She is a small 3rd grader, long brown hair that she wears in ponytails and big brown eyes that smile from over her mask. She sits in her assigned spot at the learning hub and reads with me each day as part of reading intervention. Sometimes she turns her laptop so I can see the other kids in the hub, see her plastic patrician that she sits behind and see her mostly eaten lunch. She loves to tease me and saves her chocolate chip brownie, her favorite, till she logs on with me and then eats it indulgently, making all kinds of food appreciation sounds. I happily listen and ask for nibbles through the camera.
Most days she is happy to see me, eager to read and then do some word work and writing. Her favorite books have been non-fiction books about animals; elephants, chimpanzees and her favorite the pink dolphins. She squealed in somewhat fake horror when we read the books on bats and bees, covering half the screen with her hand so she did not have to look at the pictures. She cracks me up.
Other days, she is silent and reserved when she logs on. Her camera is off and she communicates only through the chat. Short one-word responses to my questions as I try and tease out why she is feeling down. It is usually a small conflict with a fellow student at the learning hub. I have learned over time, what she likes, how to pull her out of her funk, so we can get to the work of growing as a reader. She prefers the short You tube guided drawing videos; unicorns, mermaids, bunnies. Usually a three-minute video where we both draw and then share our picture does the trick. The camera comes back on and a smile to her face and we begin our reading together.
Her session is around lunch time, so often my son comes in to ask me about lunch. I usually tell him, I am busy and to fix it himself. He is old enough. She like to offer different ways I can prank him, each new day asking if I tried out one of her ideas. My favorite was replacing the Oreo stuffing with toothpaste and then offering him the nice afternoon snack. She tells me she is going to Mexico at the end of the week, month, year and I believed her the first few times, but now I know she is just pranking me. I don’t know what I would do if she left. She is my delightful lunchtime companion.
It sounds like you’ve developed a rich caring relationship with each other. The details of her interests, what happens when she feels down, her ideas for pranks all indicate the care you invest in getting to know students and also how much she seems to trust you.
Thanks for sharing. I love how you showed her character through the brief glimpses.
I also like the drawing video and sharing. I’ll have to try that one.
She seems so mature and fun loving too.