"Working at the center gave me guidance in the types of students I will have in my classroom. Sure, not all of them will be as polite, as understanding, or as gracious as these students were with me, but I think that the students have treated us this way because they feel respected and they feel like we understand them.

I feel like my coming in to tutor not only helped the students academically, it also let them know that people do care about them and their success. Showing them interest in the things that they like was something that they did not seem to be use to and you could see that by the expression on their faces. For example, C. C plays baseball for his school (shortstop). One day, during a tutoring session, he just could not stop talking about his game that was coming up the following day. After a while, I made a bargain with him - - If you do your work, I’ll come to one of your games. He reaffirmed the idea and then began his work. I did think anything else of the incident until a month later when he brought in his schedule and asked which game I would be going to! He was so excited about someone coming to his game. I had a lot of great moments during tutoring sessions, this was just one of them.

Another thing that I learned this past semester is that working one-on-one with a child can be a rejuvenating and exhilarating process. As a first year teacher, it can be a bit overwhelming walking into a classroom and having to teach and address the needs of all of the 20-odd students there. It is a constant juggling act to concentrate on delivering the lesson that you planned, while at the same time attend to the issues, moods, and needs of the other people in the room. On the other hand, with tutoring, we were presented with a real occasion to concentrate on one child at a time. This allowed for the opportunity to work at the same pace as the student, and adjust the learning activity as needed. It also afforded the chance to see the learning process as it unfolded. In addition, working with the children individually allowed for instant feedback on error-correction.

“I learned that no matter what level a student comes to me on, it is my job to teach them, not dwell on the skills they do not have. I also learned the importance of getting to know students’ backgrounds and personal situations. As a teacher, we never know what a student is experiencing and it’s important not just to teach math or writing, but teach E, C, D (names of students).”

“We "dialogued" an essay together. I wrote one sentence and asked him to write another that either supported or challenged the sentence. V liked the interactiveness of the assignment. He was eager to read what I wrote and equally so to show me what he had written in response. In his notebook, as co-writers we completed a page and a half. He said it was the most he had written. He wrote close to 15 sentences by himself. This type of strategy works with reluctant writers, as it removes writer's block and provides a model for the student as to what supporting details are needed for thesis statements. It's important when using this technique not to correct the student's writing as the goal is to boost I think V was proud of himself as I was of him.”

"Watching the students work at Harlem Dowling, I would see them light up when they were doing something they really enjoyed. I think this experience also helped me adapt and improvise at a quicker rate. Many times I came to the center not knowing what to expect. I had material prepared and books with me, but they were irrelevant to what ended being taught. I had to be able to come up with a mini-lesson on the fly and differentiate it at the same time, and lastly to present it in an interesting manner.”

“As far establishing relationships with the tutees, I think for the most part, they were very friendly. It was also surprising for me that despite all the turmoil that they had been through and had been exposed to, they were still showing up to the center regularly, and looking for someone to tutor them. That’s more than what I’ve seen in some of my student teaching experiences. The tutees were so open and friendly and I actually expected them to be more reserved and hard to talk to. Instead they were funny and interested in talking about their personal lives and school..”

"There were also time when some of the tutees had a very sophisticatedly understanding of one side of a subject, but then were completely in the dark about another side to the same subject."

"I have mixed feelings about working at the physical location of the center. I believe that the familiarity of settings can contribute to an ease of transition from a previous engagement to the tutoring sessions while also helping the tutees feel more comfortable. On the other hand, I feel that being in the physical space of the center provided for many distractions that hindered our productivity.