Westridge Elementary in Provo, UT. The school is in an older building but you can tell it has been well cared for. There are a lot of students and the staff is walking around with the kids before school helping to keep them safe. There are a few trailers and a large park and quite a few soccer fields behind the school. The neighborhoods surrounding the school have a wide mix of older and newer homes and many different sizes of homes as well. You can see kids playing outside and riding their bikes around. It's a family friendly neighborhood and looks to have a good mix of ages.
I will be working with the first graders in Mrs. Reader's class. So far I have learned that the students enjoy learning and those with resource needs are still usually taught within the classroom with the aid of a resource teacher. I found the school last year had a large problem with tardiness and that is something they are working on. There is a fair amount of parent involvement though since there are a lot of siblings they usually need more help than they have volunteers for since the parents are trying to help in each of the classes. My particular teacher had one parent sign up for a day a week to volunteer, she was hoping for two parents each day to help with centers and other things. The schools website has a lot of information yet when I have looked into specific teacher sites it is hit or miss. It seems that there are times the website is very put together but it definitely is not the priority. There is a very involved PTO that just had a fundraiser carnival. The school is rated a 7 and shows great potential in my opinion.
My understanding of service learning is that we learn by offering service within our chosen field. So not only can we help teachers in our communities but we get to learn from those who have chosen this field as well. I am excited to see the prep work, and the way the classroom is managed and how there is other interactions throughout the day with other staff. I'm excited to be able to help and to gain lots of ideas and thoughts for my future classroom. I am also taking Exceptional Students this semester so I am really interested in seeing how teachers handle all the different levels of learning within one classroom and how I can prepare myself to be able to do the same.
