2014

Academic Service
Learning Project

Jason Lovorn
PY251
Grand Rapids Community College

Introduction
For my academic service learning assignment I chose Hopkins Elementary School in
Hopkins, MI. Although it is located in a small, rural community, the attitude at Hopkins
Elementary is anything but small town. The teachers and faculty there provide a comfortable
and safe place for students to learn about everything this world has to offer. During my time
volunteering there I witnessed many examples of cooperative learning, techniques for managing
a classroom, motivational systems, and a connection between school and the real world.
I had the privilege to be a part of a wonderful third grade class led by Mrs. Carol
Vendeville. She has been teaching elementary school for over forty years, and her knowledge
and wisdom have been key components to her success. When I entered the classroom the first
thing I noticed was the alignment of the students desks. When I was in elementary school we
sat in rows, front to back, and the desks were hardly every moved. In Mrs. Vendevilles class the
desks are put into groups and students are facing each other.

This allows them to participate in collaborative learning, and everyday Mrs. Vendeville
encourages the students to work together and help each other out. There were many colorful

displays around the room which showed off the childrens artwork. She also had multiple boards
set up that covered many of the topics of her lessons. Mrs. Vendeville loves geology, so there
was a large display of rocks accompanied by charts to help identify the different kinds. Another
board covered parts of Michigan history and had pictures from the annual third grade field trip to
Mackinac Island. All along the room there were many posters with motivational statements or
funny pictures to get the kids excited about learning.

Even after forty years of teaching Mrs. Vendeville is full of energy, which is a good thing
because she has twenty four students in her class. Most of these students are your everyday
energetic third graders, but this year Mrs. Vendeville was given the challenge of having four
autistic students in her classroom. These four student covered the gamut of autistic symptoms,
ranging from reluctant non-learning to emotional outbreaks when things did not go their way. I
was very impressed with Mrs. Vendevilles ability to handle these students and how tuned in she
was to their needs. Sometimes she only needed to remind them to go to the office for their

medication, and other times she understood when the student would need one on one counseling
from herself or a trained para-pro. It was quite an eye opening experience to watch her in action
and I am sure I will incorporate some of her techniques with my future students.
Lessons and Activities
Mrs. Vendevilles class is definitely influenced by the social constructivist approach.
The students desk are always arranged in groups, and every once in a while she will reorganize
the groups. I did notice that whenever she rearranged groups, a couple of the students with
autism remained close to her own desk. One of the autistic students would sometimes be in a
group by himself depending on his cooperation with others, but Mrs. Vendeville would not
single him out this way as she also let other students sit by themselves if they desired to. In
every lesson Mrs. Vendeville encouraged the students to work together to solve a problem.

My schedule in the classroom was Friday afternoons, and this was often when the math lesson
would be going on. Mrs. Vendeville would split the room into two or three smaller groups and
the students would then play math games or complete worksheets. The students would
frequently work with a partner or in a small group, and Mrs. Vendeville would let them choose

prizes from a box to provide extrinsic motivation. These would often be the noisiest and most
energy filled times of the day, but we always made sure that the students stayed on task with the
lesson.

Another weekly activity Mrs. Vendeville had was the Star of the Week. Each week
Mrs. Vendeville would pick a student to be the star. She had a questionnaire sheet for the
student to take home and fill out, a letter to their parents explaining the activity, and the students
would bring in photographs or other items to share with their classmates. The photos, items, and
questionnaire sheet would be on display the entire week and every Friday afternoon the selected
student would present his/her items as the class listened. Several times I would have students
come up to me at the end of the day and tell me how excited they were that they were picked to
be the next star of the week. It was a great motivational reward and a great way for students to

learn about each other. There was always time for questions during the presentations, and
students participated in listening politely and giving resect to their peers.
Friday afternoons in Mrs. Vendevilles class also included reading time. During one
portion of the time students were allowed to read quietly to themselves. After completing a book
they would be given a chance to take a comprehension test on a computer. Each book is worth a
set numbers of points and the students could earn points based on the number of questions they
answered correctly. Periodically these points could be used to purchase supplies for school such
as rulers, erasers, pencils, and even books. A few students would require some assistance with
their reading, and I or Mrs. Vendeville would provide guidance. For another part of the reading
time Mrs. Vendeville would read a story to the class. During most of these reading sessions she
would allow the students to work quietly on whatever they wanted. Students could draw
pictures, write their own stories, or complete worksheets from earlier in the day, just so long as
they were not disruptive.

I felt this time really gave the students a chance to make their own decisions on what they
wanted to do. I also felt it also reinforced Gardners learning styles, allowing the children to pick
an activity they were comfortable with. One of these reading sessions came on Halloween and
Mrs. Vendeville shared a scary story with the class. The story included sound effects, and Mrs.
Vendeville would chose groups of students to make the sounds at a particular time. Everyone in
the class had a great time working together to make the story come to life.
Classroom Management
Mrs. Vendeville used several management techniques in her classroom. The most
effective part of these techniques I witnessed was their consistency. Students always replied to a
conditioned stimulus with a conditioned response. The most common technique was a hand
clapping cue. This was typically used when students were in transition from one activity to
another and their attention was needed for further instruction. From the very first time I saw
Mrs. Vendeville use the clapping cue the students responded to it immediately. It was so
effective that I even used it several times when I would be left in charge of the group.
Another technique Mrs. Vendeville used was to either speak quietly and respectfully to
the students or to not speak at all. In an incidence where she needed the class to quiet down
before she could continue, Mrs. Vendeville would simply stop talking and wait for the class to
settle down. It seemed every time she did this at least one or two of the students would realize
what she was doing and would then they would tell the others to quiet down so the fun could
continue. It appeared to teach them how to manage themselves while Mrs. Vendeville was also
modeling the behavior she expected. The technique of speaking respectfully to the students was
also very effective. On several occasions during the star of the week presentation some of the
students would get fidgety and become noisy. Mrs. Vendeville would say multiple times Thank

you to those students who are listening quietly and showing respect. This was a positive way
for her to explain what she expected, and to thank the students who displayed the correct
behavior without singling out those who did not.
One of the most impressive management skills I saw from Mrs. Vendeville was in
dealing with the autistic students. She confided in me several times just how trying it was to deal
with their individual problems, but she never let this show to her students. She was so tuned in
to their behaviors that she could tell when those who were supposed to take medication either
needed it or had skipped it that day. She also provided some great advice to me on how to deal
with them individually. One boy always had difficulty when plans would change or if things did
not make sense to him. Mrs. Vendeville told me that most of the time what was needed was a
little extra attention to explain what was going on, and to give him a sympathetic ear. One day
as I was coming inside from recess with the class, this boy was very upset because he felt like the
recess time had been cut short. Rather than ordering him to get in line with the rest of the class, I
pulled him aside and let him vent his frustration to me. Then I calmly explained the situation to
him and suggested that maybe he bring a watch to school so he could time the recess period
himself. He liked the suggestion and in just a minute he was talking calmly again and was able
to get himself under control. I was thankful for the advice Mrs. Vendeville had given me.
Mrs. Vendeville referred to another one of her autistic students a reluctant non-learner.
He would not have emotional outbreaks or get upset, but rather he would withdraw from the
class and the activities and refuse to participate. For this student Mrs. Vendeville employed a
contracting technique. This student often would not participate during their computer lab time,
and this was a time when it was important for all of the students to be working individually.
Because there are twenty three other students in the class to tend to, it became difficult for Mrs.

Vendeville to focus all of her time with just him. She eventually drew up a contract, which she
had him sign, stating that he would participate in the computer lab lesson in exchange for not
having to stay after school, and he could possibly receive a prize if he completed the lesson. He
did well to stick to the contract, but most of the time it was tough for him to get motivated to do
the lesson. Several times I sat with him and if I could not get him to do the same thing the other
students were doing then I would try to get him motivated to do anything. Most of these lessons
revolved around using the Microsoft Word program, so if he did not want to type the same things
as the others then I would try to get him to type about anything he found interesting or have him
choose fonts and colors that he liked. Once he found something that interested him then he
would just take off, but that first step always seemed to be the biggest one for him to take.

My Personal Reflection
My time in Mrs. Vendevilles class is one that I will always remember. I felt I made a
personal connection with many of the students, and these connections have reinforced my
longing to educate children. The greatest feeling I had was on my next to last visit with the
class. I had completed all of the hours necessary for this assignment, but I also had the next
week open to come back if I wanted to. I decided to let the students vote if they wanted me to
come back, and the decision was unanimous. I hope that I was able to make those kids feel as
good as they made me feel that day.
I saw many examples of the difficulties teachers face in the classroom, ranging from
dealing with emotional problems to just getting everyones attention. The lessons I have learned
from my educational psychology class remind me that there are many facets to teaching and to
students learning, and Mrs. Vendevilles class was a great way for me to see those lessons in a
real world application. I realize that not every child learns the same, and the importance of
providing a multitude of learning styles so that each child has an equal chance to learn. I realize
that not every motivational technique works for every student, and the value of identifying which
students have intrinsic motivation and which need extrinsic motivation. I realize that classrooms
are not perfect places, and no one should expect perfection from any teacher or student. I can
now see the different perspectives from teachers, students, parents, and school administration.
Parents and administrators may always be looking for high test scores and glorious end results. I
think that the true emphasis should be put on the journey that students and teachers take to get
these results, and these results cannot be achieved without sound techniques and an
understanding of just how childrens minds absorb their education.