My job for the summer (well, two weeks anyway) is to teach reading to children entering 3rd grade! Really, I am helping a lead teacher and I have to teach a few lessons and then I do a lot of assessments. Some of my classmates (we are all working in separate classrooms) think the experience is ho-hum; after all many of them work with this age of kids all year long. But not me! I love teaching kids this age - they are so open and honest and vulnerable. I only worked with a few of them on Thursday and I got a half-dozen hugs and a large bouquet of clover and dandelions. The school I am working at is drawing kids from across the district, but most of the students who are coming to summer school do so because they need help with reading. It should be no surprise to those who work with struggling readers that the kids are generally ethnic minorities, come from non-intact homes, and live in poverty. My niece, Renae, will relate to the names on my roster: Ivanov, Kim, Valesquez - Russian, Korean, and Mexican. What an exciting, vibrant experience. Unpretentious, they share painful life stories so easily. It makes me wonder if THIS is where I should work - with younger children, where school can make such a difference. Now, if I could just figure out how to get a gig in Hawaii!
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1 comment:
I LOVE that you LOVE doing this kind of work Aunt Linne. You're so good with children. And they, especially at that age are so receptive to your sincerity and love for them that they are instantly drawn to you. Kids really can tell the difference between someone who teaches from a place of love and someone who thinks summer school sucks. I'm glad you're the former. That's why you're one of my heroines.
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