1.) So far in my action project, I have gone to Hillcrest Middle School on November 9th to volunteer. I had the opportunity to help Mrs. Carston’s grade 7/8 class. To help in school-related activities, I had to fill out a volunteer form and submit it to the office. I was then able to visit the school after the principal approved the form, but I had to remember to sign in and out in case of an emergency. Since the students had a reading quiz before I arrived, I assisted the teacher with marking tests throughout the day. In addition, I taped together a project for the bulletin board to acknowledge Remembrance Day as well. Furthermore, I interacted with students and answered their questions throughout the day, and I also gave them instructions on how to complete the subsequent assignment after they finished their other test for that day.
2.) A success I had was that I could tell the students liked me. I could tell this because they were asking me questions about high school, were telling me jokes and some of them even invited me to hang out with them at lunch. Another success I had was explaining the Remembrance Day project to the students because I was able to have all of them follow the directions and get the work finished in class. Since there were many students and many questions on the tests the teacher gave me, marking them was another accomplishment as well.
3.) A challenge I faced was actually marking the test because sometimes I wasn’t able to read the student’s writing and sometimes, I wasn’t sure if the teacher would accept an answer they had written down since it wasn’t exactly the same as the answer key. I overcame this by asking the teacher what she thought of the answers. I also made sure to double-check my evaluation to make sure I hadn’t made any errors. Another challenge was answering all the questions the students had because I was supposed to be collecting the tests, but all of a sudden there were a lot of students at my desk area trying to hand in their work and get the next assignment. I overcame this by taking slow, deep breaths to keep calm and by asking them to line up so I could assist each student individually.
4.) Next for my action project I will return to that classroom and assist the teacher once more because, as I have discovered, a teacher’s work is never complete because they are constantly required to research the upcoming topics, attend meetings, and respond to student emails late at night. I’m also learning how to talk to kids who are usually quiet, and I’m still responding to the students’ questions about high school. Since gym class is my favourite subject, I would enjoy assisting the teacher with a sports activity next time.