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The views expressed on this page are soley
those of the author and do not
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News Online
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After School
Program benefits students, teachers and parents
By Macy Godown, Edison Volunteer
The value of The After School Program is significant. Students who may
not have gone home and done their homework in previous years are now
getting home in the evenings with all their work already completed.
This is not only beneficial to the students, but also to the teachers
who now have students completing their work and to the parents who no
longer need to spend numerous hours each night doing homework. This
program is helping students of all ages and backgrounds with their
schoolwork, which should increase their test results in the long run.
While participating in the program, I have gained confidence in myself
that I will be able to handle a classroom full of students and keep
them on task once I begin teaching. I have also learned that some kids
just need a role model and I am honored that some of them do look up to
me.
Participating in the program has also encouraged me to continue
pursuing an education degree because these kids are at the age where
they want to learn and where they think that learning is fun. I have
also gained insight to how some of these students live and learned
about some of their backgrounds. I now understand how easily parents
could believe that their child has no homework if the child tells the
parent that they do not. On the other hand, I have also learned how
much some parents actually do care about their children’s education
because they have put their kids into the After School Program.
During my time working with these students all of Edison’s Core Values
were used at some point or another.
Communications was used most often because it influences all the other
Core Values. I also used communications while trying to encourage
students to do their homework or let them know it was time to clean up
and leave. I used ethics when I helped influence students’ behavior,
asking them to use manners, and helping them learn what the right and
wrong behavior was while they were here in the program. I was often
asked, “Why?” which made me use critical thinking. I also used critical
thinking numerous times during each session when students would ask me
how to do different types of math problems, telling them the definition
of a word if they asked what it meant, or when they had their own
personal problem that they needed help resolving.
Human diversity was addressed by having multiple age groups working in
the same room and respecting that other people may be older and know
more or may be younger and know less. Inquiry was addressed when
students asked me to do something for them because they did not know
how, but instead of doing it for them I encouraged them to ask the
questions and figure out it out on their own. Interpersonal skills and
teamwork were addressed every single day when the students worked with
each other in small groups on the same assignments, and also when the
older students helped the younger students if they knew how to do
something that the younger students did not.
Overall, I believe that the program is a very valuable program;
however, one of my suggestions would be to have the same volunteers
work with the same students or groups of students each day. I
personally think that by doing so, the relationship would become
stronger and more like a relationship between a teacher and student,
which is beneficial to the students. I also think it would be more
beneficial if people only came on the specific days that they signed up
for in order to prevent an excess of volunteers one day and a shortage
on others.
Macy has completed 24 hours in Empowering Darke County Youth’s After
School Program on the Edison Darke County Campus. To get details about
her assignment, go to Edison Students Speak Out
To get more details about Empowering Darke County Youth and the After
School Program, go to the Empowering
Darke County Youth link.
This opinion is being published with permission, and was chosen for CNO
readers due to the quality of the assignment submission and relevance
of the topic. It does not necessarily represent the opinion of County
News Online or Edison State Community College.
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