I tutor reading twice a week at my oldest daughter’s elementary school. I’ve got three kids that I work with and they provide me with great fulfillment.
One boy from the Philippines is the sweetest kid. He gets so excited when I show up. He is so eager to read. He reads well – someone took the time to help him decode words – despite only being in this country a few years. He’s having trouble making determining what the words mean, though. He loves nonfiction and gravitates to books that explain things.
One girl gives me “the look” every time I show up, like she despises what we’re doing. But she reads for me and she seems to have a good time. She comprehends, but is a little slow and confuses many words. Not sure why. Her teacher told me the other day that when I don’t show up (jury duty, my kids are sick) that the girl is really disappointed. So I guess I’m having some affect.
Then there’s Reggie (not his real name). He’s had a hard life. He’s often unkept. He’s surly a lot of the time. He’s a much slower reader. But he tries. He really, really tries. I’ve come to like this kid a lot and want to help him. But he’s been having some troubles lately. Group home. A new one. And his meds haven’t caught up with him. It’s sad.
One day when we were reading one of his books and we finished a chapter, he said, “This is really getting good!” He seemed genuinely excited. While we were walking back to his classroom, he even apologized for some earlier behavior when we didn’t read because he was having a bad day.
I hope he gets the help he needs. It really gets to me that we let so many of our kids slip through our fingers. “No Child Left Behind” should not be about testing. It should be about accountability, though. It should be about our accountability – to the children we often let fall through the cracks. And then we wonder what happened.