This morning as we were gathering
in the foyer of St. Stephens to leave and go to our Volunteer site, some of the
early classes of children who attend the preschool at the church were arriving. These children were dropped off in luxury
cars by parents in business suits. This
was a stark contrast to the Peter Paul Development Center, which provides a bus
service to pick the children up from school and then drop them off at home
after 6 pm because the neighborhoods are not safe and many of their parents
have no car to pick them up in. How they
get there is such a little part of the education experience, one that I don’t
normally think about, but this made me really consider how big the disparities
in access to resources are for low socioeconomic status kids.
This morning was our first day
volunteering at Glen Lea elementary school in Richmond, where we were each
placed in a class room from 9 am until the end of the school day at 2 pm. I was in a kindergarten classroom with 20
students, all of African American background, as most of the students at this
school are. I adored the kindergarteners
I worked with, who were really sweet kids.
It was so fun to play with them and talk to them! They were all really clingy to the new
volunteer, about half of them constantly hovering around me, wanting to hold my
hand as we walked to lunch and recess and back.
Their teacher was a good sport because they were so excited, but I’m
sure it probably frustrated her that they kept talking to me and walking next
to me when they were supposed to be walking silently in a single file
line. One thing that struck me about the
kindergarteners was that they seemed to have a relative lack of
discipline. Of course, kindergarteners
in general are a rambunctious bunch, which contributed somewhat to their
behavior, but they generally had trouble focusing for long on assignments and
following basic instructions even after being told several times. That being said, they were still a very
energetic and bright bunch who were relatively well behaved, just energetic and
lacking personal discipline skills as of yet.
I think that they benefit from individual treatment, because when I was
talking to them one on one or in small groups they were much better behaved and
responsive to my rules for the most part, but in the large group setting they
didn’t want to settle down and focus. I
really like the kids in my class and I’m looking forward to volunteering again
with them tomorrow!
Work at Peter Paul has been much
more individualized so far, which some group members like better because it
makes it feel more like we are making an impact. Today I worked with a fourth grader on her
social studies and language arts homework, helping her to focus and get it
done. She was a relatively soft-spoken
girl who said she likes to read, but like most of the students Peter Paul
serves, is somewhat behind grade level on this skill. Really, she read the words really well, and
what I had to help her with the most was comprehension; she was more likely to
spout back exactly what she read until I helped her focus on figuring out what her
text was actually saying. With such
large elementary schools full of kids who are even more behind than her in this
neighborhood, I can see exactly why teachers would just accept a reiteration of
the text as proof that students actually did their work without requiring more
of the students. I’m glad to have gotten
the chance to help her with comprehension, because not only did she get more
out of her homework that way and seem genuinely motivated, but I feel that I
learned new skills about communicating facts in a different way and expressing
myself to kids of different backgrounds.
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