INSPIRED BY CHANGE...AND THE ARRIVAL OF SPRING!

I can't believe I haven't posted on this blog since November, but life's been both hectic and unsettled in a few different ways. Now I want to relaunch this blog with new inspiration and a clearer sense of how to transition from what it was--and I was--when I began. I also want to share the URL of a 2nd blog I started, though it hasn't achieved liftoff just yet. http://wishlistnewyorkcity.blogspot.com/ It focuses on something I would love to do,and I'm currently engaged in sorting out the logistics. So--more to come on Wishlist New York City. Please stay tuned. In the meantime, here's a report from the road: Melody, my 2nd grade reading tutee, is improving every week and will be finishing second grade in less than two months. She is more focused, more interested in writing and vocabulary, and more ready to face new challenges next year. This photo shows her reading a poem at the holiday reading festival a few months ago!

My Top Honors math tutoring work goes well. Brian, my regular tutee, has been absent for a few sessions, which is too bad because he was making really good progress and nearly tested out of the Numbers module. However, I've had good sessions with Stiles and a couple of other sixth graders, and the work goes. We had a fantastic tutor social at Bowlmor, where I discovered that a 10 pound ball is HEAVY and faced the undeniable truth about me and bowling: sometimes you get a strike, and sometimes the ball ends up in the gutter. I'm now a volunteer with Burt Freeman's amazing My Own Book Foundation, and I have worked so far with 2 Bronx 3rd grade classes and will soon do four more. This is the program where Burt or one of his volunteers visits the class in advance to discuss how to build a personal library. Then the class visits Barnes & Noble, and each kid gets $50 to spend on books! This is followed by a visit to the school to listen to kids report back on what they bought and read...and how it's impacted their lives. I LOVE this foundation, and I am thrilled to be working again with Burt on this. Here are two photos from a few years back, when EHTP kids got to go to Barnes & Noble and buy books!

When you love what you do and feel that it matters--even when you don't get paid for it--life is good.