elementary. All the continents
except Antarctica have been included in the school (Joseph). Many
students and their families find their way to Gainesville through programs
at University of Florida. “Their inclusion adds exciting diversity
to [the] student body and affords opportunity to bring relevance to the
study of cultures and peoples” (Joseph). Culture is “the sum of social
behavior patterns, beliefs, arts, institutions, and all other products
of human life that are characteristic of a community or population (Teaching).”
With all of the different cultures included into a school, the teachers
and other faculty have to become more aware and sensitive to the various
needs of the students. The teacher must have the curriculum incorporate
multiculturalism. The goal of multicultural education is to reform
schools so students from diverse ethnic, racial, linguistic, and social
class will experience educational equality. The class studies people
in history, such as Johnny Appleseed and Martin Luther King, Jr.
They also learn about holidays such as Chanukah, Kwanzaa, and Christmas.
The class reads books such as Visiting China and other books having
to do with other countries. They also read traditional books like
Cinderella,
Rapunzel,
and Little Red Riding Hood. Contrary to how I learned them
in my childhood, these are multicultural books. For example, Cinderella
is African American, Rapunzel in Hispanic, and Little Red Riding Hood in
Asian. The class also participates in-group work, which causes each
of them to work with people from outside of their culture. These
are good multicultural strategies to incorporate different backgrounds
into the class. The class uses Contributions Approach and Ethnic
Additive Approach to teach multiculturalism. The Contributions Approach
focuses on heroes, holidays, and cultural events. The Ethnic Additive
Approach adds concepts, content, themes, and perspectives to the curriculum
without changing its structure. This allows each child to see him/herself
and relate to the characters.
With
different cultures and backgrounds, come different languages. Williams
is one of only two schools in Alachua County offering an ESL and ESOL programs
for the elementary school level (Joseph). English for Speakers of
Other Languages (ESOL) and English as a Second Language (ESL) instruction
“combines methods of teaching English as a second language with the curriculum
requirements of English Language Arts in order to give Language Enriched
Pupils or Limited English Proficient (LEP) students equal educational opportunities.”
Many of the faculty at Williams has at least 60 hours of special ESOL training
(Joseph). Two children in the class I volunteer with are considered
LEP students. In the beginning of the year, neither of them spoke
any English. They are pulled out of class each day for lessons in
English, usually during the “centers” time where other children draw, write,
and play. We have noticed both students responding to directions
better and understanding more in class. Recently I have noticed them
speaking more English to the other students and teachers. The children
are immersed in English in all of their academic classes, other than the
time they spend outside of the classroom. The children also gain
a lot of English use from the other children and speaking with them.
There are also three other children who are bilingual. Bilingualism
is the condition of knowing two languages rather than one. These
children can read and write in both languages. The other
day I heard another child asking, “Can you show me how to write in Chinese?”
The difference of language is celebrated in this classroom. The class
has “Special Person of the Week” each week. The week when one of
the children who spoke two languages was the special person, his entire
family came to class. His mother and father spoke simple English
with a heavy accent (undeveloped grammar/language). His grandparents
spoke no English. They were gestured to and also translated to by
his parents. They enjoyed being in the class and helping the class
with what they could. Other students asked the grandparents to speak
in Chinese and the entire class learned how to say hello.
There
is a wide range of ability and disability in this class. Several
children have learning disabilities. “Learning disabilities refer
to a number of disorders, which may affect the acquisition, organization,
retention, understanding,” or use of information. These disorders
affect learning in individuals who otherwise demonstrate at least average
abilities essential for thinking and reasoning. Learning disabilities
result from impairments in one or more processes related to perceiving,
thinking, remembering, or learning. The children demonstrate frequent
signs of learning disability such as low-test scores, rapid mood swings,
hyperactivity, and problems with concentration. One child is deemed
an ESE child. Exceptional Student Education (ESE) is “the name used
in Florida to describe special education services and programs for students
with a disability or who are gifted” (Teaching). He is an African
American male who has a 24-month-old mentality. Joe* acts like a
2-year old. He sucks his thumb and crawls and lies on the carpet
during story time. Joe doesn’t listen to the teacher, and is oblivious
to scolding or reprimands. When he is put in time out, he does not
sit on the bench and doesn’t seem to understand the meaning, to be in trouble.
He acts like a 2 year-old when he cries, throws sand, doesn’t share, and
sleeps on the floor in class. The other students understand that
he is somewhat different and they help him out when they can. When
it is time to go home, the other children look out for his mother, and
when she comes to the door they yell, “Joe, your mommy’s here.” They
help him with his work, look out for him, and play with him at recess and
in class. Another child, Brian*, is a 5 year-old African American
male child. He is considered to be emotionally handicapped.
Emotionally Handicapped (EH) “include students with significant behavioral
and emotional dysfunction. Often they have normal intelligence, but lack
of self-control or poor mental health inhibit their success in an academic
environment” (Teaching). Brian is, for lack of better words, wild
and crazy. He cannot stay still and yells a lot. Brian remembers
when he was 2 years old and his mother signed him over to the state.
Since then, he has lived with his grandmother. He tells people that
his mother and father do not want him. This is the reason I think
he has the handicap. He was recently put on medication for ADHA,
but the medicine has made him worse. In the class there are also
children with language problems such as repeating and lisps. All
children, regardless of their disability, are treated the same by the other
children and teachers.
Along
with the children with disabilities, there are children with the common
disorders of ADD and ADHD. Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and Attention
Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) are conditions “characterized by
developmentally inappropriate level of attention, concentration, activity,
distractibility, and impulsivity” (Yahoo). Typically affected children
perform poorly in school because of the inability to attend to tasks at
hand or to sit still during the school day. Seven children in the
class are medicated for ADD or ADHD. The children who are diagnosed,
yet not treated for the disorder are noticeably distracted and have different
behaviors than the rest of the class. My first day in the class,
I noticed that many of the children had symptoms and signs of ADD, including
being distracted, not being able to stay quiet, having difficulties staying
in one spot, not being able to wait their turn and calling out answers.
When I first began volunteering, Andrew*, Sean*, and Steve* were diagnosed
and medicated for ADD/ADHD. A few weeks later, all of their parents
decide to stop the medication at once. While this is physically dangerous
for the child, possibly causing withdrawal symptoms and heart attack, it
was also very distracting to the other children. There was a very
noticeable change in the three students. They couldn’t sit still,
stay quiet, or stay focused on the task they were working on. The
other children do not seem to notice a difference in behavior of children
with ADD or ADHD.
While
there are children with disabilities, there are also gifted students in
the class. Two children have tested in the middle of first grade
reading level. They are very smart and well behaved in class.
They both knew how to read when they entered kindergarten. They are
ahead of the other children in the class in their independent computer
work. To accommodate these children the teacher had me take them
outside and have them read books to me. While the other kindergarteners
were reading small books made for learning to read, these children were
reading library books and had no difficulties. Another way the teacher
accommodates these children is by giving themextra homework. They
are doing adding and subtracting on a first grade level, and doing first
grade homework. The children come up to her and ask for their “extra
hard homework.” These two students are motivated to learn.
The other children do not seem to notice that these children get extra
homework.
Children
from different backgrounds, cultures, races, ethnicities, languages, and
ability are included in this classroom. The main theme of this classroom
is inclusion. Inclusion advocates “placing students with disabilities
in regular schools and classrooms, integrating the special supports these
students need into regular education” (Lipton). This class did not
ignore individual differences in any child. Each difference was welcomed
into the classroom by the other students and teacher. This type of
classroom is beneficial to all students because it gives a high-quality
education to each student by providing a meaningful curriculum, effective
teaching strategies, and support for each child. It also allows students
to learn about differences, compassion, and understanding. This is
especially important at such a young age. Despite the differences
between the children, they played and loved each other like they were all
the same. They welcomed me into their classroom with hugs each day
I volunteered. I heard excited screams, yelling “Miss Pam!” every
time I entered their class, even though I was a minority being a Caucasian.
These children have not experienced the hate and racism yet, but I’m sure
they will as they grow up. Inclusion classroom provides an area to
prevent this, because children are required to work with each other.
Observing this class is perfect for providing a lesson in diversity and
to see what our world would be like without prejudice and discrimination.
Another
positive aspect to this classroom is the parental involvement. Research
shows that parental involvement is positively related to a child’s achievement.
When parents are involved in schools, there is an increased improvement
in attendance, homework completion, and teacher/parent communication.
Parents of the children in the class, visited occasionally. There
was usually a parent volunteer in the class each time I volunteered.
There was also an elderly woman, who volunteers everyday. The children
call this woman grandma. Grandma comes in each day for a few hours
to help the teachers. Even the other volunteers and the teacher just
call her grandma. She is a vital part of the classroom. This
school is a very family oriented school. The teachers know each of
the parents or people who pick the kids up at school. They have conversations
each day on how their child was in school that particular day. The
teacher of the class I volunteer in has each parents contact number in
her cell phone. If she has a concern during the day, or if the child
is acting up, she can call immediately and speak to the parent. I
like that it is family oriented, and I think that helps the children immensely.
Working
in a kindergarten class comes with many responsibilities because of the
age of the children. I work with the students in various areas of
their education. Usually I take them to lunch and supervise them
while theirteacher is eating lunch. After lunch we go back to the
classroom and work on various activities. There are group activities,
independent activities, and activities for the entire class. I help
them do writing activities, art projects, and some assessment. The
class uses contemporary assessment. We verbally ask the child to
identify numbers and letters. Then we asked what sounds certain letters
made. If the child did not know the sound or letter we gave hints.
For example, if the letter was “S” we would ask what “snake” starts with,
or what letter looks like a “snake.” Immediate feedback is given
whether their answers are correct or not. After completing their
work, 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 the ones who are most likely to start trouble.
Some of my duties were to watch various children or to break up and prevent
fights between the students. The punishment is usually very mild.
They school has a card system on each wall of each classroom. The
students are aware of the class rules and the meaning of the cards.
The cards range from green to yellow to orange to red, varying from good
to bad respectively. The children usually get a verbal reprimand,
a one to two minute time out, and then card changes. If a child is
on orange or red, they have to sit on the side of the playground for part
of recess. These are logical consequences for this age of children.
If a child is being extremely disobedient, the teacher immediately calls
their parent. Immediate action is the most effective form of punishment
for the kindergarteners.
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 experience has helped me by allowing me to witness how a teacher
taught and controlled a classroom of kindergarten age children. This
experience shows 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 each time 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 kindergarten age children from observing
the teacher-student relationship. My last goal was to help the children
who need it most. 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 Christmas break.
* Names changed for
confidentiality.
Works Cited