“In his classroom journal the other day, one of my children wrote, all by himself, I luv Ms. Alis.” —Alice Sanderson
Alice Sanderson, Member 2006–2007
"A Day in the Life of an AmeriCorps member" is slightly misleading to me. It seems to say that each day is predictable and holds the same things in store as the day before. That is not the case at all, which is one of the many things I love about ACEE. A day in the life of an ACEE member can be exhausting, but it is also incredibly rewarding.
I wake up at 5:45 and am at school by 7:10. I tutor kindergarteners one-on-one in forty-five minute increments from 7:50-10:15. In kindergarten, we begin our session with reading a book. After we read, we discuss things such as who the characters were and what happened in the book. We also work on learning the alphabet and the sounds the letters make. We work on rhyming, alliteration, and making words. Each grade level has a list of words students are supposed to know, so we work on those as well. Near the middle of the school year, some children begin reading and we work on that. Even within the lesson plan there is much room for creativity.
After tutoring in the morning I get forty-five minutes to plan my lessons and half an hour to eat lunch. Next, depending on the day, I either tutor another child or provide classroom support. During classroom support I am in the kindergarten classroom helping the teachers with math and literacy centers. Math centers range from making patterns, practicing counting to twenty, practicing writing numbers, and playing numerous math games. In one class, I take a small group of children and we work on reading. In another class, I help the children as they write.
After school two days a week I stay at school. One day I plan and make activities that I use in working with my children. The other day I help the teachers I work with prepare things for their classes, such as making games for their literacy centers. Last semester I helped with the after-school program known as 21st Century. I worked with a class called Theater Action Project where the children participated in activities such as creating a country complete with leaders, a flag, and rules and playing games that focus on teamwork. The other two days I volunteer with Reading Is Fundamental of Austin. We lead Family Fun Nights one night a week at local Head Start centers. At Family Fun Nights, there are literacy games that we show parents how to play with their children. The children can read a story with their parents, draw a picture about the story they read, create letters from clay, make necklaces with the letters in their name, and play musical chairs. At the end of the night, each child gets a free book.
Those are the logistics of my day. However, they don't even begin to tell the story of what being an ACEE member is all about. That can be seen in the following anecdotes: One of my children threw down her book the other day and declared, "I hate reading!" I asked her to tell me why she hated reading to which she replied, "It's too hard!" We discussed some of the words she was having trouble with and then reread the book. At the end of the session she assured me, "I like reading again now."
In his classroom journal the other day, one of my children wrote, all by himself, "I luv Ms. Alis."
One of my children, after answering a few questions in class correctly and receiving a compliment from his teacher, informed her, "Ms. Alice is making me smart!"