CBSL at Campus For All

Three things I’ve learned

Its important to celebrate the little things in life. Everyday feels like something brand new even if we have done it before, from learning how Garage Band works to memorizing scripts. Every time I see one of my buddies they light up and smile as they tell me how proud they are of the grade that they got on their previous assignment that we worked on to complete the week before.

Learning occurs differently for everyone. One of my buddies learns best when each and every detail is thoroughly explained and I give examples so that she can draw her own connections in. While my other buddy learns best if I show him how to complete the task and explain very little, because words confuse him and make it harder for him. So just within my so far 13 hours of volunteering I have learned various new teaching styles so that I can help my buddies to learn the most that they are capable of.

Human interaction is vital to all people. One buddy lives by herself with her cat, recently she discovered that I have the ability to help her with her hair. So for the last two weeks she comes equipped with her hairbrush, bobby pins and elastic so that I can execute the idea that she has for her hair. She has told be very little about her life prior to her living alone, but from what I can understand it was not a situation that I would wish upon anyone, never mind a person who needs extra help.

Two things I’ve found interesting

That each individual has a very unique program set up for them. One buddy receives grades for her assignments along with feedback, whereas the other receives only feedback. Each individual is included in the classroom as though it is no problem to the professor, which is amazing!

The way that this program seems to run so flawlessly. I know that Campus For All is a very new program, but they seem to be run so smoothly that I never would have guessed that this program is as new as it is. When you are working within it, it feels as though it has been running for 15-20 years. Its amazing.

One Question I still have

If the University can create such individualized programs for so many students what stops schools from making their own programs so that individuals who need extra help can get it?