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You
are here: One Response to Special Needs in the Classroom:
Utilizing College Students as an Untapped Resource
There are two emerging conditions in the world of education that have the potential of merging to create an exciting partnership between K-12 classrooms and higher education. On one side you have school districts across the country that are facing mounting budget cuts, ever expanding numbers of "special needs" children, intensely increasing demands to meet standards, and eroding access to resources. On the other you have students, faculty and administrators in our colleges and universities that are calling for increased opportunities for experiential education, bringing undergraduates out of their classrooms and into the community.
. . . to put it simply, I think that experiential learning should be at the center (not a supplement) of education. It is crucial to apply "knowledge" to social realities especially to those outside of your field of reference. . . --Vince Gonzalez, 2004 UW Graduate, Pipeline Volunteer who spent three of his undergraduate years working with a variety of special needs children.
Since 1996, the University of Washington has been creating this exact type of partnership through The Pipeline Project in the Office of Undergraduate Education. During every academic year close to 1,000 students are placed as tutors and mentors in both Seattle schools and schools throughout our state. The project has grown from its original design as a tutoring program to one that offers undergraduates a myriad of ways to become involved with our K-12 neighboring schools. We have also created templates for designing community partnerships with individual schools and programs that meet their unique populations and needs.
The four main areas for involvement that we offer are:
Tutoring
Students have the option to begin tutoring at any point during the academic year. We offer twice weekly orientations and keep an active database of school contacts with over 135 schools in the Seattle area. Only 40% of our tutors are interested in going into teaching themselves. The remainder comes from disciplines across the campus providing an amazing array of talented students who bring their academic passions with them to their tutoring. As Zahra, a pre-med student describes it:Tutoring is the highlight of my week. While going to a university, it is easy to lose a sense of curiosity and enthusiasm for learning because we get caught up in homework and grades. But, when I am at Martin Luther King Elementary, I feel refreshed and invigorated because of the excitement and curiosity with which young students approach their learning. It reminds me of what learning used to mean to me when I was younger. For this reason, I think that I get more out of this tutoring experience at times than the kids do. I have so much fun working with students and feel lucky to have the chance to help them learn. --Zahra, UW Student
Inner Pipeline Seminars
Six years ago, The Pipeline Project began to offer academic seminars that offer undergraduates the opportunity to connect their tutoring to an academic experience and earn credit. These seminars have become extremely popular and currently have close to 300 students enrolled in them quarterly. They serve to create a sense of community for the participating students where they have the opportunity to reflect on their tutoring experiences while learning methods of applying what they learn within the seminar. The typical seminar structure has students meeting in seminar 5 – 8 times during the quarter while working out in the schools or the community for 2 ½ to 5 hours per week.
In addition to supporting general tutoring in the schools, Inner Pipeline students design and present biology experiments in schools, teach children how to look critically at the media, help immigrants and refugees learn English, work with teaching artists in ArtsCorp after-school programs, and create many other diverse projects in schools and community programs. This year we added Literacy Through Photography, an International Pen Pal Project, and a collaboration with the King County Correctional Facility to our educational offerings for undergraduates and the students with whom they work.I would, without hesitation, encourage anyone up to a meaningful and worthwhile challenge: to get involved with an Inner Pipeline seminar like the Inner Arts . . . Not only does the organization provide an incredible service to the kids and communities it holds classes in, but it offers real life learning unlike anything found in a textbook or university classroom. --Jill Rothenberger, UW student
Service Learning Courses
The Pipeline project works closely with The Carlson Center for Public Service and Leadership to help create school-based placements for the many service-learning courses that are offered on our UW campus. Seven years ago, these placements were primarily for English courses but we have worked together to expand the idea that the classroom is a perfect setting for any number of courses and disciplines.
We now regularly place students as tutors who are taking courses in Women's Studies, Engineering, Sociology, Psychology and the Sciences. In addition to tutoring, they are able to adapt and share what they are learning in their courses with the students with which they work.
I hope that you recognize all the good you did--every bit of attention you lavished on them, every word of praise you gave them, every clarification of directions, every time you listened to them, they're all invaluable. I really can't imagine what it would be like teaching without you all here. It sure wouldn't be as satisfying. It's great to watch the students confidence grow as they succeed in school, which is so much easier when they get the attention and time they deserve. --Garfield High School biology teacher to the Inner Pipeline students who tutored in her class
Alternative Spring Break
For the last four years, The Pipeline project has supported groups of students who have chosen to spend their spring breaks far away from the beaches of Cancun! Instead they have spent their week in rural communities across the state, where they have helped young students write, illustrate and publish their own stories. This experience allows UW students to learn about their host towns and rural education and reflect on their own lives. The young students experience the fun of writing their own book and the joy of having college age mentors. Alternative Spring Break 2004 resulted in the publication of a magazine entitled Into My Dreams.One exciting offshoot of this program has been the way it has inspired UW students to create their own outreach efforts. Zack Savich participated in two Alternative Spring Break programs at tribal schools and came up with the idea of creating a quarter long experience at Quileute Tribal School in LaPush. This last spring 9 students joined Zack in working 3 – 4 days a week at the school as well as becoming involved in a myriad of community projects. Solmaz Mohadjer, herself from Iran, came back from her Alternative Spring Break experiences and designed and taught seminars with a focus on supporting the special needs of refugee and immigrant children.
Their minds are filled with fantasies and their silences are full of words." --Solmaz Mohadjer, UW Student, Curlew Alternative Spring Break
The best part of the trip was interacting with the kids. I helped them have fun and have pride in their project and in return I learned a lot about local culture. I attended drum circles, traditional dances . . . I hope the impression we left for those students was equal to the one they made on me. --Abhi Banerjee, UW Student, La Push Alternative Spring Break
I have been involved in education for over 25 years and can honestly state that the excitement for learning and the compassion and understanding for different cultures and backgrounds that this pairing of college students with K-12 students creates is without parallel. For anyone that would like to explore this concept further, I add the following suggestions.
Getting Connected with your Local College or University
1. Contact your local college or university and ask if they have a K-12 outreach program or a Volunteer Center that could post information from your school. Be willing to be a contact person. Often times the single biggest stumbling block to creating a partnership is the lack of a school contact. Offer to send a description of your specific tutoring or resource needs.
2. Do a web search of your local college/university under "K-12 Outreach". Many individual departments and programs will offer a variety of resources including speakers, tours on campus as well as curriculum ideas on a variety of topics.
3. If you have specific areas of interest or need, contact individual departments and ask if they have service learning classes or outreach programs that might be a good match. Examples: You are planning on studying the rain forest and would like to have some additional resources. Contact the School of Forestry and ask if they have service learning classes where undergraduates who are studying this topic need placements where they can apply what they are learning by teaching it themselves. If you currently have a number of homeless or transitional students, contact the School of Social Work and enquire about service learning or internship placements.
4. Contact the Grants Office at your local college or university and ask if they are looking for K-12 partners for any current grant initiatives.
Christine Stickler is currently Director of The Pipeline Project at the University of Washington in Seattle. This program recruits, trains and places undergraduate students in K-12 settings as tutors and mentors. Prior to coming to the UW, Stickler was the founder and director of the Seattle Youth Involvement Network, a citywide youth advocacy program established in 1988 which focused on youth development and community action.
Stickler also has worked as an educator and educational consultant throughout the United States, Central America and Europe. She has developed extensive educational resources around the areas of literacy, bilingual education and the arts. Her special passion is working with writing and young people. In other moments of her life she is constantly creating things and is the co-author of Wild with a Glue Gun: Getting Together with Crafty Friends. She can be reached at castick@u.washington.edu
©September 2004 New Horizons for Learning
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