Prompt # 7

This was my very first service learning experience and I was actually quite nervous going into it. When I first learned I was going to be a reading buddy I thought to myself "how hard can it be?" Then when we had the VIPS orientation with some of the teachers from the Providence elementary schools and they showed us exactly what we would be doing I was a little intimidated. I soon learned that I would be doing much more than just reading with the students. Every one of my sessions consisted of having the students read flashcards, play activities that focused on the subskill that they were having trouble with, and then reading a decodable book. My two students were working on the consonant digraph subskill. For anyone who may not be sure of what exactly that is (because I wasn't at first) it is when two different letters are put together to make one sound. For example, when the letters S and H are put together they make the "Shhhh" sound. : ) We started each session with the flashcards which consisted of about 10 -15 words that the students where having trouble with. Both of my students each had different sets of cards. Then we moved on to the subskill activities. There were only two of them Digraph Bingo and Digraph Roll-A-Word so we rotated from week to week. Then we would finish with the decodable book. The supervisor told me that after six or seven weeks I would be giving them an assessment to see if they can move on to the next subskill or not. Well after only three weeks my students were already bored with the activities and decodable books. As an incentive I would tell them that if we were successful in each session and we had time at the end they could pick a book of choice from the class to read. They were quite fond of this. Before I knew it seven weeks had gone by and it was time to asses them. I was so nervous. I kept thinking to myself "what if my kids don't pass?" "what if they haven't learned anything from me?" "what if I haven't helped them in any way?" "Oh God, that means I'm going to be a bad teacher!" I think I was more nervous giving the test than they were actually taking the test. :) Well, to say the least, I was way too paranoid because both my students passed with flying colors! Right before I gave them the test I asked each of them if they were nervous and they both said no with such amazing confidence. They were so happy that they passed and that they could move on to the next subskill. "Thanks for helping us Miss Teri" they said. That was pretty much the turning point for me. If I ever had any doubts about being a teacher before that statement alone erased all of them. I spend 1.5 hours a week with them which isn't much at all but I feel that in the past nine weeks I have made an impact (maybe just a small one) on them as they have done the same for me.