Turns out I like kids
Yesterday began my new adventure entitled "Tutoring a Middle School Child." Note that previous to this, I have had minimal experience with children, even as a child (I took piano lessons and read Newsweek rather than joining teams or ballet lessons). I babysat maybe 10 times total and only ever had 1 younger relative to help out with. Nevertheless, I thought this would be a good idea, especially since I'm dabbling with the thought of teaching (dabbling mainly on Sunday nights in July while sadly driving away from the shore, but dabbling nonetheless).
Things with my tutee (we'll call him Kid) got off to a rocky start when a) he brought no school work, b) he defined himself as unfriendly and lazy on his personality survey, c) we had to take a break because he was so irritated (his word--he gets irritated easily) by Catchphrase being played in the other room, d) he revealed he hates social studies and needs the most help with math.
However, all was well after we got down to business. I asked what his favorite basketball team was and he answered correctly: 76ers. Favorite player? Iverson of course, leading into a lengthy discussion on the state of the team and why Iverson deserved MVP in the past. And while he is a Cowboys fan, at least he thinks the Redskins are dumb and his mom likes the Eagles.
A lengthy game of Connect Four ensued. The final 2-out-of-3 series was all tied up. I decided not to try to win, because even though I firmly believe children should been weaned off pity wins by age 4, I wanted him to like me. Unfortunately, since I haven't played Connect Four since around 1993, my eyes were slow to pick up the connecting four opportunities, which backfired into me accidentally winning and Kid getting not so discreetly upset. Crap. Hopefully next week will turn out better and I'll can actually begin nurturing his young mind.
Good news is he confirmed that kids these days still play 7-Up. I was afraid they'd be text messaging or playing Sim City in their free time.
If anyone's interested in tutoring, the program needs a lot more volunteers...
Things with my tutee (we'll call him Kid) got off to a rocky start when a) he brought no school work, b) he defined himself as unfriendly and lazy on his personality survey, c) we had to take a break because he was so irritated (his word--he gets irritated easily) by Catchphrase being played in the other room, d) he revealed he hates social studies and needs the most help with math.
However, all was well after we got down to business. I asked what his favorite basketball team was and he answered correctly: 76ers. Favorite player? Iverson of course, leading into a lengthy discussion on the state of the team and why Iverson deserved MVP in the past. And while he is a Cowboys fan, at least he thinks the Redskins are dumb and his mom likes the Eagles.
A lengthy game of Connect Four ensued. The final 2-out-of-3 series was all tied up. I decided not to try to win, because even though I firmly believe children should been weaned off pity wins by age 4, I wanted him to like me. Unfortunately, since I haven't played Connect Four since around 1993, my eyes were slow to pick up the connecting four opportunities, which backfired into me accidentally winning and Kid getting not so discreetly upset. Crap. Hopefully next week will turn out better and I'll can actually begin nurturing his young mind.
Good news is he confirmed that kids these days still play 7-Up. I was afraid they'd be text messaging or playing Sim City in their free time.
If anyone's interested in tutoring, the program needs a lot more volunteers...
posted by Alexis @ 12:43 PM
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