Tutoring Timmy

I met Timmy a few weeks ago and asked him if his real name was Timothy. He said, "My name is Timmy, but my nickname is Timothy." Funny, huh! Actually his real name is Greek, and I can't remember exactly what it is, so I'm grateful he has an anglicized version for me.

I have taken on a new occupation for three hours a week: tutoring a fourth grader. His mom is French, his dad is Greek, and his maid is Filipino. So he hears five different languages every day including English and Arabic. It's no wonder that Timmy is struggling in school with reading and writing.

Tonight Timmy had earned a reward by working so hard, so we played a game. I drew a grid with letters of the alphabet on the road out in front of his villa, and we proceeded to play a spelling game with a ball. I asked him to spell a word and he would have to bounce the ball onto the letters to spell it. He liked the game much better when I had to spell the words he gave to me. I had to dig deep to remember how to spell "entrepreneur".

My favorite part of tutoring is being invited into someone's home and seeing first hand how this family operates. This is really my first experience getting to know someone here in Qatar, other than ward members or people Brett works with. Timmy's dad Nihad is just like all the Greek characters in My Big Fat Greek Wedding - welcoming and warm and so hospitable. It has really been difficult for him to accept the fact that I never want any tea or coffee when I am there. Tonight I finally just told him about my religious beliefs. It wasn't the first time he had heard about Mormons, so he started telling me all about it. I corrected him on a few things, but for the most part, he had an accurate picture. As a pilot for Qatar Airways, he has had a global experience in his life, even living for a time in Texas. His English is very good, but he is not able to help his son as much as he needs to. Even though this is such a culturally diverse home, and there are many advantages for children in these kinds of families, I really see the disadvantages so clearly as I find the things Timmy struggles with.

I often felt cheated that my dad did not teach me German as I was growing up. I had to go to college and take two years of it in order to get even a taste of speaking a second language. But now I see the wisdom of speaking one language in a home. Many children probably do very well with more than one language, but a child with any kind of learning disability really has complications.

So this is my latest challenge. Let me know if you have any advice on how to motivate a very active fourth grader to sit and read on his own.

Kid Questions

I love kid questions. Last week I subbed at Abbey's school for three days in a third grade classroom. It was good to get an insider's look at the people who run the school and how they do it. It was also a good reminder about why I got a secondary teaching certificate instead of an elementary one. They asked me where I was from, what my favorite color is, and what my favorite food is - all the important stuff.

So as I was introducing myself to these third graders I began asking them where they moved from. There were kids from Syria, Peru, Mexico, New Zealand, Jordan, and the U.S. There was a kid there from Minnesota, but he wasn't sure if that was in the United States or not. On the second day, as I was walking around helping students with their math, one little girl from the Phillipines asked if she could touch my hair. I asked her why she wanted to do that. She told me that she had never touched hair that color. So I knelt down and she touched my bleached split ends. I asked her what she thought. She quietly said, "It's dry." I just had to agree. I didn't want to explain how my favorite expensive shampoo was wasted when it spilled all over our duffel bag during our trip to Doha - ruining my Relief Society manual, Brett's dress shoes, and my hair's chances for thick, conditioned richness until we go home in October for Ben's wedding.

Wonder Woman Times Two

Yesterday I made myself walk out of my classroom and embrace my home and family again. My personality is "all or nothing" so I have thrown myself into revitalizing my teaching as I begin another phase of my career. It has been exhausting yet familiar and welcome to remember my talents as a teacher. At the same time though, I have been remembering the parts of this job that never became easy for me - dealing with the piles and piles of English papers to name just one.

As I locked my classroom door, I had to reassure myself that the most important thing in my life are the smiles and company of my husband, children, and grandson. I haven't been as focused on this over the last few weeks. There will always be piles of papers, but there won't always be time to try on Halloween costumes with my six-year-old and see the light in her eyes as she puts on the Wonder Woman cape and looks into the mirror. When I was her age I wanted nothing more than to be Wonder Woman, complete with the golden lasso of truth and the bullet repelling arm bracelets. Abbey and I walked out of TJ Maxx with the costume and my joy brimming over, my priorities returned to their correct place. Maybe both of us will be Wonder Women in October!

First Week Back

This has been a very long week and my body hurts so much I need one big Bandaid to feel better. My brain and my body have forgotten the requirements of teaching. Today I switched from flip flops to my workout shoes, because tracking around the school has taken its toll on my poor feet. My brain is also cramping up and there are long periods where I just sit and stare at the empty desks in my classroom and wonder how I will ever be ready for students next Wednesday.

Yesterday my visiting teacher, Paula, showed up at school and asked if she could help me. I put her to work unpacking books for the class library shelves. She spent an hour just cleaning and sorting through all the "stuff" that English teachers tote around. It truly is the simple things in this life that make such an impact. Paula has always been one of my heroes, but yesterday was truly the extra mile. The best thing she did was just listen to me and talk me through a few of my "brain cramps." By the time she left I was reminded that I have so many people helping me through this transition back to work.

Back to School Night went well, but it took me some time to remember what to say to parents and students, giving a quick five minute overview of my class. I did get the hang of it by sixth period though. It is fun being back in the preparations of school again, catching up with the faculty and meeting new teachers. On Wednesday I had several teachers stop and offer help and support as I attempted to clean out the classroom I had inherited from a veteran teacher who had retired last Spring and couldn't begin to cart home all of her accumulated English teaching "wealth" that represented thirty years of public school service. Maybe twenty years from now some young Miss Bumblesprout will be dealing with the leftovers of my "Mrs. McBloom classroom!" (If you haven't read the children's book Mrs. McBloom, Clean Up Your Classroom you need to.)

New Opportunity

Yesterday I went to the park for my weekly get together with my former colleagues who have remained my good friends, even after I left school to stay at home with my daughter. Every summer my friends Michelle and Jenny organize "Park Days" so we can catch up and chat while our children play and also get reacquainted. We go to a different park in our area each week to have some new scenery and end up having some nice "adult time" as the kids try not to kill themselves showing off for each other. Most of these women are teachers I started working with at my second teaching position. Michelle and I shared a classroom when we both went part-time because of our respective pregnancies and then ended up delivering three days apart. Jenny and I are similar in life styles and personality and we all helped her through the transition to being a single mom after her difficult divorce.



Jenny and I (and our kids) were the only ones who showed up yesterday so we enjoyed the perfect park weather as we talked and lamented the end of park days and the looming school year for her. She asked me what I was going to fill my time with since my daughter was going to be starting first grade at the end of the month. I honestly hadn't been planning what I would do, but when she asked, I started thinking of all the scrap booking I had put off over the years, all the books I have wanted to indulge in, and all the organizing of my life and home that has eluded me. So I started listing these things to Jenny as we lazily watched our children going down slides and climbing the park toys.



When I finished my list and Michelle called Jenny's cell phone to explain why she wasn't there, a light bulb seemed to go on in Jenny's face, and she asked, with Michelle listening in, "Hey, has Michelle told you about the job opening at the school?" She hadn't, so I listened as she told about how another colleague, Jane, had just accepted another teaching contract in a neighboring school district so she could work closer to home. Jane had resigned her position just last Friday, so there was an unexpected job opening at the junior high I used to teach at. As Jenny finished telling me some details, my former boss and principal Steve walked from the parking lot into the school (the park is adjacent to the school). Jenny looked at me as if to say, "There's no time like the present!" and offered to watch my six year old while I walked over to talk to Steve.



As I took that not so long walk my mind began to spin: What was I doing? Hadn't I just been talking about all my plans for my new open time? Why would I want to go back into the classroom? My online teaching job is flexible and so perfect for a wife and mother who wants to put her family first . . . . . yet I have missed teaching in person and really getting to know my students and being able to see the light in their eyes when they finally understand what a topic sentence is. I have also missed the collaboration I had with good teachers with whom I built lesson plans and curriculum maps and enriched my craft. Oh, the thoughts were flying as I opened that front door.


Steve was in the main office as I walked in and had an instant smile on his face, as he said hello and asked me what he could do for me. He seemed to know why I was there, so we sat down in his office. He was delighted to talk about the job opening and was excited when I told him I would consider it. Then he told me that the interviews were taking place on Thursday so I would need to get the ball rolling with the district if I really wanted the job. Did I want the job? I didn't know?! I had just heard about it ten minutes ago!



I walked out of Steve's office with an appointment for an interview and a whole new set of worries mixed with excitement. There were so many other things that happened yesterday that seemed to intimate that this experience was not an accident, that forces beyond my understanding were at work. This IS the perfect opportunity if I want to get back into teaching full time again. I already know the people I will be working for, it will feel like home, with all the good and bad of what that means. Yet what will I be giving up? How many field trips will I miss? Will Brett remember to give Abbey that confidence building look and the thumbs up sign when he drops her off for her first day of all day school? Will my body be up to the challenge of working full time again and keeping up at home? Well, I could go on with the questions going through my head, but some things are better left floating around in the nebulous space of wonder. I'm not positive that I will even be offered the job, because there are other candidates being interviewed. The funniest thing was when I talked to Michelle and asked how I should prepare for the interview (because she is on the hiring committee) one of her comments was, "Well, some of the other candidates might be amazing, but going with the known is always better than going with the unknown." I guess being amazing has its drawbacks! I do know that I had better be ready with an answer by tomorrow morning when I again walk through those doors that I thought were closed for good.