Community Service

Madison Ruesch

Over Christmas Break last year, I spent my time at Round Lake - Brewster Elementary as

a paraprofessional. They were looking for part-time help and the principal reached out to me and

asked if I would be available to help out. I thought that this would be a perfect opportunity to get

my community service hours completed and keep myself busy over break. To complete my

hours, I did the first 4 days unpaid and then was paid for the rest of the break.

This experience was eye-opening and enjoyable for me. I was able to see firsthand what it

is like to be in the classroom. I spent the majority of my time in a preschool classroom during

this experience. After being in a preschool classroom for a month and a half, I decided that

preschool was not the grade that I wanted to teach. The students in that classroom were very

bright and eager to learn, but they did not have as much independence as I would like to see in a

classroom. My community service experience had a positive effect on me because I was

fortunate enough to learn more about teaching tactics. I was able to get a taste of what actually

being a teacher is like and that made me more excited to start my career.

This experience took place during the pandemic when masking and quarantine was more

of a prevalent issue than it is now. Due to the pandemic, I was able to experience not only what

being a teacher is like, but also, what being a teacher is like during the pandemic. It can be

immensely frustrating. There are times when a student is out of the classroom for two weeks,

learning lessons on their own. There are also times when the teacher is out of the classroom for

two weeks, teaching through a screen. When a student is out of the classroom for that long, they

fall behind the rest of their classmates. That student misses out on critical discussions with their

peers and they miss out on social interactions as well. It was challenging for the teacher to make
sure that those students stayed caught up with the rest of the class. The teacher I worked with did

an appreciable job at keeping that student in the loop. She took the time to contact the parents/

guardians, the student, and even siblings in some cases to check up on the student and make sure

that everything was going smoothly. It takes more effort from the teacher to do this, but it is

ultimately beneficial in the long run. There was a time when the teacher had to quarantine and

then it was just me in the classroom. We would get the teacher on Facetime and that was how she

would teach her lessons for the day. It was definitely a lot more challenging for her to teach that

way because the students felt disconnected from her. Teaching during a pandemic is definitely

something that I hope I never have to do, but if I ever have to, I know I will be prepared because

of what this teacher has taught me.

My experience at Round Lake - Brewster Elementary had a significant impact on my

growth as an educator. I learned a lot about teaching in general, the type of teacher I want to be,

and the classroom that I want to be in post-graduation. Teaching during a pandemic can be very

challenging for the teacher and each student. With extra communication and putting in extra

work, an unfortunate event like that can be a little easier to control.