Los Gatos Weekly-Times Photograph by Michelle Alaimo Chris Miller works with Fisher Middle School students Kaycee Snyder (left) and Ashley Rohzen (right). Middle school students learn from Chris Miller By Michelle Alaimo Los Gatos High School senior Chris Miller is doing something that no other LGHS student has done--he's going back to middle school. Each day, Miller spends his sixth period Community Service class at Fisher Middle School helping his former Skills for Adolescence teacher Christine Jenkins with her seventh-grade students. "He provides the perspective of a teenager that is really helpful in a class for young teens," Jenkins said. Miller, who wants to be a teacher someday, says the experience has been very beneficial. Jenkins not only allows Miller to make presentations to the class but she also has him share his perspective during class discussions on everything from his experience with parents to the drug and alcohol scene in Los Gatos. She says his comments on the high-school scene are extremely valuable to the upcoming high schoolers. Jenkins says Miller is loved by the students and is extremely helpful when it comes to assisting them with special needs. Miller helps a legally blind student by dictating information from the chalkboard and helps her write in her journal. "He's her eyes," Jenkins says. She adds that he has also been helpful in assisting a boy from Japan with his English skills. Recently, Miller helped the boy prepare a speech. Jenkins says Miller is the first volunteer student she has had to work in her class and she is glad he chose to come and work with her. Miller, whom Jenkins describes as being "like a sponge," is also picking up teaching skills. Jenkins says she occasionally questions him about what he would do in a given teaching situation, in order to stimulate his thinking. [ Back to Contents Page | Los Gatos Weekly-Times Home Page | Archives ] This article appeared in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, December 9, 1998. ©1998 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.