Ahhhh what a sad day. It was truly bittersweet with the work being done, but I was sad to lose a student just like the end of a school year. I seriously thought to myself this year, how can I go through this depressing day for the rest of my life. I then have to remember that I get new ones and I just hope that my old ones received a big enough impact from me that they will remember me forever. I can't wait until the day when I have a student specifically come to a school just to see me and tell me how they've been and that they miss me. I can't wait for someone to have the same feelings the little boy in the teacher movie had for his teacher. I think that will eventually make up for all the sad days of last day of school.
I let Reggie go to nba.com and show me some cool articles he says he gets on and reads sometimes when he's bored and theres some great stuff. Of course he was checking out all the draft information they had posted but hey, it was reading. I assessed him in BEARS and the Schnoll's and he had a little rise in his scores. I didn't expect a huge jump in ten days, but I did get something better. I witnessed him making his own wordle for basketball, interest in taking up his blog again, and exploring of websites for articles to read that he enjoys. My main goal was to get him engaged in reading and writing, to not look at it in such a negative way. I did a lot of digging around to get the books that I did get for him to try and build a better connection and I can honestly say I think I achieved my goal.
The parents were glad to see the interest he had taken in for articles online and typing a blog. They said they were going to order the Sports Illustrated Magazine for both adult and kids. I think this will be great so that he can continue to have a positive experience with reading. It has been a great month and it flew by so fast. I have learned so much these past couple weeks that I hope he has learned half of what I have from him. I couldn't have had a better tutee and I am so glad I was able to have this experience.
I know you have learned much and I want you to not forget the research-based strategies and their optimal use in your classroom.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on having the parents support his reading "habit". That will be a great practice for him. Also he has access to the Internet to read. I think he will read more and more. You have started him on the baby steps to more literacy and I am sure he will be taking better steps this next year.
Thank you for the quality tutoring experience.