The Jumpstart Effect

Jumpstart is always a series of ups and downs, success and failure, both in the classroom and personal. Recently I was able to see a success in the classroom and it reminded me of the reason I do Jumpstart, to help the children. A young child in our class struggles with letters and his simple day to day interactions and most likely has a learning disability according to our teachers. He usually runs around the classroom in his own little world. However, recently, we were able to help him break out of that world. Since Jumpstart began coming to the classroom he slowly started to come out of his shell; we tried to work one on one with him as much as possible, and include him in all group activities. The other day we had a breakthrough. He sat next to me as I observed centers and spelled out and wrote every single letter of his name, with no hesitation and without prompting. I was stunned, somehow throughout all of these Jumpstart sessions, he had been listening and in the back of his head it was all making sense. It was the first time that he had been able to spell or write in the classroom.

In that moment, I remembered why I am Jumpstart. I am Jumpstart because I spend every moment of free time trying to figure out how to make my session better. I am Jumpstart because each time I walk into the classroom I leave my stress and worry at the door. I am Jumpstart because I want every child to be prepared to succeed in kindergarten. Jumpstart has become a family for me, and in every family there are good days and bad days. Sometimes we are a little off and cannot focus ourselves enough to give our best session, but we must remember that we are there for one reason and it does not involve us. We are there for these children and every little thing we do will help. Jumpstart can be difficult but it takes the small successes to remind us why we are where we are. From a child’s garbled retelling of a storybook, to the first moment a child can spell and write their name; we are there for the big and small successes. In Jumpstart I have learned to look at the little things and how they affect me, not the big things any longer. When a child can successfully spend a whole day without crying, it has been a successful session. If every child learns one thing during Jumpstart, we have had a tremendous success. We are there for these children to both support and bolster them through developmental years that are some of the hardest. As much as we support the children, they support us too; with their small successes, they remind us why we spend 300 hours of our lives dedicated to early education.

~Reka Keller

Team Leader

Team Connection