SANTA ANA : Students Try Their Hands at Teaching

Standing at the chalkboard, temporary teacher Juan Contreras, 18, poses a difficult question to 9-year-old Rodolfo Marquez: How many of his 24 flowers should Rodolfo give to each of his six “girlfriends” so as not to play favorites?

Surrounded by six female classmates who smile and giggle at his predicament, Rodolfo ventures an answer. “Four?” he asks.

It is a good thing the answer was correct, Contreras joked later, because otherwise, “His girlfriends would have hit him.”

Last week was Contreras’ second week of teaching at the mixed fourth- and fifth-grade class at Martin A. Heninger Elementary School. He is one of 133 Santa Ana High School students participating in a 3-week-old program designed to provide them with teaching experience.

The students, including 107 from a child development class and 25 from the Future Teachers Club, usually work one-hour periods three mornings a week, said Sharon Ellis, who conceived the program and who teaches the high school class. Because the elementary school is across the street from the high school, student teachers have no trouble getting to and from class on time.

Their duties vary, but generally they offer individual tutoring, teach classes and help the regular teachers in classroom activities. In return, they get experience, course credit and the admiration of children in the kindergarten through fifth-grade classes they help teach. At the same time, teachers gain valuable help and the younger students receive extra tutoring and attention.

“The nice thing is that everyone benefits,” Ellis said. Student teachers “love knowing they’ve done something valuable. And in the process, they’ve learned something they’d have never learned sitting in a (high school) classroom. Theory is great, but there’s a lot of things that you can’t learn from books.”

Contreras agreed. “I love teaching the kids. I want them to learn. And I like that I’m helping the community,” he said during a brief break from division problems.

Regular teacher Marian Levitt praised the program for boosting her students’ enthusiasm for learning and making the class more interesting.

“It’s like Christmas morning for all of us. The children wait for these kids, they’re very enthusiastic,” she said. “They’re excited about things that would normally be mundane for them, things like reading.”

She also said Contreras’ Spanish skills exceed hers and have helped some Spanish-speaking students grasp math concepts easier.

The younger students said they like the program, too. Arturo Anguiano, 10, said, “I look forward to doing fun things with them,” and pointed out that there is less competition for the teacher’s time when high school students are present to help.

“They listen to me and they’re not talking to other people,” Arturo said. “They’ll look to my face and talk. It’s easier to learn that way.”