16 November, 2009

Ridgeview Elementary

Reflection of a Fortunate Man

It was early September 2009 and I had ahead of me a challenging task. I had been prompted to select a Service Learning Partner, with whom, I would complete my hours of mentoring. I had many options ranging from Union Station to homeless shelters in front of me and all looked appealing. There was one opportunity, however, that I just could not pass up. I had the chance to serve children in my community through Ridgeview: one of Liberty, Missouri’s many elementary schools. I chose this school as the site for my service learning due to its personal connection with my life. In fourth and fifth grade, I was forced to move from my old elementary school all the way across town to a foreign territory. For two years, Ridgeview Elementary School would become my home away from home. Coming back here as an adult is interesting in many ways. The teachers are suddenly human and almost friends with me. The children I would have certainly interacted with as a child, on the other hand, are either intimidated by my size or simply respect me as an ‘authority figure’. This was most certainly unexpected as were many other aspects of my time at Ridgeview Elementary School.

Upon deciding to assist the teachers at this school, I was set thinking I would only have to mentor able and willing children. I did not anticipate some of the trials which are natural in a school setting including, but not limited to; children throwing sharp objects, dumping breakfast trays, children attempting to cause violent disruption, and groups of fifth-graders refusing to do math your way because, “that’s not the way she told us to do it.” It was not long until I got used to how the elementary school operated, and before long, I fit right in.

On Thursdays, I would sign in and walk down to Ridgeview’s Learning Center (which specialized in handling children who could not function in a normal classroom environment). Upon entering the first time, I was very nervous about seemingly-nebulous things in retrospect. Thoughts such as, “what if I accidentally do something wrong?” and “what if I am not the right person for this job?” ran rampant through my head as I walked in the classroom. I was greeted with intensely-curious stares by children and the teachers alike.

After engaging in opening dialogue, I began pacing around the classroom observing various students’ math worksheets answering any possible question they could come up with. The interesting part was, the students did not ask that many questions-that were relevant, anyway. The students were more interested to know why I was here, who I was, and how old I was. After answering all of these questions from nearly every student, it was finally time for recess.

Recess was always very interesting for me in elementary school, but with these students, I never knew what was going to happen. I enjoyed recess in particular because it was a chance for me to interact with the students on a more friendly level. There was one time I found myself not able to interact with a student in the classroom. That student I could not interact with in the classroom previous to that recess was starting to compete with me on the swings and talk to me. This not only made me smile but it gave me a sense of satisfaction. Breaking this barrier made me realize I could do anything I wanted to do if I set my mind to it. Being careful to avoid incoming basketballs from nearby games, I headed inside with the class.

After reading and writing for an hour, it was time for lunch. Students with gold and silver stars got to eat in the cafeteria. Bronze stars had to eat in the classroom under the supervision of Mrs. Grant, the head teacher of the Ridgeview Learning Center. During the lunch period, I would go to the teacher’s lounge and eavesdrop on young female teachers’ problems they were having with their students. It made me not only rethink possibly wanting to be a teacher, but it made me ask myself what I would do differently if I were that teacher. Needless to say, I learned bounds of new information by helping at Ridgeview Elementary School. It taught me that the faculty has to be patient at all times with students. If a teacher were to fly off the handle every time a student misbehaved, no progress would ever be made with the student.

My previous preconceptions of this duty were pretty much all proven false. The first of which being that I could go in there and tell these children how to do certain tasks and they will all listen to me. This was proven wrong on two occasions. The first occasion had me dealing with a kid in the Ridgeview Leaning Center named Benny. He was a nice little boy with good intentions. Like the rest of the children, however, he could go from zero to hero on the anger scale in a split second, so I had to be cautious at all times. Benny was in no mood to listen to me the first day I helped him write his pumpkin story. After giving him his distance for the first half of the allotted time period, I decided to try to relate to his life by asking him what kinds of activities he enjoyed. He answered back, “I like Pokemon.” This made me smile, not only because I recollected about my days when I enjoyed Pokemon, but because I was finally connecting with this kid. After connecting on a personal level with the boy, I saw more results with his schoolwork which pleased the teacher and me.

The second time my first preconception turned out to be false was when I tutored a fifth grade class in mathematics. I was under the impression I could just waltz into her classroom and teach the kids what the teacher wanted them to know. Little did I know, there would be many obstacles to teaching the children their mathematics. The first day the kids conveyed to me that, “this isn’t the way she told us to do it” and “I don’t feel like working.” To which complaints I replied, “well, this is what got me through elementary school” and “who ever feels like working?” The children eventually trusted my word and some even gave me hugs at the end of the day. I cannot express in words how gratifying that was to me.

Another preconception that was proven wrong was the little voice in my head that told me the job would be easy. I had a feeling from the get-go that this was going to be proven false. Sure enough, the first day I walked into the Ridgeview Learning Center and saw Benny kicking and yelling at the assistant principal, my eyes widened. I wondered how I was ever going to survive my time here. Not only was it difficult to overcome my initial inhibitions but it was hard to see how I was going to be able to make a difference in the lives of children who would not cooperate with my efforts. The kicking and screaming and failure to cooperate would be the least of my problems as I was later asked to go and help out with Kindergarten. I had no idea how easy I had it until my duties entailed the dealings with little kids who were no more than five. While they had their quiet moments in the classroom, they were always moving around with a seemingly-endless supply of energy. I was thankful none of them made a mess while I was in there. I am not sure I would have to do anything about it, but the way I figure it is, the less that happens while I am there, the better for my sake. The teachers would always complain about their kindergartners being “barely human” and “little monsters”. I could not help but laugh and lend them my sympathy.

My time at Ridgeview Elementary School was educational to say the least. I learned I cannot always have everything my way. In an elementary school, flexibility has to be present at all times. One must also have a good deal of patience when dealing with little trouble-makers. I learned resilience is the key to being a good teacher. The young teachers in the teachers lounge I ate with all seemed to acknowledge this fact. I found it humorous that all they did was complain about their jobs. In another way, however, I wondered if that would be me in ten years. Would I seriously hate my job at the age of twenty-eight? Where would I go from there if I did end up not liking my line of work? All of those were pretty intimidating questions that, thankfully, did not need answering right then.

I took away one very important realization from my time at the school. The children, teachers, and parents all must cooperate with each other in order for there to be a successful educational environment. The children must do their part by arriving to class every day ready to learn. The teachers need to have their lesson plans in-hand and ready for class that day. The parent must also do their part by getting their children ready to go to school in the morning. This can involve preparing breakfast, getting them dressed, and waiting for the bus at the bus stop every morning. In this ecosystem of education I realized that I could help play a vital role in the shaping of a child’s future. That, to me, would be one of the most satisfying feelings in the world. There is no sense of gratification like knowing you made a child’s dream possible. To that end, all three parts of the educational ecosystem are necessary to function correctly and effectively. I sincerely hope I can return to this place which taught me so much in so little of a time period. I am thankful I had the opportunity to serve the children of Liberty.