Reading for Success

My first part of doing volunteer work is at Vallejo Mill Elementary School teaching children from 2^nd and 3^rd grade how to read.  Some of these children have ADD and ADHD, and some do not.  Their problem in school was that they cannot focus and so me and about 20 other volunteers from other high schools began to help them with their reading.   The man in charge was named John Santonastaso and he was very dedicated towards helping the children increase their reading capabilities.  He was very understanding if people had to leave to go do some personal business.  My student was a 3^rd grader that didn’t have ADD, but he had hard time focusing and would try to find any reason to take up the time in the reading clinic.  He would go to the bathroom everyday and would walk beyond slow to get a drink of water after reading a lot.  I go back to this clinic every Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday to read with the students.

When I arrived at the school I was directed to go into a small classroom for the training.  The training consisted of utilities to help make the students better readers and how to help them read.  I went to the training for about 3 days and in those days it was a lot to take in.  Mr. Santonastaso had moved us into the auditorium because it was bigger, inside there were tables, baskets of different colors for the children, and flashcards so you can quiz your tutee.  The flashcards are made up of a variety of words and phrases, the volunteers were told that the kids should be able to look at the card and immediately be able to say it without any trouble.  My student who I will keep anonymous for reasons, was a 3^rd grader who didn’t like to be in this Reading Clinic, you could tell he was forced to be there by his parents.  We found books that were spread out on a table and went back to our area and he began to read.  He was an excellent reader and I began to question why he was in this program.  As we were reading I realized that he mixed up his whats and that’s.  One of his favorite things to do was being quizzed with the flashcards and me tallying his time so next time he could try and beat it.  Another reason I could tell he didn’t want to be there was because when the class reached the end at about 4:15, he would stop reading at 4:10 and watch Mr. S waiting to see when he would ring the bell to stop the clinic, my student would be happy and joyful and be the first to line up at the door.  One of the things that I thought was funny is he decided to get this book about under water sea creatures, and it had words that he didn’t even know how to pronounce, or begin with.  He had me read it so he could understand how the words are pronounced, then he went back and read it. 

The Reading Clinic turned out to be a fun thing for me and some of the students, except for mine.  I look forward to coming back with them and helping my student achieve higher reading capabilities and teach him strategies that we were taught in the training, so that when I am not there he can read on his own and not just skip a word if he has problems.  The school has a friendly staff that loved children, except for this one lady whom I didn’t learn her name.  She would walk around and critique all of the students reading and most of them knew her because when she would watch and listen to them, they would become nervous.  My student had to go to the bathroom one time and the ones outside of the auditorium were closed and so he goes to that school and he knows that there are some other ones just down the hall.  This woman didn’t like that and I believe it was racial profiling because my tutee is African American, she was about to yell at him for doing a ‘defiant’ act but as she was about to lose it I told her that I watched him and saw him go into the bathroom and come out without getting carried away.  There always has to be that one person that ruins everyone else’s fun.