Tutoring

Usually my posts are filled with problems and complaints, but today something happened that was so great, it reminds me why I do what I do and why I love my job!

On Mondays and Wednesday for one hour after school, I tutor two students. (and yes, I do this without pay, because OMG that a teacher would actually do something that would increase student achievement and that is their 'pay', instead of a monetary value. I only say this because this questions was asked of me by a fellow "educator". see previous posts)

So today after school, my students returned to my classroom, ready to get to work. I gave them their after school snack and we got right to work. They were so excited! They wanted to learn and wanted help on certain objectives that they knew they were having problems with. They were like little sponges. It was awesome!

We started with some reading content. I gave them strategies they could use on their state tests, then we did exercises using context clues. I was so proud of them working so hard. When then went on to finding synonyms and antonyms. We had to get a dictionary out to look up a word that they didn't really understand and that's where the learning really happened!

In the back of our dictionary, there was a list of the Presidents of the US. One student, who is sometimes a pain, giving me all sorts of attitude. I call her "Wood". Today, however, she went from the Pain to the Great One. (Judy Blume shout out!) "Wood" found the list of Presidents and then began asking questions about them. I incorporated history, government, math and literacy all together. (Way to cross the curriculum, GO ME!)

"Wood" and "Smiley" learned so much and they were so excited! "Smiley" couldn't stop smiling. He won the Jeopardy game that they played and couldn't wait to tell his mom. I was so proud of both of them.

These are the days that I love my job! I love my students! I love my school! I love life!
All because two students loved learning!