Teacher Profile
Cristin Barnett Cristin Barnett, a 35-year-old teacher with 10 years of experience, speaks with a charming twang that radiates affection and concern for her students. Ms. Barnett has 122 students divided among five sections of seventh grade English at Mabelvale Magnet Middle School in Arkansas’s Little Rock School District. With just one of her and so many of them, things can get a little hectic. But not when Matt’s around. For several of Ms. Barnett’s classes each day, City Year AmeriCorps member Matt Denis joins her, doubling the number of caring adults in her classroom. “They know that they have somebody else in class who is here for them and that’s huge,” she said. Matt, 24, takes advantage of being relatively close in age to Mabelvale’s pupils to connect with Barnett’s students as a mentor and tutor. “If we’re doing an activity and she’s teaching a lesson as students are working, I’m looking around to see if students aren’t getting it,” Matt said. “I help them oneon-one so she can keep teaching.” With assistance from Matt, Ms. Barnett can differentiate her instruction, pausing to help struggling students or offering more challenging material to students who are more advanced. For example, during an in-class lesson comparing Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island to its film counterpart, Matt took a student aside to work on his essay. If a situation calls for Ms. Barnett’s special attention, Matt uses his academic background (he has a BA in English) to carry on the class discussion, so she can tend to a student’s needs. “Matt was an English major so he jumps right in,” Ms. Barnett said. 32
Matt and Omari Holt, who worked with Ms. Barnett last year but now leads the team of City Year corps members at Mabelvale Magnet, have leveraged their near-peer position to relate to students. Ms. Barnett credits them with bridging a gap she could not. “We’re in southwest Little Rock and many students have had behavioral, home or economic issues,” she said. “Having Omari there was the biggest help ever. He could talk to these boys on a more personal level that they could relate to.” In December, Ms. Barnett and Omari hosted a workshop for Mabelvale Magnet teachers about how best to use corps members in the classroom. For Ms. Barnett, Omari and Matt have served as valued colleagues and as confidants for her students – in a “personal but professional” manner, she said. “They keep me up to date on students’ lives so I understand that if somebody’s shutting down in class there could be a situation at home,” Ms. Barnett said. “Together, we sit down and think ‘let’s do what we can to help that student succeed in the classroom.’”