There is a great need for volunteers in the schools. Volunteers do
everything from helping a child learn to hold his pencil to upgrading
and building computers and configure computer networks. The three main
fears that a prospective volunteer needs to be helped to overcome so that
he or she can volunteer are (1) Will I be mostly in the way? (2) What will
the children think of me? and (3) Will I get locked into a weekly schedule that
I can't get out of when there is a need for me to be somewhere else? School
personnel can help with each of these.
Some volunteerism is very specialized while other volunteerism is as
general as it comes. Some children, especially in the primary grades,
simply need an adult's attention while they work. These children can do
much of the work on their own, but need a social "boost" to help them
maintain attention on their work. Specialization becomes more pronounced
as the grade level goes higher. Not everyone can tutor algebra or chemistry,
but there is a need for that kind of volunteer as well.
Most volunteers acquire a role as they enter the school for the first
time. It depends on what the school needs. Volunteers become regarded
as math teachers, story tellers, and computer fixers in the eyes of the
teachers and students in a school even if they did not do a lot of those
things before.
Those who volunteer usually acquire a different attitude towards
teaching after a few trips to the school. They see the demands on the
time and energy and patience of the teacher, and tend to be more under
standing of what a day of real teaching is like. Arnold Schwarzenneger's
headlong fall into the bed after the first day of teaching kindergarten
(KINDERGARTEN COP)does not seem at all strange after being close to a
teacher with attention-deficit disordered children in class. Parent
volunteers tend to become bond-issue supporters after awhile of seeing
where the money really goes and after seeing the good-faith efforts of
teachers and administrators.
Not all parent volunteers are older people. Some of the area schools
are letting high school students who have been scheduled as Office Aides
tutor elementary children.
The State of Wisconsin has a state-wide coordinated program for registering
volunteers and for screening out those that might not be good for schools.
This program was described in a recent ERIC document. An application
process could help eliminate undesirables and help maximize the usage of
legitimate volunteers.
Most parent volunteers do not mind fairly close supervision. Their
bigger letdown is that of arriving at the school and not having anything
to do. Teachers should always have something of educational merit for a parent
volunteer to do when they arrive. Parent volunteers would not usually
want to supervise an entire class for extended periods of time, do evaluations
of faculty or students, or dispense medicines.
Feel free to contact Dr. Sid T. Womack or Dr. Patricia Roach at either email
address or or 968-0291.
Sid T. Womack
Patricia Roach
Return to Dr. Womack's home page
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