Service orientation vs teaching/tutoring questions

[RespectTheChemistry]

Hi -

I didn't want to derail someone else's thread, so I made my own.

My major non-clinical volunteering activity was tutoring literacy skills for teenage boys ages 12-21 incarcerated at a juvenille detention facility. Youths would get referred to us by the school staff because they were reading far below grade level and needed the one-on-one to improve their reading comprehension skills to be able to eventually pass the GED or have better success in the credit recovery online high school run by the state.

Someone else on SDN whose thread I was reading did volunteer tutoring through the Boys & Girls Clubs. Mr. Smile said that that could get internally reclassified as teaching/tutoring, which is separate from service orientation. That's the thread that made me think about my situation and wonder.

I am hoping to do Americorps during my gap year. The best "bites" (most interviews) I have gotten from Americorps positions have been literacy-type positions. It could be because that's where a lot of my experience and training is (Psychology major with some Education coursework and a lot of paid kid experience), so I am having better luck with getting interviews for that type of thing.

Questions:

#1.) I am not doing a very good job phrasing my question, but I was wondering if *because it was a prison* if this activity did a good job of showing service orientation or if I should consider this more teaching/tutoring for my own school-list making purposes because it might get internally reclassified that way.

#2.) The alternative to Americorps would be to take another job where I don't have to move and just do more nonclinical volunteering in the evenings. If the only Americorps positions I can get are along educational lines and less housing/food/job placement, would it be better to get any paid job and then get involved with organizations that do that type of thing (housing/food/job placement) in the evenings?

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[Mr.Smile12]

I'll be the first to admit, the rules are not cut and dry. Tutoring/teaching in science/math/STEM areas demonstrates your science competency/mastery. The phrase "see it, do it, teach it" heard often in medicine is the point for showing your mastery in medicine.

However, your situation for teaching literacy in a juvenile detention facility does make an impression more toward stretching beyond your comfort zone and helping with job preparation skills. The experience differs from doing a science workshop in a school where you drop in for a few hours one day or so. I would also presume you would need some training before you could do that type of teaching in a juvenile detention facility, and having it be facilitated through Americorps or a similar organization would also strengthen my argument advocating for "service orientation." Americorps, Peace Corps, and the like is generally viewed very favorably.

Understand that actually being hired as a science/math teacher in an underserved area where you have a year commitment through TFA or CY can be argued as service orientation because you are committed in a way that goes beyond a typical tutoring arrangement.

We cover corrective healthcare and the lack of healthcare providers who serve in that environment in Becoming a Student Doctor.

In short, good job and good luck with your description and reflection of the activity as well as any Americorps choices you may face.

 

[RespectTheChemistry]

Thank you so much for your help, @Mr.Smile12! I really appreciate it!

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Throwing this in... in spite of the fact the video has a very dated feel.



Also
Watch

 

[LizzyM]

I'd be very comfortable seeing this listed as non-clinical volunteering.

 

[RespectTheChemistry]

I'd be very comfortable seeing this listed as non-clinical volunteering.

Thank you so much!