Blog #1

Today was my first class room experience as a volunteer elementary school. I helped in the Resource room at Hidden Hollow Elementary in the Ranches. As I prepared to serve in the classroom I visualized what my experience would be like and possibly what expectations I had as a volunteer. Through my ideas, I anticipated a rather small room where one to five children would be working one-on-one with a teacher or an aid. Along my list of projections, I assumed the classroom and teacher would be principally friendly and overall pleased to have another helper. Lastly, I estimated the population of children in the resource room to have considerably more diverse developmental differences. I was mistaken.

To my surprise, what the actual experience presented me was eye opening in a number of ways. First, I was pleasantly surprised by the big, warm and efficient room. By the teacher and her aid’s response, I felt slightly uncomfortable when I initially walked into the room and throughout the hours I was present. It was almost as if my presence was not welcome and almost more of a disturbance to them and their classroom. After introducing myself, the teacher handed me a large stack of bubbled pre-tests to grade. I was happy to help out however she needed. Although, it seemed more as if it was a way for her to put me aside rather than being of service to her. While I was grading the papers, and as kids would come and go, the teacher and her aid would whisper to each other their personal conversations. Clearly, they did not want me overhearing them roasting a specific parent and their child. This was an uncomfortable feeling. Sitting there, grading her papers as if I’m a ghost not listening to their inappropriate and unprofessional conversation.

 As I focused on grading the pre-tests, I intended to concentrate on identifying the children’s abilities and differences, and how the teacher operated and responded to them. In doing so, I observed the children work in two groups of approximately six to one ratio (six children per one teacher/aid). These kids were all in 5^th or 6^th grade and the developmental differences were moderately minimal, where the grouped children seemed to have homogeneous learning disabilities in each subject except in reading and language arts. The developmental differences I witnessed appeared to be somewhat behavioral and focused attention challenges, along with reading comprehension and deficient spelling skills. When the teacher instructed them to work alone, some kids would ask her to read the passage to them out loud (indicating auditory learners). In addition, a few kids worked by themselves on computers to complete spelling and games (nurturing the visual and kinesthetic learners likely). I also found it interesting to observe how the teacher brings the kids attention back to her and the lesson when their attention drifts away. In this experience, the resource teacher would address the child by name, out loud and tell them to stop whatever it was they were doing. This appeared to be effective.   

In summary, I’d have to admit that my projections of what to expect may have been overestimated and unrealistic as far as the room, the participating children and the teachers. However, I feel the expectation of extending a welcome to a volunteer who is willing to serve and learn is an accurate expectation to maintain; Even though it was unconfirmed in this situation. While the social, adult environment was not ideal; I absolutely enjoyed observing the children and the instructional techniques to accommodate the developmental differences of each child.