Tomorrow is the last day of Reading Partners, and I’m pretty bummed about it. I have the sweetest student this year, an absolute doll with a huge, infectious smile. And she LOVES science, especially learning about the weather. She completely lights up when we read non-fiction books, which is the opposite of my previous two students, who were fiction gals like me. I’m going to miss her, although I still get to see her one more time because Reading Partners is having an end-of-year celebration at the end of May. I’ve already ordered several books to give her, and I’m sure my Amazon addiction will add more to the stack in the next month.
Last week was National Volunteer week, so Reading Partners wanted to know about funny or inspiring stories we have from our sessions with our students. Here’s the one I shared from my first year of tutoring:
I was kind of terrified when I started tutoring with Reading Partners four years ago. I didn’t have any experience teaching or any kids of my own, so even with the training, I felt like a complete imposter walking into the classroom.
In my first session, I helped my student fill out a survey to gauge how much she enjoyed reading. For statements like “I enjoy reading during free time in class”, “I usually read at home” and “I like getting books for presents” the student picks a Garfield face ranging from a very wide smile to an extreme frown to express how they feel about it. My student’s page was full of frowny Garfield faces, and my stomach clenched even tighter. She was two grade levels behind and hated reading, and I was a clueless newbie – I’d never be able to make a difference in her life.
But the Reading Partners program is easy to follow, even for clueless newbies, and my student was super sweet and eager to learn, so we had fun working our way through lessons together. We read about Goldilocks and Gruffalos and tricky spiders. She conquered cause and effect, author’s message, and intimidating vocabulary words.
Fast forward seven months later, and my student wanted me to go with her to the school library to help pick out a book. On our way there, she started skipping and singing, “I love to read!” I managed to hold myself together until the end of the lesson, but once I got to my car, I started to cry.
While reading scores and other statistics are important, I didn’t need any of those to know I’d definitely made a difference.
I’m sure I annoy my friends on Facebook and Twitter with my constant promotion of Reading Partners, but it’s such a wonderful organization, and they get great results. If you’re interested in volunteering, check them out, or if you don’t have time, throw a few bucks their way. It’s so worth it!
And now for this week’s 15 Minute Tweet Tales word:
rantipole – wild, reckless, boisterous; a reckless person; to be wild, boisterous
4/19 – Sue was not rantipole person, but she played Truth or Dare to fit in with the popular crowd. She felt horrible calling her mom from jail.
Play along and write a tweet tale for the above word. If you’re willing to share, post it on twitter with the hashtag #15tt or add it below in the comments because I’d love to read your tales. Any thoughts about this week's tweet tale or #15tt word?
Tomorrow is the last day of Reading Partners, and I’m pretty bummed about it. I have the sweetest student this year, an absolute doll with a huge, infectious smile. And she LOVES science, especially learning about the weather. She completely lights up when we read non-fiction books, which is the opposite of my previous two students, who were fiction gals like me. I’m going to miss her, although I still get to see her one more time because Reading Partners is having an end-of-year celebration at the end of May. I’ve already ordered several books to give her, and I’m sure my Amazon addiction will add more to the stack in the next month.
Last week was National Volunteer week, so Reading Partners wanted to know about funny or inspiring stories we have from our sessions with our students. Here’s the one I shared from my first year of tutoring:
I was kind of terrified when I started tutoring with Reading Partners four years ago. I didn’t have any experience teaching or any kids of my own, so even with the training, I felt like a complete imposter walking into the classroom.
In my first session, I helped my student fill out a survey to gauge how much she enjoyed reading. For statements like “I enjoy reading during free time in class”, “I usually read at home” and “I like getting books for presents” the student picks a Garfield face ranging from a very wide smile to an extreme frown to express how they feel about it. My student’s page was full of frowny Garfield faces, and my stomach clenched even tighter. She was two grade levels behind and hated reading, and I was a clueless newbie – I’d never be able to make a difference in her life.
But the Reading Partners program is easy to follow, even for clueless newbies, and my student was super sweet and eager to learn, so we had fun working our way through lessons together. We read about Goldilocks and Gruffalos and tricky spiders. She conquered cause and effect, author’s message, and intimidating vocabulary words.
Fast forward seven months later, and my student wanted me to go with her to the school library to help pick out a book. On our way there, she started skipping and singing, “I love to read!” I managed to hold myself together until the end of the lesson, but once I got to my car, I started to cry.
While reading scores and other statistics are important, I didn’t need any of those to know I’d definitely made a difference.
I’m sure I annoy my friends on Facebook and Twitter with my constant promotion of Reading Partners, but it’s such a wonderful organization, and they get great results. If you’re interested in volunteering, check them out, or if you don’t have time, throw a few bucks their way. It’s so worth it!
And now for this week’s 15 Minute Tweet Tales word:
rantipole – wild, reckless, boisterous; a reckless person; to be wild, boisterous
4/19 – Sue was not rantipole person, but she played Truth or Dare to fit in with the popular crowd. She felt horrible calling her mom from jail.
Play along and write a tweet tale for the above word. If you’re willing to share, post it on twitter with the hashtag #15tt or add it below in the comments because I’d love to read your tales. Any thoughts about this week's tweet tale or #15tt word?
