Flying Trees Academy - Become a mentor!

Flying Trees Academy is looking for volunteer mentors for our classroom. At FTA, I'm implementing a transformative educational approach that I developed through my program of research at YSU. My evidence-based approach aligns instructional practices with research on how children learn (i.e., research from the field of developmental psychology). Our emphasis is on promoting healthy human development so that children's brains are optimized to learn in constructivist ways. I often describe this approach as "Montessori meets Mr. Rogers." It's working really well... our students are making significantly greater academic gains as compared to students in traditional schools.

This opportunity is ideal for: psychology majors who want to gain experience with children and see developmental research put into action, education majors who want to experience a non-traditional and developmentally appropriate way to educate children, or anyone who wants to gain and demonstrate leadership skills. I am willing to write letters of recommendation and/or be a job reference for volunteers who are reliable, dependable, and successful in their commitment.

Our students at FTA (K-6th grade) and I love having volunteers from YSU! We have several options for volunteers:
(1) You can visit us once or a few times to observe our innovative educational program. If you choose this option, you can interact with the kids and help them with their work while you're there.
(2) You can visit us to deliver a lesson. In the past, our YSU volunteers developed and gave lessons on yoga, creative movement, ASL, Spanish, and more. I am open to developmentally appropriate lesson on arts or humanities, music, coding or computer science, world languages, business or finance, engineering, physical education, or other specialty areas. You may be able to earn volunteer hours for time spent preparing the lesson and you will definitely earn hours for time spent delivering the lesson. This can be a one-time or recurring volunteer opportunity.
(3) You can become a volunteer mentor who is with us on a weekly basis. You can choose whether to volunteer once a week for a few hours or a full day, or multiple days per week. (Visit https://www.flyingtreesacademy.org/info for our school-year calendar.)  Regular mentors may need to complete some online training courses (cost-free) and pass a BCI/FBI fingerprint/background check; I am willing to reimburse the cost of the background check (~$70) for students who commit to volunteering on a regular basis.

This is a great way for YSU students to gain volunteer hours and field experiences. We're looking forward to hearing from you!

Dr. Farris