The biggest leap happened for this guy today!

His smile was really this big!

8 months in the making. This photo represents MUCH hard work, struggle and tears for a 6th grade young man who came to me with virtually no reading ability. His parents diligently did what they could working with the area school district to no avail. He came to me at the end of his fifth grade year, dejected, feeling dumb and honestly-hating school. Who wouldn’t?

So we took his screener and he passed it.

Then he came diligently through his summer 2 times a week. It was so hard for him to come, despite the multiple ways I make it fun. Starting each session with a joke of the day, a game to warm up the brain, writing words with sidewalk chalk on a variety of outside surfaces/a boogie board/a whiteboard/black paper and gel pens. Fun instrumental music in the background (Star Wars/Forest Frank/kids movie soundtracks). And a bright, colorful area to work in. None of this motivated this really sad, defeated guy. But his parents built him up and so did I. He believed he wasn’t smart, and in that, he was wrong.

One way I love to build my students up is by visiting them in the spaces they have success. Sports, band performances, Christmas programs, I’ve enjoyed so many of these over the years with my students families on the sidelines or in the audience. It lights them up for them to see me see them in areas they don’t struggle so very much in. And it gives us material to talk about in future sessions. I’d attended a football game and a band concert and it was great fun to see him in both those spaces doing his things so well.

So, today, when this hard working, sensitive, empathetic young man came to his 6:45 a.m. session because this time is WAY better for his brain than a 4:00 p.m. session after school, I had NO idea we would have “his best session EVER!” We worked on his sight words after his warm up game. He recited what both of them were (he had been here 6 day prior, so that was impressive!) and proceeded to accurately spell them! Amazing!

Then he wrote his sentence. After our post sentence double checking procedure, he told me I could check his work. Every. Single. Word. Spelled. Correctly. With a capital. And Punctuation. I did a happy dance! Then he did another sentence that was 90% accurate. And I did another happy dance!

I told his mom as they left about this amazing BEST session he has ever had and told them I can’t wait to see him tomorrow.

Watching the light bulbs go, it’s the absolute best!