At the end of our tutoring session, Ethan asked me if I wanted to know my rating.
When I first started working with him a few weeks ago, he was less than thrilled to have Saturday morning tutoring. To try to make sure it was as good as it could be, I started asking him how it was on a scale of 1-10. The first couple of sessions ran me an eight and a nine. My husband got a kick out of this.
"When are you going to come home with a ten?" he'd ask.
As we walked downstairs, I laughed at Ethan's question. I had actually forgotten to ask him. We'd both enjoyed our lesson. We read 74th Street by Myra Cohn Livingston together, and I surprised him when I said I didn't think the little girl was resilient and persevering--I actually thought she was fairly foolish. We spent a fair amount of time reading closely and debating. Ethan also had a couple opportunities to act out the poem. If you want to see something funny, get an eleven year-old boy to pretend to fall repeatedly while wearing roller skates, skin his knee, wipe the dirt, and spit on it.
"That was a ten," Ethan said as I put on my sneakers in the mudroom.
Looking forward to telling that doubting husband of mine!
Happy Slicing,
Ten out of ten from a student - great compliment.
ReplyDeleteSounds like you have a new fan! Your husband must have appreciated you finally scoring the elusive 10 rating!!
ReplyDeleteYou act out the poem,
ReplyDeleteas if you were dancing
inside the lines, as if
the iambic pentameter
was a rhythmic beat
for your feet, as if
the seats in the hall were all full
with an audience, instead
of just me, as I read, to you,
with your eyes closed,
watching the ghosts
of the past come alive
on the stage, too.
--Kevin, lifting lines to make a poem as comment
I love it when you do this, Kevin.
DeleteIt was only a matter of time to win the mind of Ethan. You have the gift of teaching.
ReplyDeleteSo glad this little guy gets to work with someone who cares what he thinks and goes out of their way to make it fun for him!
ReplyDeleteWhat a fun time. You have the touch.
ReplyDeleteWay to go...a ten! You certainly had Ethan engaged, Melanie.
ReplyDeleteSmiling that Ethan gives you a rating each time!
ReplyDeleteIt must be hard for Ethan to come on Saturday mornings, but I guess now that he thinks it's worth it. Love that you can brag a bit with your husband about that 10!
ReplyDeleteMy husband is a minister and years ago, one of the youth graded his sermons and gave him feedback. The kids tell the truth!
ReplyDeleteI had to go look up the poem after reading your story. Congratulations on your perfect score!
ReplyDeleteI never doubted you would be a ten! I love that you asked him for feedback - - so much research to support student to teacher feedback loop.
ReplyDeleteClare
Ten from a child! What motivation for you. You must be making a difference.
ReplyDeleteThis morning, I wrote about lifting lines from SOL posts for poems. Thank you for inspiring some poetry. I hope I did your words justice.
ReplyDeletehttp://dogtrax.edublogs.org/2017/03/27/slice-of-life-day-27-lifting-lines-and-making-poems/
Kevin
I'm on my way to check it out!
Delete