Does it make a difference when community members volunteer in your school?

Does it make a difference when community members volunteer in your school?

I have always believed that parents and other community members could make a difference in schools and have recently had that notion confirmed. I had the opportunity to talk with a community volunteer and was touched by his sincere appreciation and understanding of a student he listens to read.

The volunteer works in our community and has no real connection to the elementary school. He volunteers an hour each week out of his busy schedule and says it is one of the best things he has done. He readily admits that he had no idea of the varying needs our students have.

The last week that he was in to volunteer the regular teacher was away and the substitute teacher said to take who ever he wanted to listen to. He asked the kids who wanted to read and was very surprised to see the hand of a young fellow who struggles shoot up. He chose another student and told the other one that he was next. The struggling reader beamed, the volunteer thought that was weird thinking, that kid has to work so hard to read.

When it came time for the struggling reader to read he brought a book about legends of mythical creatures which was unusual, because he usually brought comic books and generally just talked about the pictures rather than read the words. He opened the book to a page that he had marked and began reading fluently and continued to this for another page and then skipped a page that had words with definitions. The volunteer was a bit confused and was wondering what the difference was. He asked the student why he had skipped the page and he said he didn’t know. The volunteer stated that they should read it because he wasn’t sure what some of those big words meant. When they went back to the page the student struggled, needing assistance from the volunteer. They went on to the next page and he was able to read it well. The volunteer stopped him and asked what the difference was and the reader said, “Well, I practiced three pages, I read them four times because I wanted to show you that I could read them to you”.

The volunteer’s heart was touched deeply – this kid had worked so hard to impress him. He knows he made a connection with that student and in doing so made a difference.

Check out the Lochearn C.A.R.E.S reading program at http://lochearncares.blogspot.com/