Citation

Townsend AC. Perspectives in Peer Programs 2013; 24(1): 14-18.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2013)

DOI

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PMID

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Abstract

In the last few years, peer programs have grown in popularity around the country, supported by a growing body of research and the rewards of seeing teenagers' lives changed. Elementary peer programs, with their different set of typical issues, schedule demands, and personnel availability, are certainly different from their middle- and high-school counterparts. However, as sponsors are discovering, elementary programs are a possible, powerful tool for change among even the youngest students. A look through the window of the teacher workroom shows four students, one seated at each side of a table. They talk quietly, obviously very serious about their discussion. Two of them, eleven years old, wear name tags, take notes, listen actively, and ask thoughtful questions of their eight-year-old tablemates. They are conducting a peer mediation. Just down the hall, two other peer helpers introduce themselves to a new student, hand him a gift bag, and explain how snack time works. On the playground, a peer helper sits near the jungle gym with a first grader to help her meet and talk to other students. In a second-grade classroom, a pair of peer helpers discusses the negative impacts of gossip with a group of girls. All of these activities have taken place at Daphne East Elementary School, Daphne, Alabama, since its opening in 2004. However, as is the case at most elementary schools around the country, these activities were formerly conducted by teachers. The Daphne East Peer Helpers group was formed in April 2011 when teachers April Thomas and Ashley Townsend selected and trained a group of 24 fifth-grade students, but theirs is not the only new program in the area. As of this school year, Baldwin County now has a peer program in each of its 44 schools.

Language: en