JA Volunteering with 3rd Graders

The first day I step off the bus, two things run through my head, “Will they like me?” and “Did I appropriate?” A bus full of high school students getting ready to face some of the most honest critics in the world, we were nervous.

Junior Achievement was a volunteer program that I participated with through the J.R.O.T.C (Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps) program. This was my 10th grade year in high school and I was eligible to participate.

I worked with a team of three and we were assigned a class of third graders at Epic Elementary. During this program each group is assigned a lesson plan, in which they are required to teach in a 8 week period. You go to your assigned class two days out the week for an hour and 45 minutes each week.

“Hey you guys! I’m Katelyn,” I said as I introduced myself to the class. The kids were excited and eager to see what we had in store for them.

The nerves were shaken and we were ready to teach! The first week was pretty rocky; inexperience got the best of us. The energy from the kids was so exhilarating, we knew we were doing something positive. We looked forward to every Tuesday and Thursday from then on.

For the next 8 weeks, we talked about the way communities work and showed the flow of money throughout a community. We played games, listen to music, and interacted with the kids. They were not shy to us and they expressed freely how they felt about the activities.

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Because I am not all that into teaching, I contributed by keeping them entertained and leading the lesson. I believe as a group everybody should contribute their best quality. If you are good at keeping time or good at contributing ideas, then that’s what you should do. Courtney, one of my team members, is a natural with the kids, so he did a lot of interacting rather then teaching.

At the end of the 8 weeks, we all got together and through our classes parties. They really enjoyed that, although it was sad because in a little amount of time, we all bonded.

This experience was number one on my list because it is very important to me. I learned so much from this experience. Kids are inspiring and they make you want to do better because you want them to do good. Our class was so energetic and lively, you could not help but be excited yourself. Also, during this experience I learned about bringing out your best quality in each team member. I learned that you don’t have to be the leader or the slacker in the group; every little thing counts when contributing to group effort. Junior Achievement was an awesome experience.

“Bye!” sung our third grade class as we walked out on the last day.