Today was a good day for two reasons. First off, one of my students is a slow reader and as a result he is disinterested in reading. Reading is difficult for him and he feels frustrated by it so it's easier for him to stare into space with the book open in front of him rather than tackle a difficult task. In order to help him out, I often ask him if he would like some help. We have a peer helper and a T.A. that would be happy to read to him or listen to him read aloud-privately but he adamantly refuses saying "I don't need help-I'm not stupid!" I keep explaining that I recognize he's not "stupid" and it's not a bad thing to accept a little help now and then. This student has been away for a few days this week and today he realized that he is far behind in his reading. With fear and trepedation I approached him with the familiar offer of help. Today he smiled, said "sweet" and happily followed my T.A. out of the room to get some extra help. I'm not sure how today was different but the important thing is I offered help, he swallowed his pride and accepted help and the result was that he experienced some success in reading.
Another great event occurred when I was reading Holes aloud to my grade 10 locally developed class. They refuse to read aloud because they are embarrassed about their reading ability. In the middle of a chapter I head a voice from the back pipe up-"Can I read now?" It was one of my boys who I never would have suspected would be willing to do this. I quickly agreed and he started reading. He read in a loud, confident voice and even though he occasionally stumbled on a challenging word, he carried on. The class was still and silent and every student(out of respect for their brave classmate) followed along in their own book. He read an entire page and then I heard another voice-"Can I have a turn?" Over the course of the period five different students read aloud and some of these students volunteered to take more turns. Today my students took a risk, they succeeded and now they have a little more confidence in reading. Definitely a good day.
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