Back to School

I don't know how I ever had time for a full-time job; I have been keeping myself so busy these days that even my part-time job at the scholarship office (20 hours a week) seems to take up too much time. I've been running a lot, doing more yoga, and being pretty social, but one of the best things I'm doing is volunteering with a small group of boys at a local school.

The school is a tiny private school in South Boulder that serves students with dyslexia and other learning disabilities. When I first heard about it, I went immediately to the Employment page on their website only to learn that they didn't have any staff openings. But I was intrigued and so emailed my resume to the principal, Kathy, with an offer to volunteer. She invited me to come meet her and see the school, then to come back again to observe a class and sit in on a staff meeting. I really like the school and its staff, and Kathy and I seem to speak the same language. Well as things went, I didn't hear from her for at least six weeks. Then, out of the blue, I got an email saying that if I was still interested in volunteering they had something I could do.

We came to an arrangement in which I go in twice a week for a little under an hour to work with three middle school boys. Each of them is really behind in reading but for different reasons, making it tough to remediate them together. They spend that period with Jill, the program director, doing intensive reading work and I pull each one out for 15 minutes of even more intensive, one-on-one practice. It doesn't sound like much, but paired with all the other interventions these boys get, I think it's helpful to them. It also frees Jill from having to attempt to work with three kids simultaneously on totally different things.

I like the boys a lot. They're each kind of a disaster, but what middle school boy isn't? One of them has what we would have called "weak mental work stamina" at the Yellin Center, meaning he gets worn out pretty easily. His teachers suspect that he's somewhere on the spectrum. I'm not sure that I agree, but there's definitely something unusual going on with him. He has very limited endurance for work, making it tough to teach him. The second boy is petrified of making mistakes and so prefers to make it appear that he's not trying very hard (or not to try at all). He loves riddles and has heard just about every one I try to tell him. The third boy is very motivated but has pretty severe dyslexia. He's a classic case, and of the three I feel he's the one I'm best equipped to work with. There's very little emotional baggage in the way; his problems are solid reading ones.

It's been really great to work with kids again! I look forward to visiting this school each Tuesday and Thursday, and Jill and Kathy seem very grateful. And if there is an opening in fall, which Kathy says she thinks there will be, I have high hopes that I'll get to do more than just drop in to the school a few mornings a week.