I’ve noticed a pattern over the past dozen or so weeks. Each time we meet, Lisa* is sullen. She has a frown on her face, she’s incommunicative and borderline rude. Since I refuse to let her bring my mood down, I force her to interact with me. I ask about her weekend. I ask about her children. I try to pull something other than monosyllabic answers out of her, but it rarely works. As we move along through the lessons, she usually brightens up.
Today, we took several steps back to learning the fundamentals of phonics and began working on the letter B. We looked at a picture and her job was to tell me a story about what she saw and then write down words that began with B using what she saw in the picture. Not surprisingly, she refused to tell me a story and we moved on to writing down words. As she began writing down words, bits and pieces of a story emerged. She was talking! By the end of the session, she was laughing and enjoying herself.
It’s always the same. She comes in sullen and leaves smiling. I know she has a difficult life and I can’t even begin to understand the stress she lives under. It’s clear our time together lightens her load. So even though her behavior is frustrating at times, I know it’s temporary. I really do want to make a difference in Lisa’s life.
* Name changed to protect the student’s identity.