A Note of Farewell to My Kids

Dear Malcolm,

My impression of you is that you are a real gentleman!  You showed that so many times in so many ways during our group sessions, but one I remember is:

You and Micki were in the group alone. She was having some trouble figuring out where the author’s name was on the book cover.   You leaned over and said “Oh, here. I’ll show you.”  So nice!

By the way – you’re a great reader, too.  Keep it up!

Thank you for making Read-To-Succeed fun.

Ms. Kay

Dear Langston,

I have enjoyed having you in my Read To Succeed group this year! 

Remember the fun we had with compound words?  You picked out every one – including some I hadn’t seen!   You are the Compound Word King!

And have fun and learn a lot in Fourth Grade!

Ms. Kay

Dear Ada,

I love how your mind moves SO FAST!  You can go from one subject to the other with the greatest of ease.   You are intuitive. There’s a vocabulary word for you! It makes you special.

I’ve enjoyed working with you in my Read-To-Succeed group this year.

Have fun and learn a lot in Fourth Grade.

Ms. Kay

 Dear Micki,

I loved having you in my Read-to-Succeed group.

You started out shy and quiet. Now you are one lively girl! 

You are very good at persisting – that means you keep working to get your reading right.   When you don’t know a word you giggle and try again.  That’s a great quality for a good reader!

Have fun and learn a lot in Fourth Grade!

Ms Kay

Dear Amara,

I enjoyed working with you in my Read-to-Succeed group. In addition to reading, you have worked so hard to get your behavior right. 

And you helped others to do that, too! “Come on,” you’d say, “THIS is what we need to do.”

You’re a good reader! 

Have fun and learn a lot in fourth grade

Ms. Kay

Dear Zoe,

You are a big bundle of energy! And I love seeing you using that energy to read and learn.  Remember how much fun you had reading your part in the play?  You loved being on stage and are a good actor!  Have fun and learn a lot in fourth grade.

Ms. Kay

 

Dear Jared,

What fun we’ve had in Read-To-Succeed group!

I love how detailed your written exercises are! When you wrote a mystery, it had LOTS of characters and LOTS of clues.

And you are a good reader.

Have fun and learn a lot in fourth grade.

Ms. Kay

The Last Day of School

I remember how delicious that last day of school was. Endless summer days lurking.  Three Rs all finished. Everyone in a good mood.

This year it was delicious in fact as well as metaphor.

On Wednesday of the last week, Read-to-Succeed Buffalo hosted its volunteers to a literary feast.  E.B. White hummus and crudité, Edgar Allan Poe Boys, Chicken a la Stephen King, Oscar Wilde Salmon, Fannie Flagg Fried Green Tomatoes, Joyce Carol Oates and Raisin Cookies, Maya Angelou Food Cake. And we washed it down with The Grapes of Wrath Sangria, laughing all the while.

These people know how to treat volunteers!

Then came the last day, Friday.

I approached Room 205 with a swirl of emotions.   I'd just tapped into my fondness for each one to  a farewell note,  highlighting their best qualities and their progress. And I’d made a foray to Dollar Tree to buy a silly parting gift for each, a pair of stars and stripes glasses already

 out for Fourth of July. I was eager for one more time together and already wistful that it was ending.
           When I walked through the door, Ms. Ray said “We have something for you!” as a bunch of kids swarmed me offering a folder with Thank You drawings, one from each of the 22 children in the class whether I had worked with them or not.

“I did this one.” “Look at mine.” “Let me find mine.”

It took me a moment to get my heart back into its correct place in my body. What a treasure!

I read some aloud, holding them up so the artist could be acknowledged, and promising to savor every one as soon as I got home. I had a small gift for each child in the room, too.

My kids took pleasure in having a big reveal of their drawings during our group time. M(agnificient) I(mportant) S(uper) S(mart)  K(ool) A(wesome) Y(ou will be missed)  The words varied but the sentiment was the same and the drawings were spectacular.

I delivered my notes, which they read aloud and, mustering all their good group behavior, listened when the others read.  Probably the most excited was Micki because I mentioned her approach when she stumbled on a word – to giggle and try again.  “I just did it!” And she had.

But the biggest fun was the glasses. They donned them immediately, danced around the library and delighted in posing for pictures with their arms draped around each other.

My kids – ending the year in fine style.

Mysteries and Wonders

My kids live in tough neighborhoods. In their world, even at age 8, the ethic is you stand your ground first and work out the details later.

The school-appropriate behavior their teacher and I expect must seem impractical at best.  It’s one of those adult secrets – the importance of tailoring behavior to the environment.  We hold it in trust until they get a few more years and experiences under their belts. My hope is that by then, it will be natural to them.

One of my charges, Amara, is making some strides. You may recall her from the first post – the impudent girl with the quick arm, always ready to take a swipe at anyone she perceives to be in her way.  I know that a team of adults is working to help her find some other ways to be in the world. One is her uncle who has talked to the teacher, Ms. Ray, about his frustration trying to find a formula she will buy into.

Meanwhile, as I got to know my kids and their learning styles, I’d been switching around the group memberships, to get the combinations of kids who could work best together. Amara was hard to match.  Nevertheless, some mixes are more combustible than others, which also means less opportunity for anyone to benefit from the group time.

Zoe's Cover

Zoe seemed worth a try. Just the two of them. Zoe is energetic and quite a talker. She holds her own in the important third-grade business of whether every tool, reward and minute of reading time is distributed fairly.  But she’s not a fighter.

After two months, with some days better than others, I was in a surprise.

The girls’ task was to write a mystery and they’d been working on it for several sessions, starting with reading one, then creating the building blocks for their own stories. Characters, mystery question, setting, clues, solution.

They created “sloppy copies” (I love their name for rough drafts!) and final clean copies. Now they were ready to draw their covers.

No skirmishes arose over who had which crayon, a very good sign.  The girls worked companionably for a few minutes, chatting about what they planned to draw.

Then Amara said, “Zoe, would you draw my house for me?”

No rancor, no threats. Just a straightforward request.

From Zoe, “Sure.”

No arrogance, no gloating at the implied message that she’s the better artist.

I stayed quiet, figuring adult intervention would break the spell.

Zoe set the conditions - she’d do Amara’s house when she finished her cover.  Amara agreed and busied herself with choosing the colors she’d want to use.

Amara's Cover

When Zoe was ready, she asked for Amara’s cover sheet, no grabbing. Amara handed it over.

“What colors do you want?”

 “Purple, blue and pink.”

“Ok.”

And so it went, with generous discussion of options for every design decision.

Midway through, decisions made, Amara started to sing a little song. Zoe knew it and sang along as she drew. The only interruption was a negotiation about whether Zoe would also draw a hover board.

“Sure.”

Then back to the singing.

While I watched in wonder.

Art Linkletter Relived

Some days as an Experience Corps volunteer, I feel like I’m in the middle of the Art Linkletter Show.  

My kids say – and do – the darndest things. Sometimes touching, sometimes funny, sometimes heart-wrenching:

#1

On my second day of observing in the classroom, Shanice is defiant. 

With her long legs, she inches her desk away, slouching ever lower in her chair.  Dreads cover her profile, except for the pursed lips.  Ms. Kelly is unprovoked.

“Please put your desk back, Shanice.” She moves on, expecting, but not waiting for, compliance.  Proper behavior gets Shanice onto the whiteboard’s “participating” list for the today’s game of Mum Ball. 

“You can fix this,” Ms. Kelly prompts when she turns back around to find the desk even farther out. Shanice stays slouched, legs crossed on top of her desk.

Mum Ball starts.  Unmoved by her failure to make the play list, Shanice keeps her head and eyes down – on the book in her lap.

From my observation post in the back of the classroom, I watch the action. Defiance by reading makes me smile. What a welcome for this reading mentor!

Shanice’s name is on my list.

#2

My kids are having some fun reading Duck For President, a rousing tale about a hard-fought election for president of the farmyard.   My instructions are to link it to the real event.

“Who knows who Barack Obama is?”

“The President,” they chorus.

“What do presidents do?”

Ada doesn’t miss a beat: “They bake cherry pies.”

She looks to me for confirmation and I can't help chuckling.

After taking a breath, she adds: “They cut down trees, too.”

Yes, she was quoting from a lesson on George Washington, but I’ve come to understand that Ada is always quick with an answer.  That 8-year-old brain works on intuition, flying from one subject to the next with the greatest of ease.  She may not always be on topic, but if you need an answer, ask Ada!

#3 

On the day after the Presidential election, Ms. Ray, the new permanent substitute, woke up to results she wasn’t expecting.  “What am I going to say to the kids?” she wondered as she drove to the school.

Her class of 22 children of color had just one question for her, a white teacher they’d known for one week:

“Why does he hate black people?”

She took a deep breath and said: “I don’t know, but he’s our President now and we need to give him chance.”

Her answer apparently calmed their initial fears.  I was there later in the day and they were on to other critical worries, such as who gets to be the line leader on our walk down the hall, who gets which chair at our library table and whether they get to read the exact number of pages in our book as everyone else in the group.  You know, the things eight-year-olds should be concerned about.

Back to School: Helping Kids Read To Succeed

       At 68 years old, I’m going back to grade school. Third grade, to be exact. I’m a Read-To-Succeed volunteer in Buffalo, N.Y.

       On the first day, I’m an observer. My kids, as I already am calling them, are a challenge, and Ms. Kelly is ahead of them every step of the way. She’s an occasional substitute for their teacher, who is on a prolonged absence.

       Whiteboard marker in hand, she roves the front of the room, firm but kind and encouraging, no matter what. 

       “Jamal,  I need you to sit down. You can get onto the participating list if you’re sitting down.” Jamal  considers complying and she catches him in the act. “Come on,” she says quietly, speaking only to him.  “You can fix this.” If he does, he earns his way into a game of Mum Ball.

       But she doesn’t wait for him to decide. She moves on.

       “ Erique,  have you finished your paper?” He shows the finished product.

       “Good!” He’s made it to the list. Mum Ball participants get to sit on top of their desks passing a foam ball by eye contact alone. Speaking is against the rules.

        Amara is up front, a short girl with an impudent smile and a quick arm, which she raises in threat to Daniel sitting behind her.

       "Amara,  please sit down.” Again Ms. Kelly avoids a test of wills, instead moving between the two desks and addressing Daniel.

       “Don’t engage, Daniel. Don’t engage. Who has the answer to the math question?”Amara continues to poke at Daniel.  

       “Ok, I’m taking your name off the board,” Ms. Kelly says evenly, just giving information, while she erases Amara’s  name. Amara  wails.

       “You can fix this." It's her mantra.

        Amara doesn’t and Ms. Kelly resumes her position between potential combatants, quietly insisting that the rest of the class stay focused on the learning task.

       While she teaches the children, she also teaches me. Next week three small groups from this class will meet with me twice a week for 30 minutes of reading.

       After school, I take the seven-minute drive to my home that has never seen children or grandchildren and remind myself why I was so drawn to this particular volunteer experience.

       It started one morning this summer. As usual, I was drinking coffee and reading the Buffalo News  when my eye landed on the story about a new reading mentorship program starting in the fall: seniors working in urban schools, grades K-3. 

       Before that moment, I’d mused about finding a volunteer activity. That thought went from vague to specific in a big hurry.

       I live in a poor neighborhood and everyday see kids who are struggling. We talk. They love to help me walk the dog and sometimes pull a weed or two. Can they read? Chances are some have trouble. This is personal to me.  Reading is pivotal to children's ability to grow into thriving adults, and thriving adults are pivotal to my city’s re-emergence. 

       I also have an adult niece who repeated third grade – after struggling in each earlier grade – because she had trouble reading.

       More than 120 people responded to the call for 40 volunteer positions, so I was pleased to be chosen. 

       During the two-day training, we learned that the program, sponsored by AARP's Experience Corps was already up and running in several cities. It came about in response to data showing that children in pre-school reading-readiness programs make great gains,  but frequently lose those gains by third grade. It’s a puzzle, figuring out how to stop that loss. One small piece is having more adults like me reading to and with them.

       I indulge in a little fantasy of myself with a quiet, maybe even shy, group of children who come out of their reading shells and love books after a year with Ms. Kay.

       After one day observing, I know the truth is much more complex, but those kids are already charming me and I’m ready for action.