Hendrix Student Steps Into Teacher's Role

CONWAY, Ark. (July 19, 2007)

To Nathan Thomas, the opportunity to go into Forrest City to help educate struggling students was not one to be missed. He went because his mother’s occupation allowed her the opportunity to help mentally challenged students of elementary school age. He went because his father had taught students at the University of Arkansas a few summers ago along the same premise. And now, at the end of the program, Thomas too can say he has helped improve the lives of what some would call students beyond help.

Thomas, a sophomore politics major from Fayetteville, was one of four Hendrix students that participated in the Above the Line Project. The program by Dr. James Jennings, associate professor for education and history at Hendrix, was designed to help 22 students in the Forrest City (Ark.) School District who previously scored “below” or “below basic” on the Arkansas Benchmark Exam. The students would participate in the program during a three-week period of the summer, giving up their vacation for a chance to learn.

This title of the program is based on the demographic patterns in Arkansas. If a diagonal line is drawn from Blytheville in the northeast corner of the state to Texarkana in the southwest, the highest concentrations of poverty and academic failure are located “below the line.” Dr. Jennings started the project as a way to bring students in those areas “above the line” on paper.

Thomas first heard of the project through Hendrix Students for Black Culture (SBC). To him, it was a great idea. It was a chance to give students in poverty the help they needed but were not getting from the state. He, along with Hendrix Students Kristy Chambers, Adrienne Dawson, and Terricka Thomas, volunteered from the start. For particapting, each Hendrix student recieved an Odyssey Credit.

Their first task was to decide which students to help and what those students needed to learn. These decisions were based largely on the Arkansas Benchmark Exam. The short time period of the project, three weeks, made it difficult to help all the students that needed it.

“There were some students that were so far behind that we could not do a thing to help them in three weeks time. Some students could not write. Some couldn’t read, and some couldn’t do simple addition,” said Thomas.

They narrowed it to students who were failing, but, judging from their test scores, would be responsive to the program’s three weeks of intensive studies.

Dr. Jennings wrote up the proposals and talked to the school district. Then Thomas, along with the other Hendrix students and teachers helped him plan right up to the day the program started. A few times each month of the school year they would get together to discuss the project and everything from its logo and slogan to the schedule and budget.

Then, they were ready.

Teaching the Students 

For Thomas, being involved in the program meant, waking up during the summer at 6 a.m. every day, putting on his “Above the Line” Polo, and leaving the hotel at 7:10 a.m. to head to school. After meeting and greeting the parents and students outside the school, he would go to breakfast with the students. After breakfast, Dr. Jennings had a character builder for the students. These character builders came in the form of tasks that he would give them everyday, such as “I will be quiet in the hallways.”
Once the students were split into their four assigned groups of about 4-9 students and walked to the classrooms, Thomas began to teach. For the three weeks, he taught four classes of grammar a day for an hour with a list of objectives he had to cover. These objectives included things such as capitalization, prewriting, and developing a central thought. Each objective was taught for two days, to ensure the students comprehended it. Every Friday Thomas would review the two objectives covered that week. The day ended with all the Hendrix students helping with character building reviews or academic reinforcements in math, reading, grammar, or science for an hour.

Thomas cites patience and improvisation as the skills he used most. He worked to adjust his teaching pace to fit the speed at which the students were learning, and he adjusted his lesson plans to meet unforeseen obstacles.

“The first week was a bit rough,” said Thomas. “The students were not used to being around people that believed in them 100 percent. They didn’t respond well to being academically challenged. The students just thought they were going to mess up, and wouldn’t try.”

For Thomas, it may have been a little more difficult, as the students were rather skeptical about him.

“I was the only male teacher, and they told me I was not like other black males they have encountered. They said I sounded ‘strange’ to them.”

However, given a little time, the students began to warm up, and Thomas was able to better work with them, as they became more responsive.

At the end of the day, students who earned “Above the Line” dollars, an incentive for good behavior, were able to cash those in for prizes such as holographic notebooks, toys, and books. Thomas and the other workers would once again meet the parents, who were eager to talk about their children and their progress. The program itself encompassed a focus group of ten parents who brought their side of the educational problem to the table. They were surprised to learn that many of their kids, who were honor roll students, were failing standardized tests. They were taken aback to realize that the test included subjects like geometry that their children didn’t even know. They, as parents, were struggling with what they could do. The program helped the kids learn the information that they needed to know and led the parents to become involved in their child’s education.

Thomas's Experience 

For Thomas, it was a good three weeks, and if he could have done anything differently, it would have been to spend more time outside of the classroom with the students. Their success is what he counts as his biggest accomplishment in the program.

“It made my day so much better when the students came in my class asking questions and ready to learn about grammar. They were not afraid to ask questions, and they were not afraid of being incorrect when called upon,” said Thomas.

For Thomas, this isn’t the beginning of his service career. While both parents have history in service, it was at the age of 13, that Thomas first became aware of people around him and realized he could make a difference. He also had tried his hand at tutoring in Menifee through the Lilly Program. After this trip, Thomas is considering joining Big Brothers, having realized the difference he can make in a child’s life.

The project did have a more somber impact on him, however. It exposed him to a way of living that he previously never realized existed.

“This project has given me understanding of the culture in poverty stricken areas in Arkansas. I will be able to look at a person and not be so quick to judge, but to understand.”

Thomas learned that every person had a story to be told, and it is not always a negative one.

However, Thomas counts this trip as a success. After the results of the final test came in, they compared it to the pre-test. Both tests covered the objectives that Thomas and the other students taught. They results were great. They have proven that a simple after school type program can indeed make a huge difference.

Hendrix, founded in 1876, is a selective, residential, undergraduate liberal arts college that emphasizes experiential learning in a demanding yet supportive environment. The college has been affiliated with the United Methodist Church since 1884. For more information, visit www.hendrix.edu.