Passion for Education by Rebecca

Passion for Education by Rebecca - July 2019 Scholarship Essay

Young, struggling readers in need of extra nurturance and strategies sit before me. Each week we convene twice after school to practice phonics, phonemic awareness, sight word recognition and fluency. These little souls are students in my class, but they need more than I am able to offer them during the school day. So I began to volunteer my time after-school. Every Tuesday and Wednesday these kiddos stay for an extra hour and munch on sliced apples, crackers and veggie straws while we practice reading skills. Over the course of the school year we watch their confidence increase as they are able to read more and more.

I host a parent night, teaching the families how to work with their kids at home. We practice specific strategies that they can use at home to help their kids solidify their phonics and sight words skills. I demonstrate with my son – he pretends to be a first grade student. I also give them a systematic, sequential reading fluency packet they can use with their kids, and demonstrate what to do with it. The parents leave that night with tools they can use to help their children.

Referring to our after school reading group, at the end of each school day, one little girl has taken to asking me “Is today a Rebecca day?” It makes me feel warm and happy inside. I am glad she enjoys our work. She is growing slowly, dyslexia providing her with an extra challenge. But she works on it. And it is starting to come together for her.

One student is making fabulous progress. His mom has noticed that, although she sends snack for her son, most of the other children in the group don’t have anything to eat after school, so she starts to send snack for the whole group every time. The whole group starts to look forward to the healthy, delicious snacks that she sends.

Another student, a little boy, never went to school before this year, and he started out far, far behind the rest of the class. He has been working on the sight word recognition homework I have sent home. One day, after spring break, he comes into class and I notice a huge difference. He is no longer struggling to read the passages we have been working on. I test him on his sight words and find that he has learned all of them. “Did you work on these every day over break?” I ask him. He nods. At the end of the year, he has made two years growth.

I am so proud of them. Their parents are so proud of them. We watch them grow week by week.

Bliss fills my heart as I think about the results of this work. My students have made far more growth than they were making before we started the after-school group. Parents have become more involved with helping their children at home, feeling more confident about effective strategies that will help them with their learning. Parents have started to notice the needs of other students, and pitch in where they can. Our community is coming together. It truly takes a village to raise children.

This is what I think of when I think of a passion for education. Joy. Dedication. Bringing the community together to wrap around these children. I passionately love educating the children I work with.