Service Learning Prompt #1

The school in which I am conducting my service learning project is called George West Elementary School, and it teaches grades K-6. The school is in an area of providence that one might refer to as being "low income". The school itself seems normal enough, albeit with various cosmetic damages that are visible on the outside as well as the inside. To be more specific, for example, many of the exterior windows appear to be boarded up in certain areas, and it seems that the structure of the school seems to be deteriorating. The situation on the interior is slightly better, and the walls are adorned with various colorful images that would seem to be contemporary with a child's school. The space is used the best it could be, i assume. Many of the classrooms are overfilled, having an average of 27 students per classroom, and each room has only one teacher. Much of the time, it seems that the school is just not big enough for all the children, and teachers are commonly overwhelmed by children on a day to day basis. My classroom in particular, however, is nothing like this. My classroom is composed of 12 students and one teacher. These students are placed in a smaller group of children, because they are considered "accelerated", and are ahead of their reading level. My teacher is very good at commanding the attention of the students, and she does so in a relatively calm and gentle manner. Overall, i feel that the teacher does a very good job with her students, and many of the students can be seen enjoying themselves doing the assignments. Additionally, i was able to look in on another classroom that was the literal complete opposite of what my classroom seems to be. The teacher seemed restless, the classroom was disorganized, the students weren't listening, and the class size was more than double. With 27 kids, the teacher had enough trouble with just that. The kids had once been two separate classes, but were brought together because a teacher had quit. Because there were two different classes, the students were on two very different levels of material, and so the class had to be split up into two sections, which only made controlling the class that much more difficult. The values in this school seem to be centered around instilling obedience and establishing control over the students, so as to more successfully teach them the material. The students in my first class are very diligent, and cooperative with the teacher, and i think much of this has to do with the class size. In the other, larger classroom, everything is so much more chaotic and difficult to control. Overall, i am beginning to really like the children I am working with and i am enjoying the real life experience.