Document text
Teachers find volunteers� help goes a long way Mail Tribune / Bob Pennell Emily Marshall, a seventh-grader at McLoughlin Middle School, helps prepare Patty Burdick�s fifth- and sixth-grade classroom at Jefferson Elementary for the first day of school. Volunteers � young or old � are indispensable in schools, helping teachers with everything from grading papers to helping students develop their social skills. Besides easing workload, they help kids develop social skills EDITOR�S NOTE: This is the first in a series of education-related stories that will appear each Tuesday. On Wednesday, the Mail Tribune will feature stories about crime and justice; on Thursdays, the focus will be environment and growth. By Vicki Guarino You don�t have to be a student or a teacher to go back to school; just ask one of the legion of volunteers who do everything from helping kids find library books, to decorating for class parties to grading papers. Every school year, thousands of adults spend time in schools, doing what for many teachers is indispensable work. "We couldn�t operate without them," says Central Point teacher Diane Barlow. "They add so much more depth to our classroom." How to volunteer The easiest and most direct way to volunteer is to simply go to school and ask. Would-be volunteers fill out applications that are processed either by the individual school or district offices. Several programs administered outside the school districts also place volunteers in schools. Lunch Buddies: pairs up an adult with a youngster for lunch and recess. By being mentors, lunch buddies help students build social skills and boost self-esteem. This year, buddies are being recruited for five Medford elementary schools and White City Elementary and Mountain View Elementary in White City. The state Department of Human Resources� community partnership team runs the program, 776-6164 (Monday-Thursday). SMART (Start Making a Reader Today): places hundreds of volunteers in schools around the county. Volunteers spend one hour a week in school reading to two children individually for a half-hour each. Call 734-5628 for information. Foster Grandparent Program of Southern Oregon: seeks volunteers to tutor and mentor children in a supervised setting. If you are 60 years or older and enjoy sharing time with children, call 779-5257 for information. Barlow teams up with teacher Judith Mooster to teach a blended class of first-, second- and third-graders. Between them, they have about 50 kids. And they average two to six volunteers every day. Barlow and Mooster get parents and grandparents. "We even had a neighbor of one of our students one time," Barlow remembers. As for the work, a school volunteer can wind up doing just about anything. "Volunteers sometimes have their own ideas," Barlow says, "and we love it when they suggest things. It�s just the two of us, so when we can add a brain to our two brains, the kids really benefit." Volunteers� greatest contribution is in the special attention they can give to particularly needy kids, says Virginia Hicks, principal of Medford�s Griffin Creek Elementary School. "Every school has groups and pockets of kids who need extra help," Hicks says. And every school can use some extra help reaching those kids, says Principal Joni Parsons of Eagle Point�s Glenn D. Hale Elementary School. Many of the social skills that are crucial to education too often get scant attention in busy classrooms where teachers have to focus on the academics. "We don�t always fulfill that social interaction that students need," says Parsons. The notion of getting volunteers to help out hasn�t always been so commonplace, says the Central Point school district�s personnel director, Randy Gravon. When he began his career as a classroom teacher back in the 1980s, teachers viewed the occasional adult visitor as a liability, just another problem for someone to get stuck with and manage. "It was like, �Well, I took the last one. This time it�s your turn,� " Gravon says. "Now, we encourage them. Now we have teachers asking us for volunteers. There is a tremendous dependence on volunteers." So tremendous that the Central Point School District has institutionalized the program with an annual training day for all volunteers. Held in late September, the class covers the basics of working with students in the school system. The Medford School Board keeps a running tally of the volunteers showing up in its schools, and has watched the number more than double in the past five years. In the 1995-96 school year, 1,726 volunteers worked in Medford schools. Last year, 3,153 volunteers showed up. While some volunteers take on regular assignments, such as grading papers, leading small teaching groups or monitoring the playground, others simply spend time with a particular student. Whether they read together or talk about family house pets, the time together can have great value to young students learning language skills. The conversations are important to developing those skills, says Parsons. Only in conversation do kids learn how to use words to tell stories, how to listen without interrupting, how to look someone in the eyes when they�re speaking to them. "That�s the problem with computers and television � they�re not interactive, they don�t respond," says Parsons. In busy households where parents work and have several children, time for conversation is too short. "So many times in the family there isn�t enough time for the kids to interact with the adults," Parsons says. In putting volunteers to work, Hicks says, school personnel try to pair jobs with the volunteer�s skills and interests so the work can be as varied as the individual. "The volunteers are the gravy," says Hicks. "They�re the icing on the cake." Helpers grade papers, research, even shop Schools rely on volunteers for a wide variety of services to students. For some jobs, volunteers hardly see the inside of a classroom. "We always need people who can go shopping for us,�� says Eagle Point�s Glenn D. Hale School Principal Joni Parsons. Teachers sometimes run out of time to get to the store for supplies for various projects. Someone who can deliver supplies is always appreciated � and fully reimbursed, Parsons says. Teachers and principals around the county offer a variety of suggestions for volunteers: Grading papers: Volunteers not only save teachers time but provide students immediate feedback on what they�ve done well and where they need more work. Reading: SMART, Start Making a Reader Today, is a statewide program of volunteers who spend regular hours with a couple of students. The program is administered outside the schools, but some schools offer their own version of the reading program. Arts and crafts: Some projects are too tedious or time-consuming to be accomplished during the school day. Volunteers who can pre-cut parts and glue pieces can make complicated projects possible. Teaching: Volunteers can bring special knowledge, experience and abilities to augment classroom instruction. Volunteers can lead small groups through special projects and studies. Research: Time on the home computer can help the class. Volumes of information and photographs on the Internet can enrich a lesson, but time to do Web research isn�t always available. Obituaries | Sports | Business | Classifieds | Tempo | Prime Times | So Oregon Sites | Outdoor Journal | Subscribe | Contact | Movies | Advertise | Real Estate Showcase | Archive | Editorials | Letters to the editor | Religion | Wake-up Call | NIE | Cyber Chef | Job Network | So Oregon Weather | WSJ Northwest | Forums | AP Wire | AP Money | F.A.Q. | Awards Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. The Community Newspaper Subsidiary of Dow Jones & Co, Inc Copyright �The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA