Turning "I Can't" into "I Can"

Jenn Martin, Iowa Reading Corps
AmeriCorps Member

Blog post written by Jenn Martin, Iowa Reading Corps AmeriCorps Member at Oskaloosa Elementary.

Recently, I've been reflecting on some of the most significant challenges and successes that I've experienced with my Reading Corps students. Over the past few months, I've been tutoring a few students who were well below the target scores for the school year and after seeing slower progress, I was starting to feel frustrated with my part in the tutoring process. With support from my Internal Coach, we continued to adapt and work to meet the needs of these students. After conferences, I was informed that two of those students would be tested for learning disabilities. Although I felt a sense of relief that their needs would continue to be met, I was still feeling discouraged. 

As the weeks have passed, both of these students have really started to shine in the Great Leaps interventions. It is so rewarding, especially for these two, to see how excited they are becoming as they have started to more frequently “leap” pages. I've also made it a point to provide purposeful encouragement to these students and have seen them develop more self-confidence every day. I must admit that seeing an increase in a student's self-confidence is the best part of my job as a literacy tutor!

I also have a few students in Reading Corps who have an, “I can’t” attitude. The last thing that I want is for any student to feel like a failure. After chatting with the family members of one of these students, we decided to implement an “I can” policy. In an effort to increase this student's self-confidence, we no longer allow him to use the “I can’t” phrase at home or during tutoring sessions. Instead we encourage him to say, “This is hard,” or “I can try.” By simply removing that "I can't" phrase from his vocabulary, we have seen him become a more confident reader and his mother even noted that she has seen an all-around improvement in his self-confidence. It is so nice to know that by working together with my students’ family members; I can be a part of something bigger.