Change for Kids

I met my students for the first time last week. They were apprehensive to begin at first, but I tried to build rapport with them by finding common ground. After talking for about 10 minutes, we discovered that we all love basketball. They told me about their team and the positions they play and I shared with them my days as a basketball player in junior high and high school. We all drew pictures of ourselves playing basketball. After sensing that I was “normal” they opened up and were a little more eager to start the sessions.

This morning, I met with my two students again. I knew they were distracted from the minute we sat down. One of my students told me later that it was because he was worried that he’d miss a spelling test that was supposed to be going on at the same time. I was glad to see how important school was for him, so I took them back to their teacher just to make sure they weren’t missing anything and luckily she said she’d wait for them to come back. They eased up a bit and started to concentrate.

We started the session by reading off the ‘site’ words. They are never really excited about doing this so I created a challenge for them. Although I’m using this as a tool to see what words they know and what words they are having trouble with, I made it a game for them and told them I would see who could go faster. It was a close game with only 10 seconds in between them. I know I’m going to have to continue coming up with little games like this to keep them interested.

Afterwards we began reading a book called “Chato’s Kitchen.” One student was really into it, eager to read the book to me. The other, however, could care less. I kept trying to get his attention by relating the story to him but it was difficult. I’m hoping that he can at least remember some of the details because next week, one of our activities involves summarizing what happened in one part of the story and drawing about it.

Overall, I think today’s session went well. My students seem comfortable with me and I feel that I’ve earned their trust. I’m hoping that for next week I can figure out a way to gain and hold their attention throughout the entire session.