after-school visitors

This week I added ten or twelve middle-schoolers (gr 7-8) to my list, and they've initially been far more... reserved (to put it nicely) than my 4-6 graders. More armor. LOTS more armor. I didn't know where to find them all at first, so it's been kind of a gradual roll-out; Monday I got just a few, more yesterday, and today was the first day with a full house for both time slots. It's getting better already, but there are only a few in this age range who readily accept help with their work; I'm feeling a lot of resistance from them. Not that this is in any way a surprise. As kids approach puberty, they become more fearful, less trusting; more rebellious, less eager to please any kind of authority figure. Anyway, school got out an hour early today, and five or six different students in the middle school to high school age range, some of my tutoring students and some I didn't know, came in and asked if they could work in my room. Several even asked for help with their math or with information about various diseases (science homework). Some came and went, but for close to two hours I had students in my room, doing schoolwork, entirely of their own accord. I was so thrilled I got teary-eyed, more than once! It made me feel like the space I've created here is coming to be perceived as a welcoming and comfortable place to learn. I can't think of any greater accomplishment.

The teachers and administrators here have been great; they've gone out of their way to let me know I'm taken care of and to give me the support I need. But to have students come into my room, to study, of their own free will: it's the most welcome I've felt since I came to Alaska. By far.