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Partners

“Partners” is a McGuffey program pairing older students with younger ones that provides benefits to each group. Older students encounter unique opportunities to learn about learning, child development, and psychology through observation and experience, while younger students receive support in early learning situations, and the opportunity to develop friendships with older, more experienced students.

In the fifth and sixth grade years, students work with first and second graders during the primary language arts class. They provide leadership, support, and guidance by helping the younger students keep organized and on-task, reviewing flash cards, and helping with phonic work, spelling, reading, writing, and science projects. Seventh and eighth graders are paired with kindergarten students early in the year and engage in a wide range of activities and experiences ranging from outdoor games, science projects, introduction to wood shop, ice skating, games, and art activities. They read aloud to their charges, transcribe stories, and just listen. This framework provides a structure on which hangs many opportunities unique to the McGuffey experience.

Traditional age-segregated schools tend to provide a narrow range of age-related roles. Experiences at McGuffey in general, and in the partners program specifically, provide a chance for broader role options. As partners, the older students get to be the expert, to be looked up to, and have the chance to coach, encourage, and support a younger students. With adult supervision and counseling, partners model and mentor organizing, study, game, group, and social skills.

Many who have tried teaching, even briefly, feel that one never understands or learns better than when one teaches. Often the person doing the explaining is the person who is doing the learning, and in a spiral of reinforcement, the role of teaching makes one a better, more organized learner.

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