What’s up, guys! As the semester continues to go by, weeks of projects, assignments and studying do too, but within the stress I have been able to do some incredibly cool stuff, like this project. Thus far, Vicky and I have kept up our consistency and we have been visiting Ranch Park Elementary to assist and volunteer in classrooms with the students of second-third grade classrooms and kindergarten classrooms. We have volunteered with this school for approximately six hours now over the weeks and we look forward to continue. During the time we’ve helped in classrooms, we’ve been able to assist with activities like writing cards to Santa, drawing and coloring Christmas cards, games in P.E, and a project about Canada, these activities have also allowed us to answer questions that the kids may have, connect, and collaborate with the teachers on lessons. I have found that it has been really interesting to see how teachers use different methods to teach fundamentals, like reading and writing, I’ve also observed the different methods and tried to apply them whenever I got the chance to help a student write or read something like a card one on one, and using my own creativity to helps teach students. Things like that in the classroom have also showed me the importance of responsibility and communication, whether that be with students, teachers, or volunteer coordination over email, the more often you communicate well and show up to things you’re responsible for, the more likely it will become a habit that will definitely pay off over your life!
An assignment the students received one day was to write letters to Santa, asking questions, telling Santa what they want and writing some fun comments, all to practice their reading, writing, and printing!
Another cool project the 2nd-3rd graders had done was making and colouring some Christmas cards, to be donated to retirement homes!
Throughout the weeks, I’ve also been able to join in on some intense and very fun games in the kids’ P.E blocks.
And finally, I’ve helped the students work on a project to discover more things about places and provinces in Canada.
A recent success I’ve noticed in the classrooms I’ve been in are an increased amount of respect and kindness. I have been working with grade two-three students, and they’re all really sweet and caring kids, but as a part of getting older and a fundamental part of elementary school, they need to be taught respect, consideration, kindness, and so forth. One particular class I’ve worked with has been having some issues over this year with respect towards peers in class, and more specifically, on the playground. This class has been consistently working towards improvement by practicing using kinder words and phrases, playing games with integrity, and using a more mature way of asking for the things they’d like. For example, one day they had had a substitute that day instead of their regular teacher, and in my opinion, she took care of problems, taught, and demonstrated respect and integrity very well by teaching the class that, for example, if you’re in your line up and you need more room, don’t squish in, but rather, kindly ask your peers to move down a little for you. I really liked the way she taught these small things with examples throughout their day, and after watching them practice this, it’s clear that they understand respect and kindness towards others more profoundly. Also, this respect had also extended towards me, I’ve found that after connecting and getting to know the students, being kind and friendly, and showing my willingness to help, understand, and listen, the students have found trust in me and shown me more respect as someone to help teach, or even just talk to.(1) I found some of this information after doing a bit of research as to if there may be a best way to engage and earn respect and trust from younger students, and thankfully, many teachers and educators online have shared their advice!
Another thing I’ve noticed after my time spent in the classrooms is that I believe I should work on my feedback. For instance, during classroom time I obviously don’t make any negative or rude remarks, as I am greatly against it in any environment, rather, I really enjoy engaging with the students and giving positive feedback, sharing small compliments or even asking questions to have a small chat and connect. However, what I meant by the statement was that often times I believe I should work on my delivery of constructive criticism or correction. For example, when I was helping students write their Christmas cards, one student I worked with had begun writing her card, and she was really proud. But the small error she made was in spelling “Mrs. Clause”, she had been so proud, so I felt almost guilty for having to correct her on her small error. This is a pretty small challenge on my part, but as I continue to interact with students, I’ve found ways to give feedback or explain errors in a manner that doesn’t hurt any feelings, is friendly, non-judgmental, and allows students to feel more comfortable to quickly fix their mistake.(2) As I work with more students, I intend on continuing on also using the same manner of engaging with students to explain mistakes. This may not even be a huge deal for many students, but if there’s ever someone who may feel embarrassed or anxious about having made mistakes, I want to create a safe environment to not dwell, but learn from errors, as I understand the feeling.
As I continue my project, I will also continue to show up to volunteer, assist in classrooms and learn more from these experiences. But, after having spoken to my partner, Vicky, we have decided we want to do more with this opportunity. Our involvement with the elementary school is not merely a way to gain volunteer hours or write more blog posts, but to us it stand as a symbol to connecting and involving ourselves in our community, connecting with younger kids, and different generations, and doing our best to help out in whatever way it may be possible. So, Vicky and I have decided that we would like to create a fundraiser for the students during Christmas time to raise money for a educational cause, whether that may be PA-MOJA, or a more local charity for education in BC. For the fundraiser itself, we would like to create some candy grams to students to buy for themselves or send to friends. We will most likely create two options, a hot chocolate candy gram and candy cane one! We hope to soon finalize our organization and begin creating the candy grams, to give out some time before winter break. This fundraiser is a way that Vicky and I want to play our part in raising awareness and donating financially to a non-profit that makes real impacts to kids and adults. With PA-MOJA, we have been able to see just how important education is, and just how important it is for passionate people to continue to fight for equality in education for all.
Candy gram ideas like these, with chocolates or seasonal treats:
Thank you for reading my post! I appreciate any feedback and can’t wait to continue this project with Vicky and get started towards our next goals!
References:
(1) Jackson, R. (2019, September 1). Respect from Day One. ASCD. https://www.ascd.org/el/articles/respect-from-day-one
(2) University of Waterloo. (2024). Receiving and Giving Effective Feedback. Uwaterloo.ca. https://uwaterloo.ca/centre-for-teaching-excellence/catalogs/tip-sheets/receiving-and-giving-effective-feedback
