Oct 28, 2009 7:20 pm US/Pacific
Volunteer Equips Teachers for Hands-On Lessons
Jefferson Award Winner: Jeff Benesch
SAN JOSE (CBS 5) ―
The games the first graders at the Orchard School in San Jose play teach spelling, how to measure a perimeter, even the fundamentals of physics. Just don't try telling Arielle that it's schoolwork.
"I love it!" she exclaims. "You get to build a tower, shake it, and see if it falls."
All of these activities have been carefully developed to help teachers teach, using the power of hands-on education. And all the lessons and materials were provided by RAFT, Resource Area for Teaching.
One look inside the RAFT center in San Jose and you see a world of possibilities for the classroom. It's what inspired Jeff Benesch to volunteer.
"As my own kids were starting to get involved in school, I realized that they really didn't have the same opportunities in science and math that I had when I was growing up," Jeff remembers. "That was something that was really important to me."
An engineer himself, Jeff began by helping RAFT in the board room, but was soon designing science lessons, and putting together new projects for kids to explore.
RAFT Founder Mary Simon says Jeff''s passion to support teachers is what this non-profit is all about
"We have support training, they get workshops, they get mentoring -- it's just all in one place to come to get teachers to refill their emotional batteries," Mary explains.
And it all comes without a drain on their pocketbooks.
Jeff adds, "What we try to provide through RAFT are very low-cost materials that they can actually purchase for their classroom use for effectively pennies on the dollar."
To keep prices low, most of the materials are recycled or donated. RAFT sells 50,000 project kits each year. There are hundreds of projects all tested and designed to meet the standards of the California school curriculum.
"The teachers love it," Jeff says. "We have almost 8000 teachers in the Bay Area who are members now who come back year after year."
And so does Jeff. His latest volunteer effort is producing videos for the RAFT website that explain some concepts of science.
Jeff says, "My kids are now 6 and 4, and they ask me now when they see something, 'Is this science or is this magic?' and to me that is the most wonderful thing that they actually have this concept. Sometimes it's science, and sometimes it's magic."
For supporting teachers and enriching the education of Bay Area students, this week's Jefferson Award goes to Jeff Benesch.
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