More tutoring and teaching

For the last year or so, I've been saying, "I'm going to be a teacher when I grow up." Now I realize I can say I am a teacher. I tutored two ninth graders in the winter and spring. I tutored several middle school students this spring, helping them prepare for the SHSAT high school entrance exam in New York City. Now I'm doing two more things.

I recently began tutoring a man I will call CI. He is 18 years old, and he has autism and several various challenges in preparing him for the world. I'm also about to begin teaching a handful of students to help them catch up in their regular school studies.

My work with CI is largely teaching him life skills. There are so many social skills that we expect everyone to have, because we tend to pick them up as we go along, but we can't take them for granted with autistic people.

My work with the younger students will be to bring them up to speed in Math and English. The work will be at a small tutoring center in Chinatown in New York City. I met with the owner of the center yesterday, and she gave me the scoop on each of them, about their personalities and challenges. They are in grades 2 through 5. My tutoring work in the spring didn't involve any coaching, observation, or feedback. I learned that I will be discussing my new students' progress with the boss and with the kids' parents, so this is energizing for me. I'm looking forward to it.

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