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Community Service Reflection

For my community service, I volunteered at the after-school program in Madison, SD.

While I volunteered, I helped set up the gym with toys before students arrived, and I brought out

students' baskets and lined the gym walls with them. When students arrived at the after-school

program, I helped check them in and helped students put away their coats and backpacks. After

students were checked and their items were put away, I helped students with homework, helped

with different crafts, helped serve snacks, interacted with the students, supervised students

playing, and supervised swim time, when the weather permitted it, I also helped supervise

students playing outside and played several different games with the students. One activity that I

helped in was carving pumpkins and helping students scoop out the pumpkins. After all the

students had left for the day, I helped clean the gym and put toys away.

One experience from the after-school program that I relate to my professional growth as

an educator is classroom management. With the large number of students in the after-school

program, classroom management was a very important skill to have. Strategies that I learned

during volunteering are the clapping strategy, the teacher claps and has the students clap back to

show that they are listening; putting hands on your ears and waiting for all students to do the

same; and asking students to turn their ears on, students then touch their ears and do a cranking

motion. These strategies will help me in my classroom since on average classes tend to be

anywhere from twenty to thirty students, so it is important for educators to learn how to manage

large groups of students so that the class is able to stay on track.

Another experience that I received from volunteering at the after-school program is

building relationships with the students. Starting from the first day that I started volunteering I

began building relationships with different students at the after-school program. Building
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relationships with the students at the after-school program made both myself and the students

more comfortable with me being there. Building relationships and bonding with your students is

a very important part of being a teacher, having this volunteer experience let me have firsthand

experience with this. Students need to feel comfortable in the classroom to learn, building

relationships with your students is an integral part of making students more comfortable.

The third experience I gained from volunteering was a better understanding of how to

interact with different age groups. The students at the after-school program range from preschool

to sixth grade. I was able to get a glimpse at how different age groups act. This helps me see how

different age groups may act in the classroom. Seeing and interacting with different age groups is

very helpful to me considering that I am a special education major and will most likely be

assisting students who vary in age and grade. Through interacting with the students, I was also

able to see that the younger students have a harder time staying concentrated for long periods of

time. This allowed me to see that if I have younger students I may need to implement breaks and

have shorter lessons. This information is very important for understanding your students, making

them feel more comfortable I the classroom, and helps them become better learners.

My volunteer experience at the Madison after-school program has taught me different

skills and given me different experiences. I am excited to use these skills and experiences in my

classroom to keep my class organized and on track. Through the interactions with the students at

the after school program I also gained a better understanding of different age levels. I am also

very thankful for receiving a firsthand experience at how important building relationships are.