Books Are Gems

One of my first volunteering positions growing up was at a local elementary school assisting children in core math and reading subjects. Not only did I help the students but I also helped the teacher with grading and developing new assignments. This experience gave me great insight into how one can effectively explain education materials to young children.

I observed the kindergarten classroom of Sarah House. During my observation, Ms. House completed a language arts lesson with her students. Ms. House used both whole class instruction and one on one instruction during her lesson. I felt that she did an amazing job with classroom management and created lessons that were not only engaging, but fun for the students.

“Superman and Me” by Sherman Alexie first appeared in “The Most Wonderful Books: Writers on Discovering the pleasures of Reading.” Sherman Alexie is a well-known Native American writer that publishes short stories, novels, and poetry. Out of the three narratives, I found myself connect with this story more than the others. Alexie tells us about his childhood as an Indian boy that grew up on the Reservation. His father was a big reader so as a kid he’s always had an interest in books and eventually it became a passion. As he advanced in reading at an early age, peers would have difficulty with the content that he’s already achieved. Other kids would frown upon him because it was out of the ordinary for an Indian to be smart. Children on the Reservation were expected to be unsuccessful, but Alexie refused to let himself fail. Throughout his obstacles in life, he ended up becoming a writer and now, visits the Reservation to make sure children get as much education as possible. Reading saved his life and he believed it could save theirs as well. Sherman Alexie uses multiple techniques throughout his narrative to inform the audience about how he saved his life through literacy by tieing in his personal perspectives.

Literacy is a vital part of all later learning. Because of this, the children will engage in hands on activities that relates to what they have read and give them opportunities to make up their own versions, as well as make up their own stories. They will have a large group story time and a partner reading time. An ample variety of books will be available at all times. Signs with words and pictures will be posted around the classroom showing, daily activities, objects that are used daily, and the placement of toys and

The first characteristic that is helpful to the community is the tutoring program the children in the community. This program will assist the community children with their homework, reading, and daycare. The teachers (volunteers) are retired teachers that dedicate their time from 3:30 – 6:30 pm. They do this Monday through Thursdays, four days a week with snacks. This program has proven to have helped children in their reading and helped save parents on daycare expensive.

Gale is an extraordinary teacher leader. She supports the principal by readily volunteering to take on leadership roles. Currently, she is on the School Leadership Team and diligently spends hours writing and gathering data for our School Improvement Plan. Together with the administration, Gale helped to implement our school’s first Leveled Reader Book Room. She spent endless hours questioning teachers to find out what variety of fiction and nonfiction books would interest their children. Gale wanted to make certain that the children had books that would encourage them to become lifetime readers. Thousands of books were purchased,

From a young age, I was taught that education is paramount. Various members of my immediate and extended family work as educators. Many summers I have spent in my mother’s school helping her prepare her classroom, and I enjoy

My agency volunteer work takes place at Busch Middle School of Character, it is through Urban Future which offers after school tutoring, mentoring, transportation, and many other opportunities for the student’s education to be enriched. Busch Middle School typically enrolls around 300-400 6th, 7th, and 8th graders each year. Urban future relays mainly on volunteers to assist with the after school services they provide as well as project mangers that are in charge of running the programs at Busch Middle School. My volunteer work included tutoring 6th, 7th, and 8th graders in the resource lab, during this time the students worked on their reading skills in a program called Achieve3000. Achieve3000 is a program that steadily increases students’ ability to read, comprehend, apply, and communicate information derived from complex text. My role in the resource lab was to make sure every student was understanding the material, and if not, to sit down one on one with a student to help them with their current Achieve3000 lesson. In the resource lab, each student did their very best to engage themselves in the program and expand their level of knowledge.

I saw Mr. Carroll conduct a compare and contrast activity. The activity included the use of poster sheets, letters, picture cutouts ETC... The activity required students (all bilingual) to use the proper English language to give a comprehensive picture of the similarities and differences included in their book reading. I saw Mr. Carroll arrange the students in a manner that allowed them to work as individual or in a group. I saw Mr. Carroll move around from student to student and group to group in order to provide help to students in need. Instructions, information and directions were projected to the smart board, in both English and Spanish. I saw Mr. Carroll provide hands-on help and support to a number of students. As well, I saw Mr. Carroll make himself readily available to help each student when he was called

Seuss is a popular author whose stories help connect the community, by schools creating activities that allow interaction between the students’ family and their classroom. “ Introducing social skills training in classroom environments can help students to link specific social concepts with other naturally occurring situations” (Baker and Wolf 172). “The stories told in school are encouraged to be retold at home, as this described as an opportunity for parents and grandparents to encourage connectivity between the home and school” (Beltchenko 149). By allowing children to reflect on stories at home it helps bring them closer and have a better understanding on how students are growing as individuals. “Intentionally planned kits provide an ideal opportunity to integrate the two subjects and provide the impetus for making the kits engaging and meaningful for families” (Goebel, Raisor, and Thomas 33).

Scribe a child’s story and have the children act it out, ala Vivian Paley. Describe the process.

During this time I helped to manage behavior and facilitate conversations with the students. Some of the students were hesitant to talk at first, but as I worked more with them, they asked if I could sit with them. After snack, the students moved to their classrooms for homework time. I alternated working in both classrooms, kindergarten through second and third through fifth. Homework time was challenging, because in addition to tutoring, I had to help monitor the students behavior. The students knew that the same rules from school did not get enforced at Chapel, so they tried to see how much they could push the rules. After the students finished their homework, they had free time in the classroom; there were a few games for them to play as well as crayons and markers if they wanted to color. When homework time ended, the students had a bathroom break then returned to the cafeteria for dinner. Like at snack time, volunteers sat with the students and monitored behavior and facilitated conversations with the students. After dinner, the students went home. Occasionally, the kindergarten through second grade students would have field trips to the library during tutoring time. I was able to go

Ms. Murphy’s paid work consists of teaching young children at a local junior high school. Her daily routine involved planning lessons and teaching the lessons. “I do the best I can to have students meet essential outcomes” (Murphy). Ms. Murphy is a very dedicated educator, and is always willing to help children before and after school, assisting them in understanding the course material. Ms. Murphy strives to promote a welcoming classroom and a safe learning environment so that children are comfortable in asking questions, enabling them to expand their minds. Ms. Murphy also attends meetings with her peers in-regards to learning new strategies, knowing children have different learning styles. After Ms. Murphy’s long day of teaching, she also donates her time to chaperone daily school actives, and special monthly actives. Ms. Murphy’s paid work is from 8:30am-3:30pm, followed by unpaid work, for school which is 3:30pm-5:00pm. When this part of her day is complete, she continues to work at home correcting school work and she maintains her house work

In that class, the student learns about different teaching methods and how to care for children. As part of the curriculum, we volunteered at Long Elementary as teacher aides. Working with 4th grade students and observing an everyday class room was such an awe-inspiring experience. I had a completely new perspective about teachers. I have so much more respect as before. Teachers put so much time and effort into helping children for their benefits. I knew from the first day I helped with Ms. Williams’ 4th grade class, how much a teacher is a positive influence on children. There is an overwhelming feeling when you help a student with a problem and in return they give you the most heart-warming smile. The experience at Long Elementary helped me make my final decision on whether I wanted to teach elementary or secondary school. As much as I enjoyed helping elementary students, in my heart I knew secondary school was the path God had in store for me.

Young children are like sponges; they absorb information like a sponge absorbs water. It is essential for them to be emerged in an environment in which they can absorb positive information so that one day they can become contributing members of our society and have a better future. For this reason, there is a pronounced importance on providing enriching environments for children to learn and develop appropriately. One of the ways that this can be achieved is through a literacy rich environment specifically with the use of story reading and storytelling.