A group of jittery 7- and 8-year-old children filed down the
halls of the Public Policy building Wednesday morning, headed in
the direction of Professor Shelby Popham’s English
Composition 3 class.
Armed with prewritten questions, the children patiently listened
as Popham instructed them to find their name tag and sit across
from the awaiting college students.
“All of you are writers, and you’re checking to see
how other writers work,” Popham said. “Writing is under
construction always.”
The students were visiting UCLA from Coeur d’Alene
Elementary School in Venice. Popham, who has a child in the class,
is a weekly volunteer in Lizbeth Romero’s second-grade
classroom.
Popham teaches a writing component in the class, and it was her
idea for the children to meet up with UCLA students so they could
interview each other about the fundamental aspects of writing, and
what kinds of writing students enjoyed most.
The pairs of students had previously written letters so they
could be more familiarized with one another. She said she had a
good idea of which students would work well together based on her
experience volunteering in the classroom.
Danny Coleman, a 7-year-old, seized the opportunity to discuss
all types of situations that arise in the writing process.
“I like to write about “˜Star Wars’ and
“˜Pirates of the Caribbean,'” he said. Danny and
his partner Brian Anacleto, a first-year undeclared student,
discussed how they deal with barriers in writing.
“What do you do if you do not like the assignment?”
Anacleto asked his partner.
“I will go use the restroom,” Danny said. “But
I don’t use it actually. I just wait there.”
When asked about her favorite thing to write about, 8-year-old
Ahriael Colling promptly responded “candy.” Ahriael
said she was excited to meet Chanelle Curry, a first-year
psychology student.
“She had a lot of things in common with me.” Ahriael
said, such as liking the colors pink and black.
The socioeconomic status of the students at Couer d’Alene
varies greatly. Rex Patton, principal of the elementary school,
said 10 percent to 12 percent of the student population is
homeless, according to statistics from the Los Angeles Unified
School District.
The school has 472 students, but about 130 students go in and
out of homeless shelters, making the transiency rate of homeless
students about 30 percent, Patton said.
“It’s been that way since the ’80s,” he
said. “The kids from the shelter are about 99 to 100 percent
students of color. We have no majority student
population.”
But Romero said the economic backgrounds of the students does
not affect the learning experience.
“Our population ranges from penthouse students to homeless
shelters. You can’t tell one from the other,” she said.
“When they come in, they come in as students. There are no
labels.”
Regardless of their personal background, the students were
excited about coming to UCLA.
“Somebody woke up their parents to make sure they were at
school on time,” Romero said.
The classroom was bustling with activity throughout the 75
minutes, and each interview was unique.
Brian Gannon, a 7-year-old, said he gets his writing ideas from
books he reads.
He told his partner, Jonathan Tsai, a first-year civil
engineering student, about his ideas for a book, called
“Posquito Posquito,” about a little mosquito trying to
find his way home.
Tsai was amused by the title of his partner’s book.
“When I was a little kid, I used to say
“˜mosquitos’ with a “˜P,'” Brian
explained.
UCLA has a history of pooling college students and children
together. The Corinne A. Seeds University Elementary School, which
is located on the UCLA campus, has used similar hands-on
experiences to teach children about various topics.
Laura Weishaupt, communications director for the school, said
the children often interact with UCLA students.
Examples include a group of pre-kindergarten students who met
with graduate architecture students to design play structures for
the squirrels that come to the recreation area, as well as a group
of sixth-graders studying world cultures that worked with curators
from the Fowler Museum’s Carnaval exhibition.
Weishaupt said students from the school in the past have worked
with UCLA students in all fields.
“(UCLA students) bring an expertise that the teachers
don’t have,” Weishaupt said. “It gives the kids a
real-life, hands-on learning opportunity,” Weishaupt
said.
Popham also said the interaction between students proves
beneficial for both sides, and that UCLA students can learn a lot
by watching children grasp the basic concepts of writing.
“Often we forget how hard it is,” she said.
“My primary goal is for everyone to understand that they are
writers.”