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February 09, 2005
Identifying
Last week tutoring at the Hampden Family Center I got a report on my student. The report was a summary of her weak and strong points, as seen by her teachers. I found she was good at math, but horribly weak at reading and writing. So I stupidly tried to push reading on her.
"What sort of books do you like?"
"None."
"Do you read?"
"Yeah."
"Well, what do you read then?"
"Judy Bloom books."
"So you like Judy Bloom books then."
"Yeah. I guess."
"What do you like about them? What kinds of things do you like to read?"
"I like books I can identify with."
"Books, you can identify with --what sort of things help you identify with a book?"
"Teenage girls that are the youngest. Things like that."
"Anything else? Whould you like a book like ..." I suggested some book or another.
"No. That sounds dumb. I said I only read books I identify with."
Today she had no homework again, so I suggested we run over to Atomic Books to pick out a book. I told her I'd buy her a book if she promised to read it. She promised.
Naturally she got one with which she could identify. It is entitled "Killer Kids."
It tells the tales dozens of our countrymen that killed while under the age of 18.
Posted by calculatoronfire at February 9, 2005 08:40 PM
Comments
umm...that wouldn't make you an accomplice or anything, would it?
i mean, should certain events come to pass...
Posted by: sweetney at February 9, 2005 10:25 PM
Oh that book! I saw her with it. She ran up to my student to tell her what she had READ in it! Maybe I should take my student to atomic books!
Posted by: liveinlove at February 10, 2005 10:54 AM
Do you think a trip to the bookstore would make her read? They only have so many books about homicidal kids. Being caught with the same book as someone else...well that might drive you to some drastic measure.
Which I hope never happens because I'm sure my student would try to pin some blame on me. But me an accomplice? With my shiny shoes and well tailored suits?
Never.
Posted by: brian at February 10, 2005 04:54 PM
testings
Posted by: Johny at February 19, 2005 07:32 PM
Johny!
I hope you're testings something good.
Posted by: brian at February 19, 2005 09:42 PM