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The Barnum Buddies meet anywhere they can find room in their Taunton, Massachusetts school, even if it means working out in the hall. An area outside the Barnum Preschool principal’s office contains notebooks specifically tailored for each child identified in the program, complete with individualized and activities and materials for a Barnum Buddy to utilize with her student. These adult volunteers dedicate time each week in the school to spend individualized time with children teachers have identified as struggling with basic early skills like letter, color and shape recognition.
While one-on-one attention is not a new concept, the success of Barnum Buddies has drawn national attention by groups like Education World and Johns Hopkins University National Network of Partnership Schools because of its individually-tailored lesson plans, along with the tireless devotion of its volunteers and the success of its students.
Success stories
"One four-year-old boy knew only four colors, two shapes, and no letters of the alphabet," shared school Principal Mary-Jane Webster Webster. "We put our heads together and developed a plan to use movement activities to help this little boy learn the letters. He counted and jumped down the hall with his Barnum Buddy jumping along, and he began to learn.”
A four-year-old girl was quiet and unenthusiastic about learning, refusing to take risks and frequently telling her teacher "I can't." Webster paired a Barnum Buddy with this child and asked her to engage in conversations, read to her, play with her, and provide her with one-on-one attention. Webster described the girl’s increased confidence shortly after as a remarkable transformation.
Volunteer devotion
There is no doubt the success of Barnum Buddies is in large part because of its devoted team of volunteers. Webster describes one as a high school student who comes in every week to help a little boy write his name and count out sets of objects. Another is a retired couple with grandchildren, who regularly e-mail progress reports to the teacher.
Worth emulating
Programs like Barnum Buddies are likely being replicated across the nation, and with good reason. Parents and teachers alike generally welcome an extra set of hands in the classroom – with the idea that the more attention a child gets the better. Do you know examples of volunteers making a difference with struggling children in the classroom? Share them!
More education debates in the news, including performance based pay for teachers and a new study which finds that bedside conversation beats bedtime stories, can be found on the Charlotte Examiner Public School home page.
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