Episode Transcript
Marlena Jackson-Retondo: Welcome to Mind Shift, where we explore the future of learning and how we raise our children. I’m Marlena Jackson Rotondo. It’s almost winter break at Bellevue Elementary in Santa Rosa, California, and school sessions for the school year have just begun. AmeriCorps teacher schools have gone through an intensive course of training to prepare for the reading and writing support they will provide the rest of the year.
Jackson-Retondo: AmeriCorps is an independent government agency whose volunteer members provide educational support and services to schools across the country.
Jackson-Retondo: This morning, a small group of fourth graders reluctantly enter the room.
Jackson-Retondo: They were taken out of their classroom to spend 30 minutes with teachers Maya Nurse and Elena Zeoli.
Maya gets the students straight to work reading a story aloud from a workbook in unison.
Mya Nurse: Today we will begin our choral style of reading.
Mya Nurse: ready go!
Everyone reads: My mother tells me, I choose a beautiful paper fan with an image of leaves and fireflies. I will keep my fan forever. When I grow up, I will look at it and remember that night.
Jackson-Retondo: Teachers stop students every few sentences to ask about the vocabulary in the text.
Elena Zeoli: And what happened?
Elena Zeoli: What happened unexpectedly? The wet… they were warned about the weather. How high did they think the waves would go? Remember from the first page? Student: Hmmm…
Jackson-Retondo: The students seem timid, and when they speak it is very quiet. And sometimes the students don’t answer the questions at all, but Maya and Elena, not bothered by the silence, move on.
Jackson-Retondo: This is normal behavior for students during the first week of school at Bellevue Elementary, but what is not normal is that the first week of school this year was delayed by more than two months. Training was to begin in early fall. Last April, all AmeriCorps funding was cut by the Trump administration.
Jackson-Retondo: This ended a nearly three-decade partnership between Bellevue Elementary and AmeriCorps.
These cuts happened immediately and without explanation.
Nina Craig: It was shocking how quickly it happened. Hmmm, it literally felt like overnight.
Nina Craig: so it felt like the rug was pulled from us.
Jackson-Retondo: This is Nina Craig Bellevue, an elementary school principal for 10 years. Before that, she was a fifth-grade teacher and remembers working with AmeriCorps members back then.
Nina Craig: As a classroom teacher I remember them coming into my room and working with some of my students and having that partnership as a teacher
Jackson-Retondo: And because AmeriCorps members were an integral part of the school community, the cuts were hard on Bellevue students, too.
Nina Craig: The connection with the children that was established and for the children suddenly these people are gone who are such a vital part of our school.
Nina Craig: it was really sad and really hard to explain because they really become part of our school culture.
Jackson-Retondo: Through lawsuits. AmeriCorps funding cuts were reversed last June, but by then schools like Bellevue Elementary were already behind for the next school year’s instructional cycle. Some schools in the county have chosen not to continue training and mentoring from AmeriCorps members for the next school year.
Jackson-Retondo: This is because they had to make decisions about their funding, and without the security of AmeriCorps services, they had to go without. And because programming was delayed, Bellevue students didn’t begin their studies until December instead of October.
Nina Craig: until now, no tuition has been offered to our students in grades three through six.
Nina Craig: So without AmeriCorps, these students receive no training or intervention. And unless the teacher is able to take time out of their day to provide this,
Jackson-Retondo: AmeriCorps members provide one of the only forms of second level support to Bellevue elementary. This is targeted small group support. In this case, it helps students who have reading problems.
Nina Craig: In past years we have had literacy paraprofessionals who could support our level two. Um, but with budget cuts, this is our first year without one.
Nina Craig: So, um, we have a teaching assistant. For the whole school
Nina Craig: But yes, we are very limited.
Jackson-Retondo: The two AmeriCorps educators contribute significantly to Bellevue’s post-secondary workforce, but it’s still not enough. The school shortened the kindergarten day by an hour and a half so teachers could provide extra help for Bellevue’s first and second grade classrooms. With short notice and no wiggle room in their budget.
Jackson-Retondo: Bellevue Elementary had to make some tough choices. We’ll find out how they do right after this break.
***Interruption in the middle of the video***
Jackson-Retondo: When I visited Bellevue Elementary in December, I spoke with Fonzie, a fourth-grader receiving small-group literacy lessons for 30 minutes a day, four days a week.
sources: Dog Man and then I Survived.
Fonzie tells me about the books he likes to read at home.
Jackson-Retondo: What was that?
sources: I survived.
Jackson-Retondo: What is this for?
sources: Um, there are different books.
sources: There’s, um, a book about the Titanic, which, um, went down in the ocean.
Jackson-Retondo: Have you read about different survival stories? Wow, this is very cool.
Jackson-Retondo: He feels he has less time to read when he is in his classroom.
sources: The things that are different is that we don’t like to read many books,
Jackson-Retondo: But when he’s in his tutoring sessions, reading time, one of his favorite things, gets longer
sources: During AR we read, read books for 15 minutes.
Jackson-Retondo: Fonzie is part of a small group of fourth-grade students who have been identified as needing extra reading support. During a normal year, there is enough time for two groups of students to go through the training support of AmeriCorps members. But this year, because classes at Bellevue started late, AmeriCorps members only have time to help half the students they normally would.
Jackson-Retondo: At sites like Bellevue, AmeriCorps educators have become a staple in the school community.
Nina Craig: There are so many ways that AmeriCorps makes an impact because of the lessons, the time off, the mentoring. There is so much connection. You guys probably know more of the kids’ names than I do at this point. And you just started
Jackson-Retondo: And for Maya and Elena, who are just starting their careers, the program offers them a glimpse into their professional future
Sister Maya: I know I want to do work where I help people, and I thought this would be a great opportunity to, yeah, like, get real-life experience where I’m kind of serving others, and I’m thinking of doing something with social work.
Jackson-Retondo: The opportunity to work with students in a school setting also offered Maya something new.
Sister Maya: I had never worked with children and felt like I didn’t know what I was doing. For example, I don’t know if I…
Sister Maya: …If I can do that, in the beginning, you know, I was a little bit shy, but then you kind of just come in and, um, you start connecting with the kids.
Jackson-Retondo: When I spoke with the teaching couple in December, Elena was already feeling optimistic about her future.
Elena Zeoli: So far this job I feel extremely passionate about, which means it’s really nice to wake up in the morning and I, I wake up early, like I wake up before my alarm because I’m just excited to come to school.
Jackson-Retondo: A few months later, Maya and Elena felt comfortable in their roles,
Sister Maya: I just like knowing what I’m doing a little more. I kind of feel like we have a routine. Now I have a really good relationship with the students so I’m so excited to see them every day and they’re excited to see me and yeah, it’s great. It’s really good.
Jackson-Retondo: AmeriCorps teachers have also seen improvements in their students.
Sister Maya: One of my sixth graders, on one of his tests, he was also like the 26th percentile for reading in November. And now he’s like in the 42nd percentile and I’m like, wow, that’s so rewarding and exciting that he seems to be doing so much better and he can do it on his own now, like he’s doing it more on his own.
Jackson-Retondo: But the reality of having to work within the school’s limited resources has also sunk into Maya’s head.
Sister Maya: Sometimes it’s also really hard to see how some students struggle so much in school or like, you know, I can do so much and help them so much in those 30 minutes.
Sister Maya: yes, you just do the best you can each day with what you have.
ambi: The cat would be waiting for the cat, and then it could turn into a hundred mistakes in one.
ambi: He called for his keys and…
Jackson-Retondo: I entered the training classroom in February.
Jackson-Retondo: It felt like a transformed space with students who were relaxed and eager to learn.
Jackson-Retondo: Elena had also noticed a difference in her students.
Elena Zeoli: I feel they are much more confident in answering questions and what to write down. So that’s how I feel. It’s like the biggest difference I’ve seen is like their confidence in what they’re writing.
ambi: So the door, what is the door? Who does he know? what’s the door It’s D, OOR. yes I thought it was EDOOORH. what? Okay.
Jackson-Retondo: Fonzie has also gained confidence in his reading abilities since December. He told me he reads three to four books a day and even tackles some chapters.
sources: When I first got into reading groups, um, we started reading books and stuff and I kind of got hooked and started reading books every day.
Jackson-Retondo: The benefits of extra reading support provided by AmeriCorps tutors at school extended to Fonzie’s home life. He and his siblings came up with a reading game that they like to play at home.
sources: We assume that the book they have. They don’t show the covers. And we, I guess, and then if we get it right, the people who have the book that people say, they’re eliminated.
Jackson-Retondo: Although there won’t be enough time to bring in another group of fourth graders for tutoring this school year, Elena and Maya look forward to the remaining time with the students they can help.
Jackson-Retondo: Thank you to the teachers and staff at Bellevue Elementary who volunteered their time to make this episode possible.
Jackson-Retondo: The MindShift team includes myself, Marlena Jackson-Retondo, Nimah Gobir, and Ki Sung. Our editor is Chris Hambrick. Seth Samuel is our sound designer. Jen Chien is the podcast host and Ethan Toven-Lindsey is KQED’s editor-in-chief. We get additional support from Maha Sanad.
Jackson-Retondo: Mindshift is supported in part by the generosity of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and members of KQED, some members of the KQED podcast team are represented by the Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. San Francisco, Northern California Local.
Jackson-Retondo: Thanks for listening.
