Tutor beginnings at Jefferson school

This year I've imposed my tutoring self upon nearby Jefferson community school. For the Fall of 2015, I'm already scheduled 3 afternoons at Whittier school, so why not add an hour in the morning at a school just 2 blocks from my home! That way I can walk to Jefferson, tutor for an hour, walk 7 blocks to Common Roots for a lunch of soup and bread, then head to Whittier 2 blocks east of Lyndale for assigned tutor times. Back home by 4:30pm.

I've often said every school has a personality and Jefferson has a classic "old school" feel about it. Huge hallways and hard surfaces with high ceilings. Dark wood trim around doors and windows. Wide staircases that a friend says once controlled traffic going either up or down. Older students have classes on the upper floors while little ones have classrooms clustered on first.

The Volunteer Coordinator/Family Liaison set me up with a first year Kindergarten teacher with 14 eager faces in his classroom. On my first day, I arrived with alphabet cards, a white board and some pre-K flash cards and the teacher suggested emphasizing the alphabet. He had already selected several five year olds for the one hour I would spend at the school. I took my first student out into the hallway and sat with him near a colorful wall mural. I'm not sure he wanted to be separated from his classmates, so I asked him a bit about his family. He hardly got past the letter "d" and colors were also a struggle. He seemed restless and ready to get back into the classroom with his teacher. Not hard to tell why this teacher wanted this child to be tutored.

My next young student told me he lived in an apartment with 2 sisters and his mom and dad. He quickly counted to 20, and could sing the alphabet song. He didn't seem to recognize some animals on my alphabet cards: elephant, giraffe, octopus, and zebra. Then he told me he'd never been to a zoo.

On my second tutoring trip to Jefferson, I met with 2 little girls separately. Both muddled through the alphabet song. A reminder that just a few letters at a time works better than trying to learn all 26 letters at once. I showed one girl to count by touching each object on the number cards I had. And one girl wanted to talk about how she and her mom visit their dad by taking a short bus trip to Burger King. "I just tell him what I want, and he gives it to me with cheese."

The teacher on my third day of tutoring had me use The Moon book to have children see and repeat easy words. Yes, letters make sounds which make words. But not every child has yet to make that connection. One girl seemed so forlorn I asked her what she was thinking about. She told me that her parents are divorced and she misses her brother in Texas. It's pretty hard to concentrate on learning when you're worried about your home, and whether your dad still loves you.