Febuary With Leah

February with Leah

So far, February has resembled January. Leah continues to work hard and be interested in her work, with the occasional distractions. However, she has been focused and we get to finish before our time is over. I love being able to see a change in the way Leah works. She has improved in a variety of ways, and being able to help her improve is amazing. In the beginning, she was more focused on getting to know me, and talking rather than working. Although, now she keeps pushing to get her work done and I am proud to see her excel. Just being able to work with her is a privilege in itself. She is an amazing young girl, and has endless potential to become the best version of herself. However, my days with Leah have decreased. Instead of helping her for two days a week, I am only helping her on Wednesdays. On Mondays and Tuesdays, Leah is participating in a math program to help her improve her math skills. She has started staying after school to work on math problems, where teachers are available to assist her when needed. Although we have less time together, I am glad she is getting the most help she can possibly get. Now she can get immediate help and explanations on subjects that are confusing to her. When I see her on Wednesdays maybe she will find math easier than she did before.

January With Leah

January With Leah

The New Year looks promising for Leah and me. Although I have only seen her once so far, our time together went very smoothly. She was interested in her work, barely complained, and was motivated to finish. Leah had to read the same book twice in order to improve her pronunciation. The first time she read it by herself, and the second we took turns reading the sentences. This made her more enthusiastic in finishing, and she breezed through her sentences. Maybe working together in this way is the key to keeping her interested in her work. She paid attention as I read, and it seemed as if she was even reading along in her head. During our next visit, Leah continued to work diligently. She stayed on topic, and even explained what work we had to do. However, there were some moments where she became distracted. While writing her spelling words she would write them in unique “fonts”, which unnecessarily took up more of our time together. Over time she would stop and write them in her regular handwriting, becoming focused once more. All in all, Leah has been improving with every visit. Together we have come a long way from where we started, despite it only being a few months. Now we are comfortable with each other, making it easier to get the work done by working together. Although there are moments where Leah loses focus, she quickly goes back to work which is something she has not always been doing. As more months go by, I know there will be even more improvements with the way Leah understands her work.

December With Leah

December With Leah

My first visit with Leah this month was more difficult than the rest. She seemed more hyper and tried to distract me from her work. Despite the fact I continued to tell her we have to stay focused, she still attempted to distract me. When we had to glue her vocabulary words to a paper, she laid on the couch upside down while gluing them, taking up more of our limited time together. She only wants to make it more fun, but nevertheless I want to help her improve. But at the same time, I understand how work is not the most fun thing to do for her.. At the end of our time together, she held unto my legs to stop me from walking, and full on bear hugged me until her mother made her let go. Over time, we are getting more comfortable with one another, and I honestly love spending time with her. In contrast, the past few visits with her have gone smoothly. She has been more interested with her work and has even finished early with me once. Leah worked diligently, and seemed determined to finish her work. This definitely has to do with her mood, considering some days she is not interested at all, but other days she works efficiently. Every visit has now ended with Leah begging me to stay, and hugging me as if her life depended on it. I loved being able to help her, so when I realized that Jennifer, Leah’s mother, needed more help, I was eager to offer more assistance. I now go over two days a week, rather than one, and hopefully this will increase my chances of figuring out what drives Leah to work harder.

First Month With Leah

First Month With Leah

           My name is Caitlyn Flores, and I am a junior in high school. For my AP Language class, we were asked to come up with a beneficial project that we would enjoy working on. I thought about it for a while and could not think of anything I would really enjoy, so when my teacher mentioned an available project I was first to ask for more information. A single mom needed help with motivating her third grader who just recovered from leukemia. She was not interested in doing her work because she only saw it as work, therefore her mother reached out for a student to come, making the work fun and easier to get through. I took interest in this because I love working with kids, and may even be considering a job in the future involving children. Therefore, I contacted the mother, Ms. Cecchini, and she agreed with me coming over every Wednesday to help with the homework that day. On my first day there, towards the end of October, Ms. Cecchini was very welcoming. Leah, her daughter, and Michael, her son, were friendly as well.  We began with math, which she had little trouble with. We moved onto reading, which was more difficult for her. Leah would stray off of the topic, asking me to stop or trying to change the topic. The tutoring sessions with her later on continued in the same fashion, except she began to get more comfortable with me around. One time she even begged me to stay when it was time to go. A few times I would bring her candy to motivate her to work, and it actually made a difference. Leah even tried making deals with me, saying she would read the whole chapter if I brought her candy next week. All in all, my first few visits, in the end of October, and my first month with her, all of November, could not have gone better. Hopefully as we get more comfortable with each other, I can think of different ways to motivate Leah, other than candy.