Patience is not my virtue

I was excited to begin tutoring at Peabody. I learned a lot from the students I taught, and I only hope I taught them as much (if not more) as I learned from them. As much as I enjoyed tutoring, some days it felt that it was "in the way" due to make-up tests, upcoming tests, or other homework duties. Overall, tutoring was a learning experience that has taught me a lot... both in positive and negative aspects. Positive in knowing that I could help others, negative in a way that, now I know I do not have the patience to teach kids!

Gabrielle Hernandez

Class of 2015

Gym helper

I enjoyed helping with Peabody Elemetary School. Instead of tutoring, I helped the gym teacher and had a lot of fun. I liked helping the kids and sometimes partaking in the activities they were doing that day. I think gym class is very important to young children, and I felt that the class was well organized and well led. I have a lot of respect for the gym teacher. Though I enjoyed helping, I don't think I could take on that task everyday. However I enjoyed the volunteering experience, and I would continue to do it as long as I can.

Sarah Combs
Class of 2015

Remember the Golden Rule

Nothing excites me more than seeing a smile on a person’s face.  Going on four years, I have been around children.   During the summer, I work for The City of Memphis with the Summer Camp program and The Board Walk with the Memphis Red Birds. Before we started tutoring Peabody Elementary kids, I was eager to meet the children.  Being able to help the children with any kind of work makes me smile, knowing that I can increase their confidence.   I helped them discover different techniques to remember certain words or discover easier ways to remember the main topic of a story. 

                The children felt comfortable around me; I’m sure they thought I was their age by the way I look. What saddens me the most is knowing that some children don’t get attention at home from their parents.  I realize that can be a major reason kids don’t ask for help when their struggling in class. I’m a big believer on the Bible passage “Do to others as you would have them do to you.”  Any way I can help out, I’m willing to do.  

Ty Harris

Class of 2013

Please let me go to the gym!

            When coach first told us that we were going to be tutoring elementary school children, my first thought was, "Ok, this is going to be bad for me; I don't know how to tutor!"  Then she said that we could either tutor or assist the gym teacher.  So I chose to assist the gym teacher.

            In gym class, I learned many different things that I never knew or learned about in elementary school.  For example, they learned about the names of bones of the body.  It amazed me how they could name them, and they are just first graders!

           I really enjoyed this experience.  Seeing them laugh and smile when the teacher brought out a new game to play made me smile because I remember how much I loved gym class in elementary school.  Everyone should volunteer and help students to succeed at a local school.  I think it would be a great experience, especially if you have never done it before.

April Bonner
Class of 2015

You want me to teach reading?

To be honest, when I heard about tutoring I was a little nervous. I have worked with kids before at basketball camps and summer camps, but I never had helped someone with their school work unless it was a classmate or my little brother.  I’m not exactly good at teaching things; I am more of a Kinesthetic Learner, so when I found out I would be helping kids learn to read I wasn’t exactly sure I would be a great teacher. I also found when I was younger when i had tutoring, it was never fun and I didn’t feel like I was learning much. My opinion soon changed when I started tutoring. I found that it was actually fun helping the kids; they would usually say something silly or funny while attempting to learn a big word or something they did not understand.  The activity my kids enjoyed the most was reading a book that either had to do with animals, dinosaurs or some form of action reading like discovering something. They also enjoyed the fact that if we had enough time we could draw a picture of everything we just read to make sure that they understood the story. Overall, I enjoyed my experience tutoring at Peabody. It honestly wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, and I was a better tutor than I thought I could be. This is something that I would like to do again next year.

Aramis Judson

Class of 2015

Kids Aren't as Bad as I Thought!

We (CBU Women's Basketball Team) were assigned the task to tutor students at Peabody Elementary school. The thought of having to work with younger kids frightened me, since I don't really like kids. Secondly, my people skills are not the best. In my mind it was a no win situation for me. The first day I arrived I went to gather my student, and she guided me to the library. Our first assignment was to see how advanced the student was in the ability to recognize words in order to know where our starting point would be. I thought we would get to a first or second grade level, but she flew through the chart. She got down to the fifth grade level.

Overall i had a great experience, even though due to schedule conflicts I was not able to go as many times as I would have liked to. The students taught me to open up and get outside my comfort zone. By doing this I gained a greater appreciation for teachers and what they do to better students. I learned that kids are not as bad as I thought they were.

However, I do not see myself becoming a teacher anytime soon.

Candis Clear
Class of 2013

To Teach or Not to Teach!

I’m currently attending school to be an elementary school teacher so getting the chance to be around students seemed like it would be interesting to me.  It seemed like the perfect opportunity to gain experience and references for my future job.  Before I started tutoring at Peabody I thought to myself, “Okay either this will better prepare you to be a teacher or it will give you time to change majors early on.” 

While tutoring I have learned that sometimes students get easily distracted even by things from the reading.   When this happens you have to remind them of the task at hand and keep them focused.  Also as a tutor it is important to know your student.  If a second grade student is struggling with higher level books you wouldn’t choose a fifth grade book for him or her to read you would choose one appropriate to her grade level.  Yet if you have another second grader who reads beyond his or her grade level you may choose a higher level book in order to challenge that student.  Another thing that will always come in handy when dealing with children is patience.  Sometimes I had to remind myself that my student isn’t my age so I should slow down with the exercises.

The students who I tutor enjoyed playing word games.  If they knew the word you could see the excitement on their faces or if they couldn’t quite pronounce it you could see the confusion.  As a tutor that would be the time I would step in and slowly help them say the word.  When we didn’t play games we would read a book and talk about the illustrations that corresponded with them.  Sometimes we would read a book and if there were no pictures my student would get bored so I noticed that children like pictures.  They seem to make the reading experience more fun.

Well, I’m still an education major so that must tell you that I enjoyed my tutoring experience.  My students may have thought that I was only helping them, but they don’t know how much they helped me.

Amber Williams
Class of 2015

The Power of Encouragement

           My Peabody experience was everything I expected and more. The first night my team and I went to orientation, I was already excited for the simple fact that I absolutely love kids. I was excited about just the thought of being a part of helping these kids with something so important. Personally, I remember those who helped me with reading, and I was elated that I would have the opportunity to help someone else. I knew that it would have everything to do with their attitude, so I would just be there to influence them in a positive way.

            I remember my first day walking into Peabody with one of my teammates.  Although we were given instructions on where to go, we were still lost. After finding where we were supposed to be, we were introduced to our kids. The enormous smiles on both of their faces were priceless and a moment I will never forget. Needless to say, our first session was successful, so successful that it made me wonder why these kids needed a tutor. I would soon learn that not only would I help them with reading, but that we would develop a relationship. When I saw them for the next tutoring session, they would have stories that they were waiting to tell me. Coming back from breaks, they would joyfully explain to me what they did. From then on, seeing my little kids, as I call them, would become one of the highlights of my week.

            To sum it up, I truly enjoyed my experience at Peabody.   Although when I initially asked them if they enjoyed reading, the answer was no; but, I can say with confidence that their attitudes have changed. They realized that learning and friendly competition can be fun. Besides, they weren’t the only ones learning. While they were learning to strengthen their reading skills, I learned that encouragement goes a long way. When they realized that someone believed in them, they felt that they could accomplish whatever they put their minds to. These little girls taught me a life lesson that will help me in my future plans and goals.

 Adrienne McKay

Class of 2015

           

The Skeleton Game

My experience at Peabody was certainly one to remember and hopefully something I can experience again. Instead of tutoring kids with reading, I volunteered in Mrs. Chapman's gym class on Monday mornings with first graders.

The first day I went to Peabody, I must admit I was a little nervous. I didn't know what to expect, what the kids would be like or if they would listen to what I said. When I first arrived I saw what I knew would be a great group of kids. That day I got to know each of them and helped them play a jumping jack relay. My favorite day of volunteering with Mrs. Chapman's gym class was when we played the skeleton game. The kids separated into teams and put together bones from the body in a running relay. I remember helping Max and Kelsey get their bone pieces in the right spot and they were so happy and excited to be at gym.

My favorite part of helping the kids at Peabody was feeling that I was doing something good in my community. It feels good to give back, especially when it means helping children have a great day while also exercising.

Jessica Green

Class of 2013

They Even Called Me Ma'am!

I really didn’t know what to expect walking into Peabody Elementary. I know that I had to tutor a couple of kids in reading, but I didn’t know what the outcome would be. I never taught before. I’m still in school myself, so I was just nervous and overwhelmed. I didn’t want to teach them wrong and have them failing. So, the thought of tutoring at Peabody for the first time was nerve wrecking.

                The first day I started tutoring, my kids turned out to be pretty good. They were respectful and sweet kids. They even called me ma’am. They did what I asked them to do without question. We read books and used flash cards to test their reading. They didn’t like to read much and they weren’t really confident with reading, but that is why I was there. I helped them gain that confidence they needed so that they will not be as afraid to read and even start to love reading. Not only did we just read, we played games that involved reading. For example, my kid always begged me about drawing. He didn’t want to do anything but draw. So I made up a game that incorporated drawing with reading. I drew a picture and would let him guess what the drawing was. He had to write down what the drawing was and recite it out loud. We would take turns. I found myself enjoying the game just as much as he did. After they began to feel comfortable around me, they opened up more and more and started to freely talk to me about school, family, friends, and video games. I opened up to them as well to show them that I too was once in their shoes.

Tutoring at Peabody Elementary is better than what I thought. I would rather spend my free time helping children than lying around doing nothing.  The kids and I have a great relationship and its cool being a positive role model. Not only is community service something we all should do, but it is a great learning experience. I may not have been too excited about missing out on sleep when I first found out that we had to tutor, but tutoring these kids was and still is truly worth it. I’m being molded into an even better person. It’s always nice to help out others.

Bre'anna Ridgell
Class of 2015

STAR Tutor!

Walking into Peabody Elementary School for the first time, I didn’t know what to expect. All I knew was I had two kids to read to and help become a more avid reader. I was the first to tutor out of my group of three; I was thrilled to go first because it counted as my study table hours, and I didn’t want to attend study table at the time.

                The Principal of the Peabody signed me in as a “STAR” tutor, and she lead me to a room full of unique activities for the kids to play and a variety of books. I had the privilege of picking what activities I wanted to do with kids, which took the LONGEST time because I didn’t know what to do at the moment. But as time progressed, I got more comfortable tutoring at Peabody and loved tutoring and just being around the children, getting to know them one on one and growing a relationship with them.  I thought the Christmas cards they sent out to all the “STAR” tutors were really special; those cards were beautiful, thoughtful and probably the prettiest card I’ve ever received. I felt good about myself because I felt I was making a difference in someone’s life.

It has been an adventurous road for me. Being able to help children and see them grow as an individual is a great feeling to me. I am glad that I took on the role ofbeing a tutor at Peabody Elementary School; I plan on continuing my services there next school year if possible.

Taylor Pugh
Class of 2015

Do I Really Make a Difference?

When I first heard about the opportunity to tutor students at Peabody Elementary, I was excited, but I did have some concerns.  Being the youngest child in my entire family, I had never really been around little kids often enough to know how to interact with them the best.  I wasn’t sure how I would fill the time and make it both enjoyable and educational.

My go-to activity was for us to read a book together.  They liked to read one page and make me read the other page, and then alternate back and forth.  They also liked to write on the white board, so I would call out one of the words on their list and they would try to spell it.  We played games sometimes, too.  I was encouraged by the fact that they never seemed to get frustrated no matter how many times they got stuck on a word.  It was really refreshing that they were so eager to learn.  

Overall, tutoring at Peabody was a good experience.  I enjoyed getting to know the kids and they weren't as scary as I thought they would be!  One day when I walked in to tutor, the little girl said to me, "Yay, I was hoping you were coming!"  Even though at times I felt like I had other, more important things I needed to be doing, that comment made me realize that the small amount of time I had with her was worthwhile because it was something she looked forward to and hopefully got something out of.  

Joanna Arnett

Class of 2015

Tutoring: Big lesson taught by small kids

One of my goals as a head coach is to help my players grow as players and as people.  I believe volunteering is an excellent way to help our players grow as people.  In addition to that, I also feel that volunteering is a way for us to give back because we are so blessed in our opportunities at CBU.  We've done several small things to help different organizations.  We hosted Crestview Middle School girl's basketball team at the beginning of the season.  We gave them a tour of the campus, let them watch practice, and had a question and answer session with our players.  Every year each team helps raise money for the Make-a-Wish foundation; our team ran a successful fundraising campaign for that this year.

The opportunity as Peabody Elementary is valuable because it's not a one-time or one-day experience.  It's a full year commitment to tutoring students who need help in reading.  Every Monday, there are three representatives from our basketball team that go work with these students and one representative who works with the P.E. class. 

The unknown is what was so scary for most of us.  Not knowing exactly what tutoring meant, not knowing who our students were, not knowing how our students would respond to us, not knowing how our students would behave, not knowing if we were doing a good job teaching them were all things that we worried about going into our first time tutoring.  I at least had an edge on the players because I did teach high school for six years!  The intimidating thing for me was that I was working with a 7 year old instead of a 15 year old! 

After the first day I tutoring, I loved it!  I have loved getting to know my students on a personal level and seeing them improve throughout the year.  It's a good feeling knowing that I just read with a student who might not get read to any more that entire week.  One day I let my two students make flash cards of some of the words they struggled with while they were reading. I had the flash cards laminated and gave them to the students the next time I saw them.  They were so excited to get laminated flash cards!  That taught me a lesson that day.  Sometimes the simplest or smallest gestures can make the biggest difference with a person.  It's funny how a small child helped teach a grown adult that lesson.

I hope to keep that lesson in my mind daily.  What is one small thing you can do that might make a big impact on someone today?