Kerri Dudley

English 2010


Tutoring Experience

Tutoring at Farnsworth Elementary was a great experience. I had never done any volunteer work like this. I got the opportunity to tutor two kids. One in 4th grade, his name is Jimmy and one in 3rd grade, her name is Evelyn. After getting to know them a little better I noticed that they were complete opposites. I thought them being opposites would be fun because I would get to learn how to help both of them.

Jimmy is very outgoing and loud. He is very outspoken and opinionated. Sometimes it was very difficult to work with him because he was a little definant. If he didn’t feel like reading he would make that apparent from the start to the end. This was hard for me. I have never been in that kind of situation before. He would throw things, yell, start reading and then get distracted and go completely off topic. I didn’t know how to handle this. I would continue to try and find ways to calm him or keep him on topic but it wasn’t always accomplished. The leader of the tutoring program, Heather, even noticed that this was a problem. We both came together and collaborated on ideas that we thought would help this situation. We came up with one idea that every time he reads he can get a sticker and after he gets three stickers then he can have a piece of candy. When we told him this idea he was so excited. He read that day with absolutely no troubles. I was excited too because I felt like I was finally getting to read with him. He was consistent with this idea for awhile but then he slowly lost interest and he was asking for candy everyday. Since, he was asking for candy everyday, I had to be stern and say that we had to keep the rule we had set. I am not confrontational so that was very hard for me. I felt like I was the “bad” guy but I also felt like if I didn’t set that boundary with him then I would just be walked all over. He was an outstanding kid and reader but I think you just had to break down his walls. He had a hearing aide and was also in speech therapy so I believe these things played into role with his behavior. I didn’t give up on him though. I just stuck with it and I think he had finally become my friend. He realized that I was there to help him. He has grown on me and I am glad I got the opportunity to work with him.

Evelyn, on the other hand, was very quiet. I still haven’t gotten many words out of her. She is a great student though. She loves to read and you can tell that she does. We usually read two books a day, instead of one. She is only down one level from her grade and she moved up to that level last week. I think she is improving a lot. Her teacher is always bragging about how good she is at math also. She is a awesome little girl. I didn’t have any obstacles with her. She came, read and went back to class. I think she is a smart little girl and will grow up accomplishing many things.  

I think the program is a great program. All of the teachers I talk to say how much they can see an improvement in their students and it hasn’t even been that long. When I was in elementary I struggled in math, I still do to this day. I wish that we would of had these kinds of  programs to help. I think if I would of had a little extra tutoring help, school today could possibly be a little easier for me to understand. I am just very glad that I choose to do this program and my above and beyonds. I learned so much and I figured about a lot about myself. I think I also became a lot less afraid to say things that I feel. I expressed my feelings about the situations with Jimmy to Heather and we worked together and found the way to overcome it.