Article
Reason #1484 You should request a presentation: We want to teach!
ID # 3718
This semester I have learned so much with Carolina Navigators! From education theory to learning styles, my Carolina Navigators class has given me the appropriate tools to create and present awesome presentations to NC students. However, most of my volunteering has not been presenting, but assisting Mr. Matt Cone’s Global Poverty Reading Group at Carrboro High School This group of students has provided a diverse array of examples connected to our class from how learning styles work to how international education functions in the state of North Carolina. The experience of volunteering has been incredibly beneficial and although it has had its challenges, I cannot imagine having solely the theory we have examined without a real life example to connect it to.
One downside of the volunteering I have participated in so far is that there has been a lack of active teaching. Rather than serving in Mr. Cones class as presenters, we serve as helpers and contributors to discussions. However, I feel like this has not been a huge detriment to my classroom experience. I already have confidence in my public speaking abilities and have experience teaching from my experience of working at a summer camp. I think this lack of presenting would be more difficult for someone who did not feel comfortable speaking in front of groups or had a lack of experience with children. For me, the experience of presenting more often would have amplified the skills Ive already developed rather than attempted to create them from scratch. This is why I was so happy to finally present last week for a high school Spanish class. We have so much to offer NC teachers and Navigators is a fantastic organization, I just wish we could have been utilized a bit more.
However, the benefits of volunteering cannot be overstated. The best part of volunteering in the classroom has been watching Mr. Cone and having the chance to observe the wide variety of students he has in his classes. In our class, we learned about different learning styles and how they can affect group interaction. Although the learning style classification is not perfect, it is indisputable that the wide variety of skills in the classroom can present unique challenges for educators. For example, Mr. Cone has one student in the reading group who is highly analytical and has trouble seeing the emotional sides to issues. Additionally, the fact that Mr. Cone is teaching in a public school provides us an opportunity to see how international education can work and gives me a point of comparison different from the high school I attended. In class, we read about different types of international education classrooms. By volunteering, I am able to actually see how this variety works. Even though presenting has not been as frequent as I would like, the experience of working with Mr. Cones students has been a great companion to our weekly classes.
But teachers – take advantage of this great and free resource we have. Just because you are not in Orange Co., NC does not mean you cannot have a Carolina Navigators presenter in your class. With virtual presentations and VoiceThreads, presentations are accessible to anyone and everyone. Hopefully we’ll hear from some of you next semester!