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Help with Homework - a Southside Library Success!

In case you have been following what my EDUC 2130 students have been doing at the Southside Library, here is another update. Last week was the last time the preservice teachers met with the K-12 students at the Southside Library. On the very last day, families and volunteers celebrated with food donated from a local Chick-fil-a and custom certificates for each participants. Over 100 kiddos were tutored in the 20 sessions at this semester with over 80 tutors volunteering as part of their field experience.


Now I am reading all of the VSU students' reflections about their experiences. Every single student has admitted to having a positive experience. They noticed things about their own learning and the learning of the kiddos they helped. They noticed social processes and peer relationships forming. They also noticed the impact of socioeconomic status, food scarcity, and relative poverty in the Valdosta community. I think it is really telling that every student, faculty, staff, even administrator I spoke to at VSU had never heard of the Southside Library, located 3.5 miles away from the university.

The researcher in me could not help, but collect feedback from parent. They majority of the parents reported learning gains as evidenced in grades, student interest in school, and/or reports from teachers. I'm also going to compare the reflections this semester to past semesters to compare field experiences (no field experience, set field experience, or field experience of choice).

We look forward to starting back again in the Fall with some enrichment activities happening over the summer, as well.

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