Results Are In

This past school year I became a tutor for Reading Partners, a program where I was able to partner up with an elementary student and help that struggling individual improve their reading skills. This is the path I chose in order to complete challenge no. 21 (permanently and positively enrich the life of a child without financial contribution).

My experience was insanely positive, and yesterday it was made even more so when I received the results of our volunteering:

"We are pleased to announce that 88% of students served accelerated their rate of learning."

These are pretty outstanding results, especially considering that this was Reading Partner's first year in NYC.

I performed one of my many jigs in celebration.

Don't Be a Bully

My adventures in tutoring (challenge no. 21) continue. I've been "permanently and positively enriching the life of a child" since the first week of January, and as I mentioned before, my first student, the beloved M, moved away to a different school. Who knows if I ever got through to her, but I saw giant leaps of progress, both intellectually and behaviorally, over the course of our tumultuous relationship. I came out of it without any physical wounds, so overall the whole thing was a huge success.

After M came J, who is new to the school. She's sweet, quiet without being shy and, for lack of a better word, large. We all know what happens when you're the chubby kid in class. Yesterday during our session I asked her how she was adjusting. Turns out she has only one friend and quite a few bullies. "I don't let them get to me though," she said, but her eyes revealed an obvious sadness.

The moment made me think about the award-laden film "Bully," which opened on March 30th (everywhere April 13th). I have not seen it yet, but the trailer tells me that it's going to make me sad and then angry and then hopeful and then still kind of sad:

I just hope that for J it doesn't get worse. Because from what I can tell, the teachers and parents of a public elementary school filled with transient students on the Lower East Side have other things to worry about.   

As I dropped her back off at her classroom, I took the liberty of having a cheesy Full House end-of-the-episode moment. I told her that "the only way to let the bullies win is to let them affect you. You are so much better than they are. You may not see it now, but you will one day."

Then we high-fived as the music faded out.

An Abrupt End

Breaking news: My beloved M has moved to a new school. For those of you just joining us on this challenge ride, M was the 8-year-old I was tutoring through a program called Reading Partners for challenge no. 21 (permanently and positively enrich the life of a child). Things started off quite chaotic until we fell into a rhythm of friendship and joyous learning. Just go ahead and imagine a feel-good montage filled with piles of books, nods of approval, and slow-motion high-fives.

I didn't even get to say goodbye! She is out of my life forever, and I have no idea where she'll go or who she'll become. I'd like to think that our short time together left an impression on her crazy (in a good way!) brain, maybe if only subconsciously, and one day when she is at a crossroads in her life, she will remember that one day in Room 306 when some weird old person told her that she could accomplish great things if she just worked hard and never gave up on learning. And in twenty years I'll be floating by a bookstore window on my hoverboard and see a display for the latest best-selling novel by someone named M, and I will smile a smile from the movies.

I think it's pretty clear that she may have enriched my life more than I did hers.

Yesterday I was assigned a new student to tutor. We will call her J. She is in the fourth grade, a much more advanced reader than M was. J is one of the sweetest little girls I have ever met. She is new to the school, which at this point does not surprise me, and is eager to learn.

We read a story about Paul Bunyon, during which I learned that J had never heard of the Grand Canyon and didn't know what a prairie or a pasture was. It's amazing how different your world view is when all you know is the five boroughs, when you change schools depending on what shelter you're living in, when you've seen a lifetime of hardship by the age of ten.

Hopefully J and I will work together long enough for me to meet this challenge. She certainly deserves my best effort.

Whoa, that ended heavier than anticipated. This one's for generation Y:

From M to L

Today at Reading Partners (challenge no. 21) my student M was out, so I tutored a fifth grader. We will call her L. Apparently the difference between a second grader and a fifth grader is kind of like the difference between an intern and a CEO. Enormous.

I have no idea why L is even in Reading Partners because she seemed to excel in every exercise. I was this close to asking her to do my taxes.

In honor of the warm weather we've been having in NYC, I thought I'd share an original poem written today by L. Notice the correct spelling of "a lot." She should run for president.

And although tutoring L was a delight, I did find myself missing M and all of her shenanigans. It made me realize that we are indeed creating a bond and that maybe, just maybe, I am leaving some sort of a stamp on her life.

An Eclectic Audience

Things with Reading Partners and M (challenge no. 21) are continuing along a steady path. Like I've said before, M is very smart, but certain things (like another person existing in her near vicinity) can pull her away from the lesson.

One thing I've noticed is that if she doesn't know a word by sight, she'll just make a wild guess based on what the first letter is. Today, for example, she saw the word "drop" and said "dump." But when I told her to break it up by sounds, she had no problem.

Today's distraction, albeit an adorable one, was M insisting that she read to an audience. Introducing (from left to right) Louis, Makiah, Montserrat, and Randy:

Why she named a bunny ballerina after a British territory located in the Leeward Islands, I don't think I'll ever know. Maybe she is secretly smarter than all of us.

M Update + Very Special Recipe

My tutoring sessions with M (re: challenge no. 21) have been going extremely well. This girl is SMART. When she focuses. And she's been focusing on a consistent basis. This success may have something to do with the fact that she is in love with me. The violence I witnessed towards Victor (read up on that here) has given way to an incredibly sweet personality. And the best part is, now she listens to me. I no longer have to chase her around the room, which means we are moving through lessons at record speed. Aside from the rocky start (in which I was afraid for my life) this is how I imagined tutoring to be. I'm starting to think that "making a difference in a child's life" is possible.

Here is a note that she wrote to me at the end of our session today:

"Dear Noel, I like you being my reading partner all day today and you lief I be sad all day."

Translation: "Dear Noel, I liked you being my reading partner all day today, and when you leave I'll be sad all day."

Okay, so she's not the best at spelling and grammar, but we're working on that! The point to take away here is that I am pretty much the best tutor ever.

And so I leave you with this gem, a recipe for "Chicken Drink with Bones" that M was kind enough to share with me:

Ingredients:

• Chicken

• Rice

• Carrots

• Mayo

• Ketchup

• Mustard

• Collard greens

• Milk

Directions: 

      "Mix it up and drink it. It has bones in it."

The M Saga Continued

My last two Reading Partners sessions with M have been so normal that I've stopped wearing my bulletproof vest. It's clear that she is smart but just easily distracted. My approach was to be as consistent and patient as possible, and it seems to be working.

If you're curious as to what happened with Victor, a fight did go down, both of them were sent home, but THEN! Then they became best friends. "I love Victor" was the last thing she said on the subject. Oh, the ups and downs of second grade. It's like elementary school Melrose Place.

Yesterday we reviewed some commonly used words: LIKE, SAID, YOU, GET, and WITH. I had her use each in a sentence, and this is what she came up with:

She didn't let me see the sentences until she was finished but occasionally asked for help spelling the more difficult words. So when I saw what she wrote I was blown away and, um, flattered? I can't wait to see what kind of dog I get.

And the hearts were a nice touch. We've gone from drawing dead people to hearts in a matter of weeks. So either we're making progress or she's bipolar.

All kidding aside, this was the first time where I actually felt like I was "making a difference." And it felt good. She was so PROUD of what she had written that it radiated from her. If I can make a kid feel like that, then I've done something worth while. I'm looking forward to next week.

The M Saga Part 2

Today I had my second tutoring session with M. Aware of her behavioral issues, the Reading Partners coordinator gave me the option of switching students, but I wasn't about to give up on M. Maybe I just saw her at her worst the first go-round. Maybe I'd get through to her and we would have a glorious semester of reading together. Or maybe I'd get stabbed by an eight-year-old.

This time I had to go retrieve her from her classroom. Before I even reached the room, I found her in the hall, about to beat the crap out of a little boy named Victor. As I was holding her arms back so she couldn't launch a full-blown attack, I paused to reflect on what another amazing tutoring experience I was having.

Finally I get M to walk away, but not before she warns Victor that she is "going to beat him up tomorrow at recess." I try to distract her with how fun reading is!

I'm good at this.

If you're curious as to what Victor did to ruffle M's feathers, apparently he "got into her business when he had no business getting into her business." Hey, that would drive anyone to violence, am I right? No one can blame her.

We get to the reading classroom. M is still angry over Victor and will. not. let. it. go.

Me: Pick a letter of the alphabet. 

M: V. 

Me: Great. Now I want you to write a word that starts with the letter V. 

M: Okay. 

She takes the marker board and holds it so that I can't see what she's writing. 

Me: If you're writing "Victor," you're not getting a star today. 

M: I'm not writing "Victor." 

Me: Okay, let's see your word. 

She turns the board around. She has written "Victor." 

Me: Really?

So after 1/4 of a lesson, one time-out, three pictures of dead Victor, and no gold star for the day, I say my goodbyes to M, walk outside and proceed to bash my head against the wall.

This better count as "an act of humanitarianism that permanently and positively enriches the life of a child." Stay tuned for next week's M adventure!

M

Today was my first tutoring session with Reading Partners (per challenge #21). I met my student who I will be meeting with once a week for the rest of the semester, an 8-year-old second grader who we will call M.

It started out pretty well. She clearly has about 43 kinds of ADD, but we were able to truck along through the "get to know you" exercise. I pointed out Georgia on a map so she could see where I'm from. She told me about being the youngest of five children and how she wants to be just like her two older sisters. She likes french fries and the color pink (red is also acceptable).

When it was her turn to ask me questions (reading from a provided list), she did very well. With the first two questions. The third question had a word in it that she didn't know. As I started to help her sound it out, she made it clear that she wanted to do it herself. So I let her try. For ten minutes. Finally, I had to jump in because otherwise we'd get nowhere, but when I made the word's first sound, she flipped out. Fa-lipped out. 

For the next 20 minutes I literally chased her around the room while she screamed "You told me! You weren't supposed to tell me!" She wouldn't look at me or talk to me. Keep in mind that we haven't even started the actual lesson for the day.

Meanwhile the other tutors and students are living out a real-life Hallmark commercial.

Finally I got M back in her chair and on to the next exercise -- drawing her own book cover. Still quite reluctant, she drew a sun. Great! Progress! Then some clouds and some grass. Wonderful! Then she drew two heads with X's for eyes and said that "they were murdered and died and are ghosts and that's what happened and it's a scary story."

Awesome.

And here is where I get kind of sad because M obviously has some bad things going on in her life, things that her reading tutor isn't really able (or allowed) to help with. The coordinator (who is present in the room at all times) is going to talk to her teacher and see what's going on, so I may or may not have M in the future.

Stay tuned. It's going to be an interesting semester.

I'm Going to Help a Kid Read Good

I have officially landed on a program for challenge #21 (make a difference in a child's life without monetary contribution). After being rejected from the Big Brothers Big Sisters program, blasting their Facebook page with expletives and punching a few random kids just for good measure, I knew I still wanted that one-on-one opportunity to work with a child and turn them into a tiny confident goal-oriented genius.

Then I found Reading Partners. This program has been around for ten years but only recently came to the New York City area. Their goal is simple: Help kids read better. Being a writer of words, I'd prefer if people could read them. This program felt like a perfect match.

This week I attend my shadow session, where I will learn the ins and outs of the program and how a typical lesson goes down. Then I will be paired up with an elementary school student on the Lower East Side, meeting with him or her once a week for at least one full semester. The best part is, they provide you with the lesson plan and all the materials, so all I have to bring is my upbeat personality (working on that one) and philanthropic spirit.

Here is how I'm hoping the semester will progress:

 

And by the end of the semester they better be at least halfway through Game of Thrones.

**Reading Partners accepts donations, if you feel so inclined.**