Tuesday, March 23, 2010

4th tutoring session-- Maybe next time

Maybe next time. This is the hope that I am currently hanging on to. My experience with E. on this day was not very profitable. On this particular Friday, I entered the room and smiled at E, just as I usually do. As I went to go and talk to her, she continually scooted her chair away from me and became very angry. She growled, shook her head and just said "No." To be honest, my heart sank a little bit. I know that for her it is nothing personal against me, but I have never had a child react in this way towards me. I made sure I didn't get too close to her and tried talking to her but she refused to communicate. Eventually, because of her temper and anger being to high, the teacher asked her if she wanted to sit by herself for a little bit. I tried hard not to force it, and simply went on as if nothing was wrong. I helped the teacher walk around the class and talked to all the students including E, however, she would hardly look at me. The teacher explained to me that it had been a somewhat rough week for E. and sometimes she just gets like this. I spent the rest of my hour trying to interact with all the children and E, so she wouldn't feel singled out. I even went outside and played at recess with all of them.
All in all, I don't know what to think about this experience. I'm unsure if next week will be any better. What do I do if she will not come with me? What will I do in the future if students simply are so angry that they will not communicate? I feel somewhat surprised by this because despite some minor things, I felt we had a good connection. I felt no hostility from her. There were times when she didn't want to listen, but nothing like this. This is not something that can be quickly fixed. One thing I must remember, is that when I am a future teacher trying to help children in my classroom, I will be able to establish a firm community and have a deeper relationship with the children before I would begin to help them with something like this. This has made me realize that at such a young age, an experience like tutoring can be traumatic for some children, especially if they don't like being singled out. So although there is not much I can do, my only resolve is to keep trying and to show E. that she can trust me. Perhaps there is some way we could incorporate a classmate or do some tutoring in the classroom? There must be a way to reach this girl beyond her anger, because I have seen the sweet child inside.

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