Dr. Arrastía-Chisholm: Professor Mom

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, ...

Being a professor can often be rewarding. This isn't to say that the salary is high or that the thank you notes pile up every day. It's all about the small victories and the change overtime. This past week I have had both! The small victory included a student coming into my office and exclaiming that they changed their major to education! This is the same student that had come in earlier in the semester having trouble applying educational psychology to her field. Instead, she just changed her field to education... More importantly, this week I have gotten to be apart of some change overtime. Over the past few months I have made it a mission to connect with the Valdosta community. This involved volunteering for the attendance matters campaign at Maceo Horne Learning Center (the alternative school in town), participating in Family Fun Night with my counselor education students at Pinevale Elementary, and working with Valdosta City Schools on their social emotional learning init...