In my previous entries, I forgot to mention that I began to volunteer as a Study Buddy last month. The program is jointly operated by the Edmonton Public and Catholic Schools where they recruit university and college students to tutor in the city's elementary and junior high schools. Volunteers need only to commit at least one hour per week. Currently, I volunteer once a week with the joint Grade 5/6 class where I circulate within the classroom and help the students with their math under the direct supervision of the teacher.
The students are amazingly well-behaved and very easy to teach and work with. I also like the school very much and I enjoy volunteering there. The school is very small and the class sizes are very compact and manageable. Also, it places a considerable amount of emphasis on academics. The school only has 94 students in total providing a close-knit environment for both the students and the educators. It also allows for more individual attention for the children and one interesting thing about the school is that all the teachers including the principal are female. I wonder why they don't have any male teachers and I find it slightly odd. But then, when I think about it, I suppose it could be that elementary education and education, in general, is a female-dominated field.
The thing about this volunteer position is that it is open to all students regardless of their field of study, but the bulk of the volunteers are in education.
Posted by Cat at November 3, 2004 05:29 PM