RUNNING HEAD: SERVICE LEARNING INTERVIEW

Cheyenne Ramberger
Service Learning Reflection
Education 101
11/19/15
Brooke Watkins

I am taking the Education 101 course at Ivy Tech and I got to experience complete hands on
teaching through the service learning opportunity provided to me. I decided to volunteer at the
RAMBERGER1

SERVICE LEARNING REFLECTION

George H. Fisher public school number 93 in Indianapolis, Indiana. I am studying to be an

elementary art teacher so I wanted to shadow an actual art teacher. I shadowed Robert Schmid
whom has been in the teaching field for sixteen years. Schmid has also taught in different
classroom environments such as a private school and a behavioral school and even done other
jobs in the teaching field like working in the textbook company. The school I volunteered at is
located in a low income area and the school itself can use some updating. There is not enough
teachers to fill the positions and it puts obvious stress on the staff. The student population is
diverse, however there is a greater portion of African Americans than any other race. This ratio
does not reflect on the staff as it does in the students. The staff is primarily Caucasian but there is
a small amount of diversity among the members.
In a public school diversity typically plays a major role in the students lives and they
learn from a young age how to interact with people that look differently than themselves. I think
it is extremely important for children to experience diversity at an early age so they can grow up
and go through life with the understand that although people might not be what you are used to,
that does not make them bad. In session ten we discussed how in the past children that were
enrolled in the special education program went to school in a different facility than other kids
that were enrolled in school. To me, this is a detriment to the education system and eventually the
society. There is a negative social stigma that surrounds disabilities and mental illnesses in our
country, and by separating children based on the sole fact that they are different will only
increase that negative viewpoint in our society.
During my service learning experience I learned a lot, and there were many things that I
could accept, reject and refine. One incident that stuck out to me in particular was my time spent
in a kindergarten class ran by an enthusiastic teacher that played well with the children. She was

SERVICE LEARNING REFLECTION

a fantastic teacher but she then displayed a behavior that I would completely reject in my
classroom. In the book and in class we discussed different learning styles and how children have
different smarts or talents. There was a child in her kindergarten class that was completely
uninterested in art, or school in general. He was a trouble child that spent the majority of his time
at school in the deans office. On this day he happened to be in class, but he was not following
the teachers instructions so she allowed him to do whatever he wanted to do as long as he was
not disturbing any of the other students. The teacher walked by me on her way out of the door for
her prep period and told me to ignore his entire existence, he is not doing art. This statement
made me feel bad for this child, because I know that as a parent I would not want a teacher to say
that about my child.
In class, as we learned but learning styles and we were taught that if a student is falling
behind, then it is that teachers responsibility to meet that student at their level and try to work
with them until they are where they need to be. There is a website online called the glossary of
education reform that defines this method as scaffolding, referring to a variety of instructional
techniques used to move students progressively towards stronger understanding and ultimately
greater independence in the learning process. With this in mind, I decided to approach this child
with a different tactic. I bent my knees and got down to his level and spoke eye to eye with him. I
asked him if he was interested in any of the coloring pages we had and he said that he hated all
of them, so I asked him what he liked. He replied with video games and at this point I knew I
was in trouble because I have zero knowledge in the video game department. However I went in
with confidence and I told him that I would draw him an x-box controller if he promised me he
would sit with the other children at a table for the rest of the class and color it. His eyes just lit up
when I said that. It made my heart melt seeing him so excited for something and knowing that

SERVICE LEARNING REFLECTION

Ive touched a student in a way that no other teacher successfully could. The student sat all class
and colored every part of the controller drawing, and then even brought the picture up to me
when he was done to ask me if I could cut it out for him. That was this the most memorable part
of my service learning thus far.
Along with diversity, another important factor in successful education is the environment,
inside and outside of the school. The school I volunteered at had a low rate of parental
involvement and just from my short time there I could see the negative affects it had on many
kids. One student in particular from the second grade class came to school every day with a
headache. He never ate lunch and he complained of various pains in various places of his body.
He was relaxed and never really had anything much to say except for his usual complaints. When
I asked my teacher about this students parents he replied, I have only seen his mother a couple
of times, but she will never answer when you call. She only shows up for the school events that
offer free food. The pains that the student is going through is preventing him from learning. He
is so distracted by the pain that he will put his head down in class when he has a headache and
miss out on the lesson. This creates a problem over time when multiple lessons and activities are
missed, and when it comes time for him to show his knowledge, he will not be able to. However,
if his mom would have taken him to the doctor when his headaches began, he would be on his
way to recovery sooner and he would be able to focus back on his academic success. To keep the
peace in the school teacher must be on high alert. Bullying is a serious problem around the world
and school seems to be the most common locations for bullies to pick their victims. The culture
of the school affects greatly how the students learn and it optimizes the possibility for academic
success. In class we spent a while discussing bullying, and one of the most important concepts I
got from the discussion is how crucial it is to act on any cries from help. If a student comes to

SERVICE LEARNING REFLECTION

you and claims that he or she is getting bullied, then it is the responsibility of the teacher to
investigate the situation and bring it up to the principal or someone else that will be able to help.
I have been bullied before, and although my case was investigated, I always got the same
response, Theres not enough evidence or We will speak to the parents. Well, the reality is
that does not always work because not all parents care about their child being cruel. I reject this
method of teaching greatly and I would never allow something like this to go on with my
knowledge in my classroom. According to nobullying.com an average teen often sends 60 text
messages a day. Teen texting is double of what adults do. Girls in the age group of 14-16
years old text often send 100 messages a day. Over 7.5 million Facebook users are under 13
years old. Over 81% of teens admit that bullying is easier to get away with online. About 20%
of kids that are cyber bullied think about suicide. ( http://nobullying.com/bullying-suicidestatistics/) Accusations of bullying should never be ignored.

Service learning has taught me a variety of tips and skills, but I think the most important
one is patience. The children do not have any, so the teacher must have a good amount of
patience. I never really considered myself to be someone who is low on patience but once I got
into the classroom I realized that patience is something I might have to work on. Between
students calling your name a thousand times from all directions to students running around and
grabbing papers and throwing crayons, it was a disaster. I had to really work on taking deep
breaths and handling issues one at a time. It helped that my service learning teacher was there to
back me up but even with the two of us it was a lot to deal with. One skill I can say that I
succeeded with from the beginning would be making connections with the students. From day
one the students loved me and it made it more and more exciting to go back each day knowing
that I was going to get there and be surrounded by lots of little love. I bonded with the students

SERVICE LEARNING REFLECTION

and it made it easier in the education aspect because if they like you, they are more willing to
listen and participate with you.
Overall I am extremely pleased with my service learning experience and my choice to
become a teacher in general. My education 101 course gives me a lot of information and tips on
what teaching is and what proper education looks like. I think that the service learning side of the
Education 101 course is important because it actually gives you hands on time to see if this is the
right career field for you. Being in the classroom showed me a lot of things and gave me a
realistic expectation of what I will be dealing with. Personally, I very much enjoyed my time and
I know that this is the career for me, however I am sure that someone out there did the service
learning and realized that maybe this is not the right choice for them. In the beginning of the
semester I started off on shaky terms, not knowing really what I wanted to do or where I would
fit in, but by the end of the semester I have now grasped a concept of what I want to do with my
life and I am confident being able to move on and further my education in pursuit of becoming
an elementary art teacher.

SERVICE LEARNING REFLECTION

Reference page
http://edglossary.org/scaffolding/
http://nobullying.com/bullying-suicide-statistics/

INTASCS STANDARDS
Standard #1 - Knowledge of Subject Matter
Standard #2 - Knowledge of Human Development and Learning
Standard #3 - Adapting Instruction for Individual Needs
Standard #4 - Multiple Instructional Strategies
Standard #5 - Classroom Motivation and Management
Standard #6 - Communication Skills (including technology)
Standard #7 - Instructional Planning Skills
Standard #8 - Assessment of Student Learning
Standard #9 - Professional Commitment and Responsibility
Standard #10 - Partnerships