|
Fellowship
Waialae School’s program placing
senior volunteers in elementary
classrooms expands to 28 campuses
Maedene Lum never wanted to teach, never took education courses in college and certainly never imagined she'd spend her golden years helping youngsters in a classroom. So perhaps there is a lesson here in the boomerang effect of never saying never, because just look at her now:
2004 FELLOWS KickoffLearn how to become a FELLOWS volunteer for the 2004-05 school year:Kickoff event: 8 to 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at Waialae School Call: Ed Krentzman, 226-6992
|
It's recess, and a giggling swarm fills the room. Small hands dive into the package of cookies set out on the table, but mostly the kids sidle up alongside her, chirping comments and questions and showering her and the other retirees with laughter and hugs. If they've come for the snacks, they stay for the elders -- just to linger in their presence. This much Waialae fourth-grader Macarah Drake confidently affirms. "They always, always help, especially with reading and math and all other stuff, too," she says.
Another bell rings. The happy maelstrom recedes as Lum continues, "I guess you can say being here keeps the brain stimulated; plus, I know I am doing something good for somebody."
So go the win-win underpinnings of FELLOWS (an acronym for Fellowship Education and Lifelong Learning Opportunities with Seniors). The all-volunteer program open to Oahu residents ages 55 and over has paved the way for Oahu's oldest and youngest residents to mutually benefit one another: Seniors give their time and patience directly to kids who need a little extra academic support. Kids give back just by doing what everyone expects them to do: grow and learn new things.
"It's the progress I see that is so satisfying," Lum says as she tells the story of one of her second-grade charges, who was stumbling painfully through reading assignments last September, grimacing with confusion as he pointed to word after word. By May he was able to digest a Harry Potter novel cover to cover.
Lum had worked with the child, as every FELLOWS volunteer does, in the classroom, providing the teacher with an extra pair of eyes and hands. This means seniors who sign up with FELLOWS must contend with much more bustle and activity than they would in a conventional one-on-one tutoring relationship, but the signs that they have met the challenge with gold stars are many: Since the FELLOWS program began seven years ago at Waialae School, it has expanded to 28 schools throughout Oahu.
Word-of-mouth praise seems to have fueled its growth spurt. Teachers hear good stories about the program from other teachers or parents and request FELLOWS help for their schools. The help came last year from a total of 280 seniors who cumulatively logged 6,000 hours in elementary classrooms.
The phenomenal popularity of the program means that about 200 more volunteers are needed this year. So supporters are urging all interested seniors to attend the 2004 FELLOWS Kickoff on Wednesday.
One additional sign of the program's juggernaut status: Schools Superintendent Pat Hamamoto will keynote the event.
|
While FELLOWS focuses on academic behavior, the secret of its success, experts say, lies in the way the program addresses changes in the community: With Hawaii families spreading out more than ever across geographic distances, a visit to Grandma's house is now likely to involve a plane ride.
The resulting isolation of generations is not good for the community, according to Mae Mendelson, executive director of the Hawaii Intergenerational Network, or HIN.
"We need to be deliberate in making opportunities that will ensure the old and young will enjoy one another," Mendelson says. "Hopefully, there will come a time when these opportunities occur naturally, but for now institutions must be encouraged to help set it up that children will not be afraid of seniors, and seniors will know they are appreciated for a longer period in life."
In 1997, HIN helped to establish FELLOWS as a demonstration project at Waialae School. A senior center was established on campus so that kupuna and keiki would have a place to nurture relationships formed during classroom sessions. In what was once a custodian's supply room, there are now plenty games and toys -- all donated -- stacked on shelves. A chess board with pieces in place remains set up on the table.
Apparently, today's recess period did not provide enough time for any checkmate moves, according to Ed Krentzman, who finds himself facing down young chess aficionados almost every day. "I have been beaten," he says with a note of pride that reflects the amazement with which he regards the learning abilities of youngsters he's gotten to know as FELLOWS volunteer coordinator.
Retired from his marketing career, he began to volunteer at the Waialae Senior Center.
One day, he walked into an elementary classroom for the first time since he'd been a student. "It amazed me to see how positively kids reacted to seniors. They were grabbing us by the hand, saying, 'Please come help me.'
"We are there because we really want to be there for the kids, and they pick up on this so fast it is incredible," Krentzman says. Although he never had kids of his own, he says he is happy he now has at least 60 to contend with every day.
|
ANYONE who applies for FELLOWS is provided with a training handbook that spells out basic school procedures. But most already possess the requisite experience it takes to help children understand their daily lessons are exciting doors to a good future.
"Older adults have the time to listen," Krentzman says. "Parents these days have so many jobs and commitments they just can't always be there when their children want to share and talk."
From across the other side of the chessboard table, Maedene Lum relates another case of a fidgety boy who was failing in reading. "I didn't want to pressure him, so I would say, 'OK, I guess you're thinking about something else, so let's do this some other day.'
"But then one day he came to me with a book on numbers that he read cover to cover. It occurred to me he's a numbers person. I observed and saw the way his hand always shot up first during math class. Once I pointed this out to the teacher, we could build on his confidence in math to help him become a better reader," says Lum, whose three grandchildren are on the mainland.
"See what can happen?" Krentzman chimes in. "Every child has one hot-button thing that turns him on to learning. But sometimes it takes the extra input of an adult with extra time and patience to help the child find it."
IF FELLOWS IS built on the notion that some natural bond exists between the oldest and youngest of human beings, it's a notion that is getting more than a passing nod from social scientists. New research is demonstrating that children benefit from the influence of an adult who can give support, apart from any expectations for good behavior or good grades, Mae Mendelson says.
She cites one study done over a period of several decades on Kauai, in which the influence of a caring older person -- someone other than a parent -- appeared to be the deciding factor in helping individuals succeed later in life.
The primacy of the generational bond is well known to Dee Kiene, who joined the FELLOWS program at Waialae the year her grandson entered kindergarten there. The retired legislative staffer from California had already spent several years providing day care for the boy while his parents were at work.
Having watched over him all day, every day, she said, "I noticed it was easier than parenting. Kids have a way of showing their good side to the older person, where they might be putting up more of a fuss with parents."
The FELLOWS program capitalizes on seniors' strengths and abilities by allowing volunteers to choose the grade level and subject matter they most want to work with. Once Kiene took up her post inside the classroom, she was happy to find she had enough finesse left over for 17 kids, including one little girl who initially refused to cooperate. "She was just testing me," Kiene says with a wink. "In the end she said we were the 'bestest buddies.'"
Whatever benefits the program brings to kids (as well as parents and teachers), the volunteers emphasize that they get back all that they give -- and then some. Kiene, better known on campus as Grandma Dee, takes home a lot that makes her smile.
"I could write a book about the things I hear all day, like the time it was Halloween and my student told me he wanted to come as Minnie Mouse but the dog ate her ears."
"To be appreciated for the natural wisdom that has come to you with age -- there aren't too many chances for this, but FELLOWS is definitely a way for this to happen," Krentzman says.
Volunteers agree that they've been surprised to discover how challenging the elementary school curriculum is these days. Being in the classroom is more than a refresher course in the three R's, according to Lum. "I've learned a lot from the teachers and the kids."
Like what?
"Does anyone know how Coca-Cola came about?"
When no one in the room can answer, she tells the story of a pharmacist in an old-fashioned drugstore who was trying to mask the unappealing taste of a cough medicine and accidentally added carbonation. A reading comprehension lesson assigned to her second-graders provided her with this tidbit.
"It's fun to be my age and find out that every day you can still discover something new."
Click for online
calendars and events.
