Volunteer Experience

On October 15, 2014, I got the pleasure of volunteering at Breckinridge County Middle School on Wednesday for 5 hours: 4 hours with Mr. Whipple, and 1 hour with Mrs. Carman.

Not knowing what to expect with Middle School students, since I remember Doug Aulick, a teacher from Gallatin County High School saying that since Middle Schoolers didn't act like they had some sense, with the burdens of puberty, and growing up, and being confused about their identity and such, that they should all be put into a hole, and then be allowed to come back up after they've passed out of that phase. I remember a class below me in Middle School was known as “a bunch of troublemakers”, and the administration was in all a flutter about how to deal with them.

I got the pleasure of observing Mr. John Whipple teach Social Studies. He was an older lovable military type. He was firm, but you could tell his firmness was to get the students to learn the material he was teaching. Mr. Whipple had the Middle Students in a routine, so they knew what to do. The Bell Ringer activity was to answer the question “What was similar about the New England colonies?” Mr. Whipple wanted the students to succeed, and would give personal analysis of each of the student's answers, and he had high expectations for them. One special education student didn't bring his pencil, and he was firm with him, saying that he expected him to bring a pencil to class every time he came in.

Mr. Whipple's lectures were boisterous and exciting too, and his classroom management skills were par none excellent. The lessons that was taught were about the differences between the New England states, which were Royal colonies, and which were proprietary, such as the Dutch colonies, who who were colonizing America just for the money. The 3 classes revolved smoothly, and there were no disruptions of any kind. Mr. Whipple mentioned how it would only take 10,000 troops on the ground to destroy ISIS, and he said that we don't need to just go halfway with our fight. The airstrikes are the reason ISIS was beheading American journalists, and so I agree with Mr. Whipple's assessment. Either we're at war with them, or we're not.

For the 3^rd period, there was a book fair going on, and so for the first part of the period, we got to peruse the different books the library had on for sale. I bought a World War 1 book, and that started a small discussion about what started the war. Of course, the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand was mentioned, but the assassination of minor political leaders has happened, even the assassination of JFK didn't start a World War. The Austrian-Hungarian ultimatum was mentioned, as was the Serbs, and with Germany pushing the Austrian-Hungarian Empire into war was also mentioned.

I also really appreciated Mr. Whipple's initial conversation with me. We got to relate on a personal level. He was from Michigan, and the two facts I knew that connected Michigan with Kentucky was the Battle of River Raisin, where Kentuckians marched up to Michigan to kill some French and native Americans, and then Fort Duffield (which is about a 45 minute drive north of Breckinridge County) was constructed by Michigan troops.

After observing Mr. Whipple's class for 4 hours, I then observed Mrs. Carman's 6^th grade Social Studies class, and we were reading “Where A Red Fern Grows” with audio being read to us from a passionate recording of the audio book version. Mrs. Carman said to the class that they should be on their best behavior since they had a guest in their class, and it was a lowkey, but effective lesson. For the entire hour, we read, and to make sure they were following along, Mrs. Carman asked the students where we were in the text. After 10 to 15 hands enthusiastically were raised, one of the students answered correctly, and received a piece of candy for being correct. I remember reading this book in the 3^rd grade, and I remember our teacher bursting out in tears at the end, and we were all crying when she did this. The book was cool because it had Kentucky as a central setting. The main protagonist was excited about getting some dogs for his birthday, and started to get dressed, in the middle of the night, because he wanted to go to Kentucky right away in order to get his dogs. One part made me laugh outright. The main protagonist was going to a different school, and the other students were calling him “Hillbilly! Hillbilly!”, when he answered the question “Do you even wear shoes?” with “Well yeah, during the Wintertime, when it gets cold.”

Mrs. Carman's classroom management were already in nice smooth routines, and to get the next class's attention, she said “Class Class!”, and they replied “Yes! Yes!”. I asked Mrs. Carman, since I have heard that the first year of teaching was more about survival, than about changing everything with starry-eyed ideals, how she managed her class, and she said that it takes a couple weeks, but once they got into a certain flow, then everything was okay.

I also got to witness the rotation in the lunchroom too. A tiny pizza cost me about $3.50, which seemed a bit crazy to me, and I got to sit and talk to one of the students who was sitting by themselves. I mentioned how expensive the pizza was to him, and he opened up to me about his frustrations. He said he had to eat quickly, because they only had 20 minutes to eat (which was the same complaint the teacher's had), and he also told me a funny joke, which I've forgotten since, but it was a great play on words. I do remember that part.

Mr. Shireman, the assistant principal, called each class to line up, and to go to their teacher's, who were standing by the door. He used a microphone, and told the students to make sure all of the trash underneath their cafeteria tables were cleaned up, and then had them all line up. I got to talk to Mr. Shireman for a couple of minutes, and I was curious to know if he experienced any racism at the school. He said he hadn't, maybe a few here and there in the years back, but they were handled swiftly, since mean and hateful words were considered a disruption at the schools. Mr. Shireman used to teach Science, but he liked being a part of the administration way better.

I had some small talk in the teacher's lounge, and I gave them a small snippet of my life story, since Mrs. Carman asked me what brought me to Breckinridge County. They were impressed with me, and told me to come back to volunteer anytime, since I'd be a good role model for the students, boys and girls alike.