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