Carie Kifer
Professor Cardenas
PSY 1020
28 November 2014

Giving is Important

Volunteering is a great way to give back to the community. I was influenced by my college Professor and motivated to get the extra credit to improve my grade. After my first day volunteering, I realized it would mean much more to me than that. Together for Tomorrow is an organization that brings people together to help our lowest performing schools. I had the opportunity to give my time at Pine Crest Elementary, specifically, Sarah Donaldson’s kindergarten class. Kindergarten, yes! The kids are all happy and innocent of the knowledge of what it is like to be in the grown up world. Sometimes, I find myself wishing I was 6 years old again. No bills, boys had cooties, no responsibilities. Each day I was able to help the students work on their alphabet. Of course all the children were able to sing the alphabet song. What surprised me was how they did not know what each letter looked like. The thought of the learning process at such a young age has really never occurred to me, nor do I remember how I learned at such a young age As I worked with small groups of three, four or sometimes five children, I got to see how they interacted with one another and behaved. It was clear to see who gets discipline at home and who does not. I find it to be a disheartening that these children rely on their parents so much for love, education and discipline and are not getting it. I cannot speak for every teacher, but I am sure the majority really enjoy their jobs and being around children. From my experience at Pine Crest, I saw that the teachers did everything they could possibly do to encourage a positive and forward