Observations at an Elementary School

I recently had the opportunity to observe the After School Program (ASP) at Villa Rica Elementary School. My observations took place over five days in which I was with 4th grade teacher Mrs. Houser and her ASP students. The children ranged in age from 3rd to 5th grades and were students whose parents worked too late to be able to pick them up from school at 2:30. ASP is an affordable option for these parents who have the added advantage of teachers on hand to help the children with homework, provide learning activities for them, and who cultivate a very positive influence through tutoring programs as well. My first day at Villa Rica Elementary was a rewarding one, and I noted right at once that this was an older school with a history about it. The halls smelled like old books, which was an added benefit. It reminded me of my elementary school and brought back a flood of memories. To check in at the office, I had to sign in at a computer which took my picture and then printed off a Visitor name tag. The office staff was very helpful and friendly, introducing themselves and guiding me to Mr. Kevin Miller’s classroom. Mr. Miller is a 3rd grade teacher and the head of the ASP program. I found his class very busy with younger children ranging in age from kindergarten to 2nd grade, all of whom were in groups working on different things. Some of the kids had their homework out, others were on the computers doing math games, a few were in the corner using the wood blocks to build things, and still others were watching an educational program on the classroom monitor. The desks in his class were arranged in a large semi circle, about twenty in all. I noticed he had a reading area in the far back corner with a small lamp and space posters covering that side of the wall. The area also had a large rocking chair with pillows for classroom reading time. This seemed like a very nicely arranged corner that I would someday enjoy having in my own classroom. The computers lined the immediate wall on the left as I walked in, and I witnessed several parents sign their children out using a unique number typed into the main computer.
I arrived just as they were getting an afternoon snack, consisting of cereal, milk and juice. Mr. Miller explained to me that today had been a crazy day and he had many more ASP students than usual. Introducing me to one of the school’s Para-pro staff, he asked this young woman to take me to Mrs. Houser’s room to observe and help out. She guided me down a hall and out across an open air walkway to another building. Along the way I noted many drawings of past presidents, including a very large pencil drawing of President Obama. The drawings were all very well done and there were short reports taped to walls outside of many of the empty classrooms that had been graded. We reached Mrs. Houser’s 4th grade classroom where a number of teachers were gathered around talking. Posters lined her walls, consisting of such things as “Famous Authors: Past and Present”, “Math Can Be Fun” the standard ABC’s running along the top half of the wall, Book Report Schedules, Rules for the Road, and other classroom topics. The rows of desks were primarily two desks each facing each other throughout the room, separated by a single row, and a single desk off close to the teacher’s that was a “Time Out” station. The opposite wall had 3 computers that the students would periodically go to for math problems and math games. In the corner was a large TV that displayed school announcements and winners of certain contests for that particular week. After introducing myself to Mrs. Houser and the other teachers, I set my notebook down and walked slowly around the classroom. The students each had different homework assignments they were working on, as in Mr. Miller’s room, and many were sitting quietly reading books. There was a great deal of diversity in the classroom, many students were African American, Mexican, Indian, and white. Over the rest of the day, I noted how well they all got along. They interacted with each other very freely and there was little note of race taken at all among the children. So many adults could take a lesson from what I observed in that classroom!
After the other teachers left, Mrs. Houser came over and went over much of the classroom routine for ASP with me. She explained that on certain days, the students would go to the Computer Lab down the hall at 4:00 and work on various games, mainly involving math. Other days, depending on the weather, they could go outside to the playground for an hour or so. She showed me how she records grades on the computer in excel and how they are submitted. During this time, the Teacher’s aide made sure to keep the kids on task with their homework and answered any questions they might have had. Periodically, Mr. Miller would call on the school walkee-radio, requesting which student needed to come to the front to be checked out.
The Para-pro left at 4:00 and from then on I proceeded to help the students, slowly getting to know their names. They were all very anxious to show me what they were working on and what books they were reading, asking if I had ever read any of them. One young boy named Thomas, who was sitting in the Time Out chair, lifted his book up in the air to show it to me. It was called “Trials of a Nerdy Kid” and he proceeded to show me all of the pictures in it that made him laugh. He asked me the meaning of several words in the book, one of which was describing a cat’s “papillae” on its’ tongue. I explained that those were the things on a cat’s tongue that allow it to lick up milk or water when thirsty. Mrs. Houser had to continually remind the students that there needed to be less talking and more studying and homework being done. She asked one young girl if she needed to call her mother, to which the girl immediately turned around and resumed her studies. Mrs. Houser informed me, “that is the advantage of being at a smaller school, you have a much closer relationship with the parents and more parental involvement. The kids know you’re not afraid to call mom or dad at any moment.” I immediately thought what a different world classrooms would be if more parents were involved and communicated with teachers in this way. It would be amazing the learning and openness that could take place.

At around 4:15 the class lined up and went over to the Computer Lab. Mrs. Houser divided up the girls on one side and the boys on the other. The majority of the students went to a website called CoolMath4Kids.com, which I noted had a variety of mathematics games and activities for students in early and upper elementary grades. The computers were all along the wall throughout the room and there were a set of unused computers and desks in the center of the room. Mrs. Houser got on one of the terminals and began going through some graded activities. I walked around to the different students’ computers and observed how adept and fast they all were. It’s amazing how second nature things like the internet are when it has been around since the day you were born. It came to me how different my school days were in the late 70s and 80s when computers were almost unheard of in a classroom. There was very little talking in the lab as the majority of the students were very involved in their games. It was a rarity that a question was asked, although Mrs. Houser did have to scold Thomas for going to an unapproved game site that had no educational value. He went back to another game on CoolMath4Kids before being called soon after for check out.

On my second day of observation, I came back to Mrs. Houser’s room. It was a very hot day and all of the students wanted to go outside and play. She informed them that they needed to get more of the homework completed before 4:00 and then they could go to the playground. I noticed one very tall boy with glasses whom I hadn’t seen the day before. Mrs. Houser explained to me that this was Christopher who was mildly autistic. As part of inclusion, he was in her ASP a few times a week. Christopher was a very well behaved 5th grade boy, but at times he was quiet and isolated. While doing his homework, I noticed he was singing a song from one of the “Madagascar” cartoon movies under his breath. He showed me how far he had gotten in his latest novel that he was reading. For the most part, the students seemed very comfortable around Christopher, although one girl kept complaining to Mrs. Houser that he was “staring at her” too much. Mrs. Houser told her not to worry about it and to focus on her own work. I found him to be a delightful boy who added much to the class routine. What a dull world it would be if rainbows were all one color, I thought silently to myself.

Since the teacher’s aide wasn’t there that day, I got to do a little more with the kids, which I really enjoyed. Four of them were in the corner playing a classroom card game with oversized cards called “Slap Seven”, which I had never heard of before. A young boy named Emanuel asked me to sit down and told me he would teach me how to play if I was interested. Mrs. Houser smiled over at me and shrugged, “he’s never offered to teach me how to play, you should feel honored.” I sat down on the carpet and he went over all of the rules as the other kids listened and some giggled. It was fun using the oversize cards and he informed me that I was “a fast learner”. We probably played for about fifteen minutes and then Mrs. Houser announced they would be able to go out on the playground for a while. Needless to say, Slap Seven quickly became a distant memory for these students as they lined up for the triumphal trek outdoors.
Emanuel told me I could be his partner in kickball if I wanted. I believe that I had made a friend that day. What a responsibility and a life changing opportunity teaching can be! I thought to myself that a teacher might be this child’s last hope on earth before the negative influences come in middle and high school and change him forever. For now, at least, he had a chance to learn and grow and see that there were people who cared about him. One story among hundreds teachers will encounter, I have no doubt.
I observed on the playground that most of the students played with one another with no rhyme or reason, although girls tended to stick together more. The great unifier, the swing set, always contained a diverse number of students swinging as if they could touch the sky if only they went high enough. Young Christopher walked along the outskirts of the playground with his jump rope, swinging it around like a bull whip and occasionally speaking to the others. He passed me and asked if I had seen the new Indiana Jones movie. He explained that he is now Indiana Jones and the rope was his whip. Funny, I remember thinking the same thing around 4th grade after seeing Raiders of The Lost Ark so long ago. Sitting with Mrs. Houser, she said that they have to watch Christopher because he has wandered off a few times from the playground. She always keeps a watchful eye on him. I joined some of the kids for kickball and explained how much I use to love the game when I was their age. One girl said, “was that a hundred years ago?” I smiled, “pretty much”.
I was amazed at how many different types of children one comes into contact with as a teacher in such a short amount of time; all precious, all angels of God, and each one who touches your life in a way that you would never have expected. The inclusion aspect was an area that, I must admit, gave me pause at first. I didn’t think that as a new teacher I would be able to handle students with autism, with disabilities . . . I feared they would be a distraction to teaching in the classroom. As is typical of preconceived notions, it was quickly proven wrong. It was, in fact, the “special” students who I found the most joy from, who I learned the most from and found the easiest to help and communicate with. They added to the class something it could never have gained without them. The students were better off for having interacted with them and as teachers, we were strengthened in our chosen profession in ways words could never express.
It was also a great learning experience to see how teachers set up their rooms to best benefit learning and exposure to others. Desks were not in boring, limited rows, but were in fact grouped together to accentuate interaction and teamwork. There was a wonderfully diverse group of students, all learning from each other. African americans, whites, american Indian, spanish-all were interacting in ways that I found thought provoking and inspiring. I liked the makeup of this school because there was a mixture of all races, as well as special needs students, exposing the children to the real world that surrounds them. Later in life, it will not be unusual for them to be around different types of people, nor will they feel threatened by them. They shall be, I pray, a far more enlightened group than we have seen in the past. Classroom decorations were also well done and gave me ideas that I would like to take to my own class someday. The use of posters in some areas, such as the reading area in Mr. Miller’s room, were adventurous and lively. In other areas, they were more centered on classroom activities for that day, such as a “Today’s To Do List” in Mrs. Houser’s room that was visible immediately as the children first came into the room. Computers were off to the side and were a privilege to those students who had already finished their regular work. Most of the computer games were math oriented, but students saw these as a treat and rarely took notice that as they “played” the games they were, in point of fact, “learning”.
One aspect I was surprised about was discipline. It was necessary one day, when I was alone with the students, to raise my voice for them to sit down. Emanuel came over and said, “Mr. Russell, sometimes you have to yell at them to get them to listen to you.” It was true. It wasn’t really yelling, just speaking with a stern voice and allowing yourself to be heard. They did respond, and I believe, respected me more after that. I’m always one who wants to get along with all of the kids, but this cannot happen without discipline. The greatest love is not necessarily to always be liked, but to always make sure they are on the right track. It’s not always the easiest path, but it is the only one that will mean anything in the end.
The After School program made certain that the students stayed on task with their homework and that help was always available. Many times I witnessed Mrs. Houser or Mr. Miller guiding a student through his homework assignment, something that the student would have been left alone with had he been at home. For this reason, I see the ASP as a resounding success. There was support, encouragement and a caring attitude among the teachers for the children entrusted to them for those few hours after school. It was also an opportunity for the teachers to get to know their students on a slightly more personal level. During the regular school day, it is rare when a teacher can have a one on one conversation or lesson with a student in class. After school , however, it’s possible to concentrate on just a few students at a time, to identify weaknesses one might never have seen during the hectic regular hours. There can also be a rapport built with children that will transfer over to a more behaved classroom the next day. If a child sees that a teacher is a real person that cares about them and goes above and beyond for their welfare, they are much more likely to perform well for the teacher and go on to great things. There were so many positive aspects to the ASP that I would encourage all schools to adopt them and make them more affordable to all parents. The program can literally perform wonders with some children, and possibly give them an innumerably better tomorrow.