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Oberlin College Students Help Children Get Along
MARCH 29, 2000--Oberlin College students are helping local children develop their social and emotional skills, thanks to a grant written by Patricia DeWinstanley, associate professor of psychology, and Tracy Frierson, principal of Oberlin's Eastwood Elementary School. The grant, endowed by Ohio Compact K-16 Collaboration Grant, went into creating Social-Emotional Education for Community in the Schools (SEECS).
The program assigns the 12 to 15 students enrolled in DeWinstanley's Practicum in Educational Psychology to classrooms at Eastwood Elementary and the Oberlin Early Childhood Center (OECC), where they instruct once or twice a week, playing and talking with the children and tackling issues through themed projects.
In one project on self esteem, says participant Tara Hoicowitz, a junior from Toledo, "We go around a circle of four or five children, having each child say something that's special about themselves and then something that makes the child next to them special. We record them saying these positive things and then play back the tape. Afterwards, we talk about what self esteem is and how the children can do what we did in the lesson anytime."
Hoicowitz says that one goal of the program is to help the children discover alternative ways of behaving in a situation. In one case, she says, a boy who wanted a toy another child was playing with "ran up to the child and grabbed it out of his hands, knocking him down in the process."
Afterward, "He explained the situation to me from his point of view, and I asked him if there were other ways he could have achieved his goal. He listed off three or four ways. I asked if he could try one of those the next time this situation came up and he agreed. This was one of the extremely successful interactions."
Jessica Rothchild, a senior from West Caldwell, New Jersey, who works with three- and four-year-olds at the OECC, stresses the importance of helping the children solve interpersonal conflicts.
"One day eight kids wanted to swing, but there were only two swings. With my help, the kids developed a system so that everyone could get a turn. All the kids were really proud when I told them what great sharers they were. Later, when I went around the room asking each child to say what they were good at, those eight proudly proclaimed they were good at sharing."
DeWinstanley says that throughout the year the students have discovered new methods and techniques for intervening. "When you see the progress that we are making it is phenomenal," Rothchild adds.
"At this age, kids need a lot of personal attention and encouragement, and we help to provide this for them. To go in each day and see how happy the children are to see you is rewarding, and the children are rewarded when we are able to praise them for resolving a conflict."
Another version of this story, under the title "Where College and Elementary Classrooms Meet," appears in the current issue of the newsletter of the Center for Service and Learning.
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