It’s a cold day outside, but in the bright, airy Broadmeadow School media center, a young teacher’s aide clad in a polo shirt and khakis clips nameplates into the proper shape to paste inside book covers as he chats about his daily commute.
A class of tiny first-graders soon files in and everyone knows what to do: The children sit on the window ledge, and the aide pulls out a book.
Soon, Noble Williams, 17, is bringing his charges into the world of 100-year-old George Baker and his neighbor. Sometimes, he peeks around the edges of the book so he can see the upside-down words as he shows the pictures to the children, who crowd closer.
"My next-door neighbor is almost 100," a little boy pipes up. Others can’t believe Mr. Baker is really that old.
What’s different about Williams, and the five other student aides who come with them every Friday to Broadmeadow, is the partnership they’re helping to forge between Boston’s inner city, where they live, and Needham, a half-hour commuter rail ride and world of economic difference away.
Broadmeadow and the Codman Academy, a college-focused charter school in Dorchester that the aides attend, are in the second year of a successful partnership. The high school seniors get academic credit for their internships and learn the craft of teaching. The Broadmeadow students get the benefit of learning from a diverse teaching staff.
"It’s good for all the kids," said Principal Anne Whittredge. "And for our students of color, it’s good to see teachers of color working effectively."
In a different wing, a young METCO student confides how much she loves her student-teacher, Evelis Perez, also 17.
"She is fun to hang out with. She’s very good at art," says Shaira Mediria, 8, who adds that Perez once made a collage of a rainbow for the class.
Recently, Mediria learned that Evelis lives right in her neighborhood (Roxbury) and that they have the same favorite color (blue). In their free time, they talk to each other about new videos on Black Entertainment TV.
Another student, 7 3/4-year-old Scott Dagen, said Perez can be "strict," where his regular teacher, Liz Silva, "understands how I feel" a bit better. But Perez stops by people’s desks and helps with classwork, he said. Recently, she stopped by his desk, and had him read her a tongue-twister poem.
Perez is a great person to have in the room, Silva said. "She really likes to make connections. The kids really like when she comes."
Codman Principal Meg Campbell and Whittredge used to be colleagues in the Boston Public School system. Campbell founded the Codman in 2001. "Learning by doing," is part of its mission, and internships fit in perfectly. All seniors spend their Fridays at work around Boston; Broadmeadow boasts the largest number of student interns in this year’s class. | Codman students also go to school on Saturdays and have theater, "wellness" and an optional senior South Africa trip built into their experiences. Writing college application essays with extra help from staff is part of the package, and the model seems to work: Last June, every graduate was accepted to a four-year college.
At Broadmeadow, the students work in classrooms with "mentor teachers," where each learns from the other and the teacher gets extra help.
"I help the kids find books," said Williams, describing how he’ll have one of his charges type a title into the computer to look up where it’s kept. "I push them along."
He’s learning to be very patient, he said. It’s because sometimes he sees himself, 10 years ago, in the students.
He’s also learned how to deal with impatience in others.
"This one kid, today, he didn’t want to read, so I set a limit. I said, read this page, then this page, then this one. And he did it."
Char Sidell, library media specialist and Williams’ "mentor teacher" at Broadmeadow, can’t praise him enough.
"Noble just seems to know where to be. He is very gentle. He’s a wonderful young man," she said.
Unlike Williams, who wants to volunteer with children but is seeking a different career path, Perez would like to work with children one day.
"I wanted to be a role model," she said. "These kids can achieve goals. I’ve failed at some, and I want to teach them from what I learned," she said.
She helps during reading lessons and sometimes plays math games with the students.
"She’s great to have in the room," teacher Liz Silva said. "She really likes to make connections. I think the kids really like it when she comes."
Working out the partnership with Codman in fall 2004 was not hard for her to do, Whittredge said, and it seems to have paid off for everyone. Parents support the program by picking up the aides at Hersey commuter rail station. Teachers get the extra help, and Broadmeadow benefit from that by its very nature.
The aides may get the biggest perk, from the chance to work "in the real world," with interested teachers and, of course, the main reason they’re all there.
"When you ask somebody to work with a child," Whittredge said, something happens. "The best self comes out."
Amy Wyeth can be reached at awyeth@cnc.com |
