The importance of training

When you’re working with preschoolers, there are good days, and there are bad days, and sometimes it feels as though, as a corps member, you may spend more days trying to teach your children how to do Jumpstart than you do actually implementing the session smoothly. Working with three year olds, we are faced with the disadvantage of working with human beings who haven’t developed a strong long-term memory, so even after they have learned how Jumpstart functions, winter breaks appears and when we come back, we have to start all over again. This month has been the most trying for me as a corps member, because I have had to start over at step one in figuring out how to keep my member children engaged in reading, circle time, and center time activities. The children are still adjusting to being back in school and to changes that we have made to Jumpstart; now, with an extra Corps members joining my group we have changed our reading groups, and it was a challenge to explain to one of my reading group from last semester that she has a new friend to read to her.

Throughout these challenges I have found our trainings exceptionally helpful. What sets Jumpstart apart from similar programs with which I have been involved is the wealth of resources, in the form of trainings, other corps members, online supplements, and our site manager, that is constantly at hand for all team members. Training doesn’t stop once you’ve joined Jumpstart, or completed one term of service. There is always so much to learn about classroom management, and always new ways to improve reading and engagement for the member children. Sometimes the continual trainings feel like overkill, but when you walk into the classroom on a challenging day and you find yourself using the classroom management techniques you learned in the latest trainings session, you realize just how useful and influential all your Jumpstart resources are.

Corps members can’t always depend on children understanding how Jumpstart works, remembering their names, or wanting to follow the rules for session. However, what we can always depend on is the quality of our training and the strength of the support we are constantly offered.  The most important life skill that I am going to walk away with at the end of my second term of service is an understanding of the importance of preparation, training, and learning resources. Now that I am preparing for grad school, these skills will be invaluable in helping me ready myself for my future education and my future career in social work.

~Rebecca Davis
Corps member
Team Determination