be a good teacher

It’s always rewarding knowing that a kid who usually has difficulty with instruction actually prefers to work with me because – somehow or another – I get them to really understand things.

This is both the good and bad thing about working with the girl I tutored today, Abby: she loves working with me, but is extremely stubborn when it comes to working with anyone else, which makes progression highly dependent on what I can get done with her. Of course, I don’t resent this at all – I just feel like if other people could actually get through to her, she would get to the level she needs to be at much more quickly. Earlier when I went over to her house, her mom told me that she and Abby had tried reading the book we were going to tackle this summer, Maniac MacGee, the previous night. Trying to get Abby to understand the book resulted in the two of them fighting and Abby telling her mom that she refused to read the book.

I would have been worried, except that Abby showed absolutely no signs of what had happened between her and her mom as I spent the rest if the time dissecting every tiny detail of the first four chapters (each of which consisted of about 2-4 pages) and explaining each one. What I found to be the problem with Abby was not that she wasn’t, or couldn’t be, interested in the book, it’s just that she didn’t understand a very large bulk of it – being able to differentiate between what was a metaphor/simile and what was actually happening, and then just what things were (for example, she didn’t know what a varsity football player meant, nor any of the terminology that went along with football).

In general, I had to be extremely sensitive to every word and, if I didn’t just quickly explain it in passing (“and he punted…or in other words, he kicked…the ball”) I asked her if she knew what something was – she’d usually say no, meaning that if I had just kept on reading she would have had to try and figure out what was going on without knowing it. And…since there was so much she didn’t know, I can see how she would get totally frustrated with someone trying to read the book to her without stopping to explain anything. BUT! Once I did get her to understand everything (even the theme of the book, which I was really proud of her for picking up on) she was completely captivated, and reacted very theatrically to my reading with gasps and giggles behind her hands.

Once her mom came home, I told her that it was very important that she understand the content before she even tries practicing reading it on her own – I said that to read the chapter to her and explain everything first would give her an idea of what to look for so that when she read it on her own she could get practice actually reading without worrying too much about trying to understand things. So that way, someone would read and explain things to her first, and then she would try reading it on her own either out loud or to herself.

So…there’s going to be a lot of experimenting this summer, but hopefully she’ll be able to progress enough that 5th grade will be at least a little easier for her. I told her that this was why we were working together during the summer, so that she had a goal and purpose in mind.

Eventually I’ll also be working with another really sweet kid named Liam, who is similar in that he takes a long time to process information, but he’s also very obsessive compulsive. The challenge with him will be trying to find a balance between pushing him enough so that he learns to speed up his thinking process, and pushing him too much so that he freaks out. I’ll have to really make sure that he understands my intentions and that I’m there to help him, not torture him. He’s on vacation now, so I guess we’ll see what happens once he gets back.

Wow! Earlier today my boss told me that she had received a letter from the parent of one of the kids who I work with and tutor privately. I was one of the recipients of a pink slip, so getting this kind of support will hopefully be helpful in terms of whether I’m going to get hired back for next year, and it’s also just really touching knowing that I’ve made this kind of a difference for someone. This is what it said (with names changed around, just because I like the idea of picking different names for people):

“Dear Special Education Department,
We are writing in praise of Ms. L, who has worked tirelessly throughout the year with our daughter Abby. L has been an outstanding Teacher’s Aide to Abby this past year. She has worked tirelessly assisting Fifi in learning many concepts that have been difficult for her to grasp. L has managed to do this with enthusiasm and kindness.

Not only has L been of great value to Abby this year, but also she has been willing to communicate with us on a regular basis. She has been our counselor when we have had fears about Abby’s progress and has always provided us with encouragement and listened to us when we needed to vent our frustrations. Furthermore, she has provided us with almost weekly emails keeping up informed of Abby’s worth with her.

It is my hope that L remains in the school district for many years to come. Although I would love for her to continue to follow Abby, it would be selfish of me to ask. Her skills should be shared, with other children (and their parents) who will certainly benefit from her kindness, skills, compassion and enthusiasm.

Thank you for providing us with L this year. She has enabled Abby to have a successful and very happy 4th grade year.

Yours sincerely,
The Parents”

Teaching has recently become a really big theme in my life – I teach special ed. at an elementary school, and about a month and a half ago I was selected to become part of an instructor’s training course for my dojo, which is insanely intense, involves a lot of teaching philosophies, and is open only to those who will dedicate themselves fully to being a teacher and thus becoming the ultimate role model for students. I love it, and it has definitely been intense, but it gives words and organization to some of the things I already believed about teaching.

Having compassion…
enthusiasm…
dedication…
responsibility…
etc.

This year I became very close with a student of mine who has ADHD and thus a very difficult time retaining information, which affects all areas of her study. Throughout my time with her as well as talking to other teachers of hers, I realized just how little faith some of them had. Some of them would just shake their heads when we talked about her, some would call her ‘hopeless’; it made me both really sad and really angry that those who are supposed to be the guides to these kids give up on them so easily, especially when the child WANTS to learn but simply doesn’t have the necessary tools to do so. It’s so sad how their self esteem disappears when they see themselves falling behind the rest of their class: I’ve heard a bunch of them call themselves ‘stupid’, which I immediately tell them that it isn’t true. I want so badly to see them confident and successful; it’s following up on this and sticking to it that seems to be the most difficult part for most people. So, this is what I commit to do: I commit to committing myself to guiding my students to progress.