This was a week of ups and downs. To start with, I had applied to be part of Collin Powell’s American Promise Alliance (http://www.americaspromise.org/) a few weeks ago and this week I received the great news that LIST has been approved. One of the immediate benefits to being approved is that a letter of introduction will be sent to our congressperson on behalf of us by the Alliance. Hopefully, this kind of publicity will be helpful in the future. Also, in the future, it should prove helpful when applying for grants to be recognized by a national organization as well!
The tough part of the week was working with the first grade boy that has fallen so far behind. Up until a week or so ago, he had been practicing at home, and we were able to make a lot of progress each time he came to LIST. However, the past week or so, he has not been doing any work outside of LIST, and has not been progressing at all. In fact, I am worried he may regress, especially with spring break starting Thursday of next week. Unfortunately, my translating volunteer was not at LIST this week when the mother came to pick him up, since I need to reinforce the need for this boy to practice. I’ve been teaching long enough to recognize that this is not a permanent step-back, but it was disappointing nonetheless; I had thought he was motivated enough on his own to do the work he needs to do. Hopefully he will find this motivation again.
While this was disappointing, the week was much more positive then negative, and I’ll end with two positive stories. One of the students that has been coming to us the past several months found us because her mom buys water at the water store next door to us (this student does not attend the local elementary school). She is a very sweet third grader who is in the unfortunate position of having substitute teachers nearly all year due to her teacher having to take a leave. Her mom was very concerned with this situation, so she has been bringing her to LIST to help maintain her education. This week, her time was up, and her grandma was running a bit late, so I had her move to another table so she could continue working; this meant she was not receiving any assistance from any of our volunteers. When her grandma came to pick her up, the student did not want to leave because she was not finished. Despite the fact that she was not receiving any help, she wanted to stay because our environment is so comfortable for kids doing their homework! This has happened before, but it is always reassuring when it happens.
Finally, one of our volunteers is now subbing at the local elementary school (where I also sub). While subbing, she ran into one of the fifth grade student’s that attends LIST and her teacher. The student said “Hello” and a conversation began between the teacher, student and our volunteer about the connection. When the teacher found out that her student was going to LIST, she commented on how the student had drastically improved! The student also commented on how she felt much better about school and her abilities! The teacher and student both recognized that LIST was making the difference in this girls life!
