Practice: Day One

I brought an old Ukrainian alphabet and reading book that my mother once taught me from. It's the same one that she learned from long ago. It's barely holding together and it has pen and highlighter scribbles sporadically on the pages. Some pages are extremely loose and while others are no longer attached, they are placed with care in the spot where they belong. I treasure this book, but I bring it to school to begin my practices.

Lunchtime comes and I finish my lunch quickly so I can begin my experiment. The girl who volunteered to practice with me is still eating. Although she says she's going to do it, I can tell her confidence in herself was wavering as she eyed the book lying in the center of the circular table where all our school bags lay. I say something to her about 'it being all right to quit now before she started' and she took me up on my offer right away.

I smiled as I went to the next table, but inside I was bummed. Where was I supposed to find someone else? I had gotten excited today and this was a little more disappointing than I thought it should be. It's like deciding to start a certain meat diet and park running plan and finding out that the meat has gone bad or that it's going to thunderstorm all week; yes, you can start later on, but the initial excitement that also serves as startup motivation dies down right there. But luckily for me, my happy go lucky cousin came by to see what I was doing and our Russian friend following right behind her. I turned to her and just told her to start reading. At first she protested good heartedly, but began as I encouraged her by opening to a page. She began to read.

Slowly sounding out each syllable, she read the lines slowly and carefully. I corrected her gently to the Ukrainian pronunciation of words since she was stuck with the Russian language in her head. Shaking her head with a doubtful smile on her face, I nudged her and she continued. More kids came over to our new table and poked around, watching. This gave her the distraction she wanted and she hopped away, calling about needing to see someone quickly. Our Russian friend peered over the book. Asking me to teach him instead how to read, I quickly obliged. With more enthusiasm than my cousin, he gleefully sounded out each part. Not minding my corrections, he learned swiftly and repeated few mistakes.

After getting past a few pages, the lunch bell rang and everyone began to push their way towards the hallways leading to the classrooms. I praised his work and he beamed. We parted ways and I stopped for a second to think as I secured the book inside my school bag. Enthusiasm and motivation are needed in larger quantities than patience. I need to provide a goal for my summer student; something to look forward to would make it easier to figure out how to plan each day. Encouragement and understanding go a long way too. I know that in my worst subject, mathematics, I had this wonderful teacher who had nothing but encouragement and support. If we didn't know the answer, he'd help us figure out how to get the answer to that type of problem not the answer itself. If we made a really thoughtless mistake, he never ridiculed us or punished us, but instead helped us along. I think I learned more in that Calculus class than I have ever learned in any easier math class. There were a handful of teachers who inspired me to copy their ways and he was definitely one of them.

Practice Day One: a success despite the change in students.