Community Corner
Volunteer Spotlight: Ron Landman and Salem CyberSpace
Retired after 28 years of educational service, Salem resident volunteers to help young people help themselves
“There is a critically important issue affecting Salem and the fabric of the country: we have many young people with confidence concerns about their academic capacities. They aspire to meet goals, but need help crossing the threshold.”
So describes the rationale that lead retired educator Ron Landman to take on the task of volunteering at .
Salem CyberSpace, a program of North Shore Community Action Programs, launched in 2002 as a not-for-profit technology center.
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Today it is a comprehensive community academic learning center that expands the educational and career opportunities for low-income youth and adults by utilizing current technology and innovative curricula to meet goals for English Literacy, Computer Literacy, workplace and college readiness, and job internships.
"I recognized it was a worthwhile project to devote my time. It was an opportunity to contribute, to help young people help themselves,” states Landman, a Salem resident for the past three years.
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He donates two hours on Fridays and is “on demand” for other times.
According to Linda Saris, CyberSpace director, “Ron has been volunteering for two years. He works with the older teens to help them prep for SAT's, the Accuplacer test, and in building their essay writing skills.”
Landman reveals “There was an incident early on where I was tutoring five teens at computers. I looked at my notes and seeing an error, blurted out 'oh no' and all five turned almost in unison either verbally or facially expressing the comment 'what did I do wrong?"
"Their self confidence was so weak that they each thought they had done something wrong.”
He knew that he would need to bring into play the special skills honed as a principal in both the Ipswich and Swampscott school districts to “help these kids recognize their potential by building their confidence in themselves.”
His strategy was/is to attach repetitive positive reinforcement to all activity, especially progress and improvement.
He points out, “Inherent in this strategy is minimizing the importance of mistakes. In academics, everything is correctable with intellectual investment and practice.”
“However, the positives must result from actual student performance. If the students are not performing to standards, there is no pretense that they are. The response is changing the instructional strategy,” explains Landman.
And it works. For example, during the students' oral evaluation of him, one student described Landman's "telling them how it really is" as important to learning. With this volunteer strategy, he has thus far assisted over 20 students.
To others (working or unemployed) looking to volunteer, Landman advises "Never run by an opportunity. Stop. Recognize what it involves. Take inventory of your strengths; there is an organization somewhere that can utilize them. Find something that is mutually beneficial. You will enjoy the benefits.”
For more information on the available programs (there are no fees for membership or to use computers during specified public access hours) or to volunteer at Salem CyberSpace call 978-740-6667 or go to www.salemcyberspace.org.
