[Earlier today I was asked to submit a short piece for the newsletter at the Seeds of Literacy program where I tutor four mornings a week. I’m running it below as today’s blog entry.
If you have considered tutoring adults, need to earn your GED, or just want to improve your basic academic skills, I really encourage you to check out this program. It’s a comfortable environment where tutors and students are well-supported and have access to excellent resources.]
I remember when I really learned.
I remember the summer day when my mother taught me to iron shirts. She lowered the ironing board so that I could reach it, then stood beside me with one hand in the middle of my back and the other hand hovering over the shirt, ready to snatch back the hot iron before I pressed my own fingers.
I remember 10th-grade lunch hours spent with Mr. Hyde, my good and generous geometry teacher. I remember him eating his lunch from a paper bag while I learned what I could not learn in class. I remember him setting aside the book that confused me, and just working the problem on the chalkboard, explaining every step.
I remember the empty parking lot where I learned to drive a stick shift. I remember my husband’s calm voice as I ground the gears, assuring me that the transmission could almost certainly withstand this punishment.
I also remember all the times I really didn’t learn.
I remember splitting up the chemistry homework among several other lazy classmates and then sharing the answers, so that none of us needed to do the whole assignment. Not surprisingly, none of us went on to careers as chemists or pharmacists. Thank goodness.
I remember lectures in high school, college and graduate school when I would pinch my own earlobes or pull my own hair just to stay awake. I remember the drone of the professor’s voice, but none of the words.
I also remember reading over and over the same two paragraphs of my history assignment, until the back-and-forth motion of my eyes over the text put me into a state of self-hypnosis.
That’s why I tutor.
My moments of real learning have important elements in common: they all involved just one student and one teacher, an emphasis on demonstration rather than on text, and an understanding that I would not suffer if I made a mistake. That pretty much sums up the approach taken at Seeds of Literacy.
I believe if there was a well-matched tutor for every kid now enrolled in school, there would be a drop-out rate approaching zero. For this reason, I am especially happy when a student tells me about doing her Seeds homework alongside her children. I know that I am not only helping that student work toward her GED, I am teaching her to teach. While she is still a student, she is also a tutor to her own children.
Her children will remember those evenings at the kitchen table, when their mom taught a lesson for them alone, as clearly as I can remember my mother’s old cotton housedress, the clean smell of a freshly-pressed shirt, and the warmth of her hand in the middle of my back.