We LOVE Volunteer Love

Our volunteers have been sharing some of their stories from the classroom with us. I pass this one on to you:

“My favorite Christmas present this year? Three home-made tinsel “angel” ornaments to hang on my tree, each with a little photo of a second grader at Pecan Springs Elementary, where I volunteer once a week with Austin Partners in Education.   These three kids have graced my tree and warmed my heart for the past six months every Tuesday morning when we read together for 45 minutes on little chairs in their classroom.

“My students are among the more advanced in their class and they absolutely soak up the extra attention and higher level work that the very small group allows. They have each advanced… and were thrilled to have moved past the workbooks up to real chapter books….  They each read a page out loud and tell me if they don’t understand a particular word. We write it down and define it together, then review the words together at the end. We read for fluency, for speed, for comprehension and for spelling. And of course we read for the sheer magic of the story.   We also play the word game “hangman” and they stump me as often I as I stump them! I literally love these kids and look forward to Tuesday mornings. My own son is in the 5th grade at a different school and he loves to hear how they are doing each week.

“I specifically asked to volunteer at one of the lowest income schools in East Austin so I  could understand the issues in our community more deeply. The children may come from poor finances but they have plenty of brainpower, work ethic and curiosity. I have come to love and respect them greatly and can see how much potential they have. Even a little extra time with them matters so much.  I look forward to seeing them grow and hope that I can work with them again next year. If not, I know there will be other students who will thrive with the extra attention and motivation.”

Thanks Robin for sharing the love.

Pat Abrams, Executive Director