Civic Engagement in Action : Math and Soccer with S.C.O.R.E. James H. Eschenbrenner Introduction This semester for my Service Learning requirement for ED-SPED 350: Teaching Students with Exceptionalities at the Secondary Level class I decided to mentor Title One students at Silver Sage Elementary with the S.C.O.R.E. program. Methods and Activities As a S.C.O.R.E. volunteer I arrived at Silver Sage Elementary School on a Tuesday or Thursday to meet my students outside their classroom. The students would give me the homework assignments they needed help with, usually math, and then walk to the cafeteria to retrieve their lunches. As a volunteer group, we would wait for the students in the school’s S.C.O.R.E. classroom with their homework until they arrived with their lunches. Once their lunches had been eaten the homework would start. I would respond to questions, and keep the students focused. Keeping them focused could be frustrating at times, but use of positive reinforcement and a better rapport with the students usually answered the students’ needs. With more extreme situations an individualized mentorship was needed to help the student keep focus with the task on hand. If their homework was done before the bell rang some of the students could leave to play outside, the other students would stay inside and play games with their mentors. On Fridays, the students were rewarded for a week of doing their homework with soccer during their lunch period. The jobs for the volunteers on those days were to supervise the field and help fix any difficulties that may arise during the game. Results The students I mentored seemed to improve greatly not from their grades, but with their behavior. While my students still seemed to struggle with their homework, they better understood what was expected out of them and the issues of their behavior. More, the students I mentored grew much stronger self-esteem bases and self-understanding. As can be expected, the results were not universal, and there were still students who were still in need of help. Hopefully through continual support of programs like S.C.O.R.E. coupled with more intensive instruction from their teachers those students who were still in need of help will receive it. Course: ED-SPED 350 Teaching Students with Exceptionalities at the Secondary Level, Spring 2010 Instructor: Professor Michael Humphrey Purpose: To mentor at-risk Title One students Learning goals: To enhance the student’s post- secondary outcomes, educational services, social services, and/or familial services for students with exceptionalities. Partner: S.C.O.R.E. Mission: To provide activities and mentoring in underserved primary schools in the State of Idaho. To provide a supplemental program that effectively integrates the positive elements of athletic participation with the critical need for enhanced reading, language, and study skills. Reflection: When I enrolled in S.C.O.R.E. I was skeptical about what I could learn by doing service learning that I couldn’t learn in the classroom hearing a lecture. To be honest, it felt like an extra burden on someone who needed time not only to do school, but to work as well. However, what I learned was something superior to a semester long lecture. It gave me a chance to experience real world applications of Dr. Humphrey’s course content, not only with students with exceptionalities, but with general education students as well. One lesson of the Teaching Students with Exceptionalities course was the Response to Intervention (RTI) process. I absorbed this lesson like a sponge. It did not take me very long to learn the application of this lesson in my own situation with S.C.O.R.E. According to the RTI model (see graph), each student starts in the tier three section of the pyramid. Using research- based monitoring, a student is recognized as needing more individualized instruction and the student is moved to tier two. The same process works again, if needed, to allow the student to move to tier three. The higher up the pyramid, the more intensive and individualized the instruction. After learning of this intervention process, I suddenly realized that I was experiencing tier two right in front of my eyes, the students we were mentoring were in need of tier two’s individualized instruction. Having the students finish their work before the end of their lunch period seemed to be a big problem. I usually had to raise my voice to have everyone concentrate on their work. Of course, it seemed to go nowhere. After learning the PBS system, a system which gives the teacher the opportunity to give positive reinforcement to the students who are following the social and academic requirements that are required of them, I decided to give positive reinforcement to the students following the correct manner to complete their assignments. Once utilized, the other students followed their example. After using this system, I not only successfully released my students back to lunch but moved to another group to help their mentor. Discussion: Why Soccer? One very important aspect of the S.C.O.R.E. program for students is soccer on Fridays as a type of reward for doing their homework during the week. In this way students have physical activity, which is healthy by itself, to facilitate sportsman-like behavior. By using the soccer model, the S.C.O.R.E. mentors are able to promote responsible behavior on the field as well as the classroom.