Top 10 Things AmeriCorps Members Do Before They Step Foot in a Classroom

When students walk through the school doors this fall, they'll be greeted by energetic City Year AmeriCorps Members ready to tutor, mentor, and help create positive learning environments. 
 
What many people don't see is the weeks of preparation that happen before that first day with students. 
 
Our AmeriCorps Members don't simply arrive ready to serve—they train, practice, reflect, and prepare so they can make an immediate impact from Day One. 
 
Here are 10 things every AmeriCorps Member does before they ever support a student. 

1. Learn How Students Learn
   Members begin by exploring the science of learning and adult learning principles—including the 70/20/10 learning model—to understand that growth happens through experience, coaching, and reflection. They also begin developing their own professional learning plan for the year. 

2. Build Relationships with Their Team 
   Service at City Year is a team sport. Before entering schools, Members build trust with teammates through community-building activities, collaborative challenges, and shared experiences that prepare them to support one another throughout the year. 

3. Understand the Whole School, Whole Child Model 
   Members learn that student success is about much more than academics. They explore how attendance, social-emotional development, positive school climate, and academic support work together to help every student thrive. 

4. Practice Leading Small Group Learning 
   Members learn how to set up effective learning spaces, facilitate engaging small groups, ask thoughtful questions, keep students engaged, and close lessons with meaningful reflection before ever working with students. 

5. Learn Positive Classroom Routines 
   Members observe and analyze effective classroom routines, transitions, expectations, and procedures that help students feel safe, focused, and ready to learn. 

6. Develop Strategies for Student Engagement 

   Members practice building relationships, encouraging participation, redirecting off-task behavior respectfully, and creating inclusive learning environments. The goal is always connection before correction. 

7. Earn Important Safety & Compliance Certifications 

   Members complete required trainings such as CPR and First Aid, Mandated Reporter Training, child safety requirements, and other district and organization compliance trainings. 

8. Explore Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) 

   Members learn how emotions, relationships, and self-awareness influence learning and prepare to help students build confidence, resilience, teamwork, and responsible decision-making. 

9. Practice Professional Skills 

   Serving with City Year is also a year of career development. Members strengthen communication, teamwork, leadership, problem-solving, professionalism, and time management skills they'll use throughout their careers. 

10. Dedicate Their Yellow Jacket to Service 

    Before they ever step into a classroom, every AmeriCorps Member participates in one of City Year's most meaningful traditions: the Yellow Jacket Dedication Ceremony. 
     
    At Opening Day, Members put on their iconic yellow bomber jacket not simply as a uniform, but as a symbol of their commitment to service. During the ceremony, they reflect on why they chose to serve, who inspired them to answer the call, and the responsibility they are accepting as mentors, tutors, and role models for students. When Members zip up their jackets for the first time, they aren't just preparing for their first day in a school. They're making a public commitment to stand alongside students, teachers, and communities throughout the year, ready to serve wherever they're needed most. 
     

Ready for Day One 

By the time students arrive, our AmeriCorps Members have already spent weeks learning, practicing, collaborating, and preparing. They're ready to partner with teachers, support students, and help schools create environments where every young person can succeed.