Volunteers Make a Difference
November 30, 2009 - Schools benefit when they are part of a community, especially a community that is willing to volunteer its time to help students. Schools seek to build this community looking to parents, neighboring businesses and supportive communities.At Swift Creek Elementary, there are a number of examples where volunteers are making a difference.
Watch Video Story: Volunteers Make a Difference |
 Teacher Margaret Harris talks with Hani Brooks who volunteers in her classroom. |
Swift Creek Elementary Teacher Laura Wyrsch says volunteers help 3 minute mp3 file |
Swift Creek Elementary Volunteer 4 minute mp3 file |
Swift Creek Elementary Receptionist 2 minute mp3 file |
WCPSS Volunteer Coordinator 6.5 minute mp3 file |
Volunteering in Ms. Harris' class
Volunteer Hani Brooks is a parent with two children, a kindergartner and a fourth grader. She volunteers in a kindergarten class working with Jonathan a kindergartner on reading.
“For Jonathan, learning to read is all about repetition and consistency and keeping on doing it every day so that you can know the letters and the sound combinations and everything,” said Brooks. “I think the repetitiveness is what is important right now as far as learning how to read.”
Volunteering shows the children you work with, your children and the school’s teachers how much you value their school.
"I think it makes the children feel special when you are working with them one-on-one and it also emphasizes the priority you are putting on education and how important it is and it shows that you want them to succeed,” said Brooks. “The children benefit from more adults in the classroom. They get more learning opportunities. They get additional resources. When we’re working with them one-on-one, it caters that learning opportunity to their needs.”
Teachers work hard using a number of tools and methods to help students learn the NC Standard Course of Study. Volunteers help teachers in a number of ways.
Margaret Harris is a Swift Creek kindergarten teacher. This is her seventh year teaching at the school.
“Volunteers in my classroom are crucial,” said Harris. “They help out in many ways. I can’t always get to the kids in a small group setting, but I can tell the volunteer what this child needs and kind of set up some lessons for them and they can implement those lessons and give the student more individual instruction.”
Volunteers help to level book collections, put up bulletin boards and help organize the classroom. Volunteers help with extracurricular projects, work with small groups of students in enrichment activities and remediation work.
“I use them for our home reading program where the students will read a volunteer a book in class,” said Harris. “Take the book home to their parents and read it again. Bring the book back to school and read it to another volunteer. So the student reads the book with three different adults.”
Volunteering in Ms. Wyrsch's class
The classroom representative serves as an important link to the classroom for parent volunteers.
Laura Wyrsch is a first grade teacher at Swift Creek where she’s been teaching for three years.
“I use one of my parent volunteers as my classroom mom,” said Wyrsch.”She has helped me put together a wonderful calendar of when my volunteers will be coming and she comes in and asks me if there is anything that she can help me with daily. Sometimes, she’ll just pop into the classroom and ask me what I need her to do. It helps take the pressure off of my shoulders. I have great parents come in and do that work for me.”
Wyrsch works closely with classroom representative Stephanie Fischer who has a son in the class.
"Well, there’s other ways to help besides just coming into the classroom,” said Fischer. “There’s materials that we’ve worked on that we can send home for parents to work on at night. Sometimes we need supplies, either crafts or things that parents can provide for little parties or holiday. They can help. It’s not necessarily just time in the classroom.”
Principal Umstead on Volunteers
Swift Creek principal Bob Umstead says his school seeks to get as many people involved helping students as possible.
“We do it by a lot of means,” said Umstead. “We first offer training for parents so that they feel comfortable coming in and helping, but we also have grandparents and aunts and uncles that come in and help us. We have some outside folks that come in and help us. We have folks from the Rotary Club, a Helping Hands mentor that comes in. We have some NC State students that come and help with us. The biggest piece is doing the training so that they feel comfortable coming in and helping the students.”
The work of volunteers is important to students, especially in these difficult economic times.
“I don’t think any of our schools in Wake County would be as successful if we didn’t have our parent volunteers doing the support that they do because they provide an extra person to help work with students,” said Umstead. “Particularly now that we have had cutbacks in the classroom, I think that volunteers are more critical than they have ever been.”
There are many opportunities to volunteer in the schools. If you have a business or a place of worship that’s looking for a way to help, think about helping children. More information on volunteering can be found at wcpss.net/volunteer or at your school.