Worked with four youth today: two boys in second grade, one girl in second grade, and another girl, a fourth grader. Again, homework sheets. Some of the “ditto” sheets ask for more complex skills than others. One of the boys second grade worksheets asked for spatial analysis based on a story: identifying on a map based on clues from the reading about a neighborhood. This mapping assignment presented some challenges for me in terms of negotiating details, and I can imagine the difficulty the youngster’s parents probably would have with  it.

The fourth grader, Stephanie, was an extremely talented reader. She initially wanted to read a book of poems, but I didn’t think the book presented a sufficient challenge to her. Instead, we chose a different book together, one about African folktales. She read one tale and another narrative poem. She wrote a small paragraph about the poem.

Most of the tutors were high school students earlier in the afternoon, from 4:30-6PM. After 6:30 more college-aged students arrived. It appeared this was when more older students arrived. I wondered if the library planned this so that younger students would work with high school students. Upon considering this, S reflected that younger students need more support than high school students might be able to provide. This idea leads me to wonder about the types of training that the high school students receive, what kinds of tutoring methods they experience or develop.