Adventures in Tutoring

This fall I took a job tutoring in the Wichita public school system. I work three afternoons a week at three different elementary school. I guess I'm easing myself back into the "traditional" work force (by that I mean a schedule where you have to be on time and submit hours worked).

I've learned a few things, and remembered a few things I'd forgotten. So here are some random observations:

• Those scary-looking people hanging around the building after school are the PARENTS.
• Much of school time consists of waiting in line, and waiting for kids to be quiet.
• Teachers today have to be excellent multi-taskers, because they have kids coming and going constantly from their classrooms for tier time, interventions, block scheduling, and tutoring.

Moments that made me pause:
My very first student ever, a 5th grader, happened to mention that his birthday was Sept. 27, which was exactly a week away. He also said he liked to skateboard.
 The next week on his birthday, I brought two cupcakes (my daughter Laurel helped me make them the night before), and "decorated" one with a miniature skateboard stuck on top, which was one Laurel happened to have that she didn't want anymore. It felt a little deviant having our own private party at the desk in the hall. He loved the skateboard. He said he'd have a party on the weekend.
 The next week I asked him how his party went. He said he hadn't had it because his mom didn't have money right then, but they'd combine it with his sister's birthday party--in November.


I asked a 5th grade girl what her parents did. She readily told me that her mom works at Wal-Mart stocking shelves at night, and her dad works at McDonald's. She said her mom has the better job, because she makes $9.40 an hour, her dad makes $8.60.

I was reading a book with two third grade boys, both of which are at or above grade level, so I'm doing reading enrichment with them. One is actually quite advanced (he told me he's currently reading "The Hobbit" on his own). In the story we were reading, the boy had to move and adjust to a new home and school. I asked them if they'd ever moved. The advanced one said yes, he'd moved four times. First they'd had a house with a porch. Then they'd lived with Grandma, Then they lived in an apartment. Now they're back with Grandma.

One sweet, enthusiastic brown-eyed first grader was telling me about her family. Something she said (I can't remember what) made me ask her if her dad lived with them. "No, he's in prison," she said.

When I first met one kindergartener, I thought he was a basket case--squirmy and clueless. I figured his teacher had jumped at the chance to have him tutored just to get him out of her classroom for half an hour. But the next week, he seemed to know most of his letters and the sounds they made. A couple of weeks later, he was telling me the names of pictures and figuring out how to spell their three-letter names with my Boggle Jr. set. I'd forgotten how quickly kindergarteners can learn once they settle in and get the hang of school.

On the other hand, another kindergartener can't count to ten. It's "One, two. . .three. . . five. . .eight?" I've worked with him for two weeks putting plastic blocks or dinosaurs one at a time into a pile as we count out loud. It seems like a foreign concept to him.

I've got a sweet little 1st grader, I'll call him "Juan," (because that's his name) who's reading above grade level, and I get to read with him for enrichment. I brought "Danny and the Dinosaur," from of a set of Scholastic Books from when I was in kindergarten. He showed so much excitement and pleasure in reading the story. We were interrupted by a fire drill and he couldn't wait to get back to the book.
I told my kids about how much he enjoyed it, and Caleb looked at me with an "of course" look. "Danny and the Dinosaur" is a good book," he said, remembering the countless hours I read to him growing up.
Well yes, it is. It's elegantly written with imagination and subtle humor, something that is hard to find in beginning readers.
When Juan read "Harry and the Lady Next Door" (also from my childhood set) on the part about the cows, he actually made a "mooing" sound when he read the word "mooing." So cute! It warmed my heart.

Pondering:
No Child Left Behind is a misnomer (among other things) because it implies that all the children start out together. Maybe it should be "Every Child Caught Up."

Any mom who feels she is "just a mom" and her life isn't counting for much should try to count with my little kindergartener, then compare with how her kids are doing.

Growing up, I wanted to be a teacher. However, I looked at some of the kids in my class who for one reason or another (dyslexia, probably) weren't "getting it" and were disruptive in the process. I didn't know how I could help them. I wasn't sure I'd have the patience. So I decided I'd be a writer.

It's no surprise to me that I look forward to reading with Juan, who stops at periods and reads with excitement and inflection in his little 1st grade voice. Or that I love reading "Where the Red Fern Grows" with a 5th grade student over his lunch hour (we take turn reading pages so he can eat. My excuse is he needs to hear reading aloud with expression so he can copy). Or that I am not all that excited when a teacher wants me to go over a whole worksheet of division with decimals.

Ever since that magical July day in 1975 when, cleaning up for Grandpa and Grandma's farm sale, we found Uncle Alvin and Aunt Rosalie's old Tip and Mitten readers and I sat down and discovered I COULD READ, I've been hooked. I'm trying to pass that on.