Tutor Uncommon

Today was my first day participating in the tutor program at an elementary school close. My role is to ride over with a group every Wednesday afternoon and hang out for a half-hour tutoring reading comprehension to a second grade student. I was nervous -- I had no idea what the structure of the half-hour would be like, or how the little guy was going to react to a big guy like me.

I ended up having a great time -- I had forgotten how difficult a simple book can be when you're still figuring each word out phonetically. I'm so used to the instant gratification of seeing a word and pronouncing it from memory that I had to admire the work my elementary buddy was putting in.

I think the trickiest word we hit was "arrived" due to the "i" sound. He wanted to pronounce it like "lived," so it sounded like "a-rived." We eventually muddled through, but it took a bit of 'splainin to work it out. I gotta give the kid points for his behavior, though, and for a killer "No Rules!" t-shirt.

I don't have a lot of memories still floating around from 2nd grade, other than the time my tiger electronics ninja turtles basketball game was stolen and the incredible girth of Ms. McCleary, my teacher. Also, I'm pretty sure I had a pair of Roos sneakers and my milk money got stuck in the hidden pocket. Ah, the days of green beans, french bread pizza and peanut butter candy. Ok, I guess I do have some memories left over from second grade.

For the record -- I was never sent to the principal's office.