Felicia Martinez

11/12/15
COMM 2150-002
Service Learning Paper

Community Partner
Ms. Skeete
First Grade Teacher
David Gourley Elementary School
4905 South 4300 West, Kearns, UT 84118
(385) 646-4846
www.graniteschools.org/jmhaines@graniteschools.org

Project
At the elementary school I volunteered in Ms. Skeetes classroom to grasp a better understanding
of the teaching environment as well as to assist students from a variety of ethnicities to learn. I
usually help on Fridays from 1:00 to 3:30 in the afternoon, but if I can squeeze in extra time
during the week then I go to assist the class. I typically assist be helping the teacher in lessons or
passing out papers, but I sometimes get to excuse students, or even run errands. I chose this
environment to completer my project on because I wanted to work with a variety of
backgrounds, and get to know my community better. I typically work with children up to five
years old so working with students that can actually explain a situation to me was very different
and interesting.
Cultural Group
There were many different ethnicities in the first grade classroom ranging from Caucasian to
Latino, to African American to Middle Eastern. There is a mixed group of boys and girls which

can make it more diverse. From an experienced teachers perspective, having more of one gender
can create a chaotic environment. So I was very thankful that there was a mixed group.
Challenges
One of the challenges that I endured was not being able to clearly understand some of the
students because of their strong accent. It didnt help that the group of students were all seven
years old so they were very enthusiastic and excited when they spoke. Another difficulty arose
when they needed assistance with spelling out words for their literacy assignments, and I wasnt
able to tell them how. Ms. Skeete focusses on having her students stretch their words out to help
with their spelling. This helps them be more independent, and to lower the count of students
running up to her desk.
Theory

Analysis
Reflection
References