Blog #1

 I have chosen to do my Service Learning at Thunder Ridge Elementary, in Saratoga Springs, UT.  As you drive around Thunder Ridge you immediately notice that they are sitting right in the middle of a huge building boom in Saratoga Springs.  This is having a major impact on the school as they are struggling to keep up with a huge influx of new students, and working around the traffic that is beginning to pile up around the school and create unsafe walking paths for their students.  The school is comprised of 86% caucasion students with the next biggest ethnic group being  Hispanic at 8%.  Many of these Hispanic students are non-english speaking, so the school is working to find as many bilingual employees as possible to help these students. The school is currently showing that 13% of their students come from low income homes.  Thunder Ridge is currently functioning with 25-30 students per class, with an additional 16 students per class in each of their three SMS (special education) classrooms.  The greatest upside to Thunder Ridge is that it is a wonderful place to be, with a Principal and Vice Principal who so obviously care about their staff and students.  This care and supportive work enviroment can be seen by the fact that h 78% of their teachers  have been there for three or more years.  This is a great positive for the students to have such stability among the teachers and staff.  I know from my own children that this creates a feeling of security when they go in year after year and see the same faces.

As I go in and work with the teachers for my Service Learning, I understand completely that this is to observe a functioning classroom, help with the students when needed, and assist the teacher in their daily clerical needs, such as grading papers and prep work.  This must all be done while observing the teaching methods.  I know that these requirements will be a struggle and very rewarding, because it is essentially what I do everyday that I walk into the classroom.  I started working as a classroom aide back in January of 2021.  I know that this Service Learning is suppose to give me an idea of whether I want to be a teacher or not, but I feel I have made that decision in reverse. It was actually working in the classroom that made me finally decided after 25 years that it was time to go back to school, because I had finally found something I was passionate about....Students, and doing all I could to make their time in school uplifting and successful!  I'm so excited to begin!