Written by Katherine Busker, 2022-2024 English Literacy Tutor
You know you’ve made an impact on a first grader when he brings you a Minecraft-themed gift at the end of the school year.
It was the last day of school, and it was time to say goodbye to each of my students before school let out and summer officially started.
As usual, it didn’t take long for my students to spot me when I walked into the first-grade classroom. They were accustomed to having me pop in to pick them up when it was time for their tutoring lessons. Throughout the day they would look forward to “their turn” to go with Ms. Katy, and even the students who were not in Literacy First wanted to have a turn.
Julian, whom I had been tutoring since the beginning of October, eagerly came up to me, already chattering away. “Ms. Katy, I want to show you this cool gift I got you!” Julian led me into the tutoring room, which was conveniently located right next to his first-grade classroom. He rushed over to my desk where a red paper gift bag sat with colorful goodies peeking out over the top.
“Wow, what a wonderful surprise!” I said, sitting down in my chair so he could show me what he got me.
“Yeah, I got you a piggy straw, and look! Minecraft stickers!” As he spoke, Julian pulled each item, one by one, out of the neatly packed bag. “Look at these cool glasses!” he said excitedly, trying on the green plastic sunglasses to show me how cool they were. I stifled a laugh, wondering if I should tell him that we usually let the person receiving the gift open it, but he was so excited that I didn’t bother to interrupt the moment. I was smiling because it was so sweet that he had picked out all these special little things that would remind me of him even after the school year was over.
“And my mom picked this out for you!” said Julian. He started to pull a beautiful glass cup out of the bag, and I quickly put out my hands to make sure it wouldn’t slip and fall in his excitement. Inside the glass, there was an elegant bookmark. It was fitting, I thought, since I had given each of my students bookmarks to take home for the summer. The bookmark said, “A teacher takes a hand, opens a mind, and touches a heart.”
There was no other note in the bag, but the words on that bookmark made it clear how much my service meant to Julian and his mom. Those words also reminded me that being a reading tutor is about so much more than just teaching reading.
When I first started tutoring Julian, it quickly became evident to me that he didn’t just need help with reading; he needed help overcoming some challenges that distracted him from our lessons. I was confident that Julian had the potential to become a great reader, but he also struggled with feeling anxious. He was full of energy, and became easily distracted, and unfortunately, those things sometimes got in the way of him doing his best reading.
It took constant reflection, creativity, problem-solving, patience and perseverance to help him overcome those challenges. I had to ask myself, “How do I capture his attention? What does he need to feel calm? How can I help build up his confidence so that he is not overwhelmed when a page full of words is placed in front of him?” I carefully observed him every day to know when he was in the right state for me to challenge him a little further.
It was a balancing act to know when to push him to expand his limits and when to back off. When it came time to transition Julian to practicing reading fluency, he was overwhelmed by all the words on the page and resistant to taking on the new challenge. So, I reassured him, “You are capable of doing hard things. You don’t have to be scared of hard things. And, even if it’s hard, I am right here to help you.” Eventually, he was not so overwhelmed, and, together, we started reading a new story every day.
Despite his resistance, I knew that our daily lessons were making a difference. One day, the teacher told me how delighted Julian’s mom was that he read a word on a box while they were out shopping. “He read the word ‘kitchen!’” His reading improvements were becoming obvious even outside of school!
The task that he had found so daunting was becoming easier and more automatic, less scary. Not only did he learn how to read simple stories about “Cats” or “Pets,” but he also learned that he is capable of overcoming challenges. He learned he can do hard things. I hope he takes those lessons with him for the rest of his life.
Just as the quote on the bookmark suggests, the time that I spent tutoring Julian was about more than just reading. The sweet little gift on the last day of school touched me because it showed me that his mom understood that too, and I think she appreciated the work I had done with Julian.
After all the time we spent working together, Julian found a special place in my heart. When I received this gift from Julian and his mom, I thought to myself, I had a special place in theirs, too.
Katy Busker served as an AmeriCorps member as a English Literacy Tutor with Literacy First for two terms from 2022-2024. Before joining Literacy First, Katy graduated from Texas State University with a bachelor’s degree in Psychology and a minor in Spanish. Katy discovered her gift for working with children after college when she was providing part-time childcare to a few families in New Braunfels and also working part-time with children as a sensory-motor coach. Katy became a tutor to continue gaining experience working with children, particularly in a school setting, and to learn about how children learn to read. Through this experience, she has discovered that helping children learn is also about helping children grow beyond their current abilities, both personally and academically. She is passionate about the individualized reading intervention that Literacy First provides, and she is considering continuing her career in education, hopefully going on to a role that allows her to provide individualized intervention to students. In her free time, Katy enjoys listening to audiobooks, cooking, dancing, and spending time with family and friends. If you’d like to connect with Katy, you can find her on LinkedIn here.