Reading Buddy Reality Check

reading |ˈrēdi ng | buddy |ˈbədē|

Once upon a time I did reading buddies... Like my freshman year. Then I got super busy and deemed the act of listening to a child read for 30-45 minutes as a low priority. It wasn't because my first reading buddy was dumb. (Although he smelled strange.) And it wasn't because his reading skills were horribly behind. (On the contrary, he read quite quickly.) And, no, it wasn't because his reading choices were boring, dull and uninteresting. (I happen to love an Amelia Bedelia book every now and then.) It was simply that my class, sorority and life schedule didn't allow for a weekly trip to the school.

Flash forward. Spring 2011. I am a senior. In chapter, I receive a sign up for reading buddies. I decide, "Why not? It isn't like I have a ton of stuff going on..." (False. I did, but I ignored the fact.) So I signed up and anticipated my reading buddy name to arrive...

For the sake of protecting the children I will use alternate names...

At last, the email was sent out three weeks ago with Reading Buddy pairs. I was hooked up with Mary Kate on Mondays at noon. All was good until one week ago when I went to meet Miss MK.

Elementary schools are on constant lock down, and rightfully so, but this does create some hoop jumping if you ever want to get in. As I approached the front desk I notice a couple other sisters were waiting patiently for their buddy. Turns out that lunch is what is happening right before noon, so we had to wait until about 12:05-12:10 to actually meet up with our buddies.

The first time you meet your buddy, the student comes to get the you and after that, we are allowed to meet them outside the classroom. So I am sitting there waiting on MK and the door opens. Three children come in and each sorority sister says their reading buddy's name and they pair off. The secretary ends up introducing me to MK.

"Mary Kate, this is your new reading buddy!"
"What?! No she isn't. That is not my reading buddy!"
"Well, actually she is. She is new and I am sure you two will get along fine. Let's go take your meds now..."

Hm.. That went over well... Not to mention I look like a complete failure in front of the audience who witnessed the altercation! I mean I did say the correct name, right? I re-checked the email and I was spot on... But for some reason MK was not having me as a new buddy.

After a final round of convincing, we went back to her classroom to pick out books. Her frazzled teacher ended up telling me the reason behind the confusion. MK had a usual reading buddy that came on Thursdays. She had been coming for a couple years... (That explains the horror of meeting a new partner, I guess.) Anyways, the teacher said she would let MK read to me today, but would probably have a new student for me next week.

By the time MK has selected her THREE books and we make it to the library, it is almost 12:20 pm. Usually reading buddies last 30 minutes tops... Good thing she insisted that we run from the classroom to the library! Shaved off a couple extra seconds...

MK declared she would be reading to me with no help. Her first book was new and she struggled through it looking at the pictures and to me for clues. I was surprised at the words she knew though-- I mean "exactly" has an "x" in it and let's be real... No one likes the letter "x"

The second book was a classic apparently. She loved the book and wanted to share it with me. I glance at the clock as it hits 12:45.

"MK, what time do you normally end reading buddies?"
"Oh, around 11."
"Um, we are a little past that. I didn't get here till noon."
"Well, this isn't the normal time. How am I SUPPOSE TO KNOW WHEN YOU LEAVE!? Now, lets read."

No arguing with a screaming child in a library... Unsupervised might I add!

So we read the second book and I convince her we don't have time for a third. By the time I exit the school it has been a little over an hour and no one who began reading buddies with me was still there. Super duper. Um, did I willingly sign up for this??

So today I went back to the school. I wasn't for sure of the game plan so I used MK's name again as my buddy. Before I could get to her class though, she met me in the hall on the way to the office! She exclaimed-- "Hey Reading Buddy!" (Thank goodness I wasn't shunned again!)I I asked her what she was doing and she said she was going to take her meds and then we could read.

Unfortunately, the teacher had different plans... She told MK that she couldn't have two reading buddies, so a new reading buddy was assigned to me. Ashley.

Ashley had quickly picked ONE book and we began reading by 12:10. She was about the same reading level as MK, but she had a particular quark. She was an art buff and loved talking about the illustrations before we actually read the page. She would make predictions and comments on the pictures and it was funny for the first 10 minutes but got old as 12:30 creeped closer.

Some Observations that were Made:
"Oh man! I saw a boa constrictor once. At the zoo. I was scared. I like bats better than snakes cause they hand upside down."
"WHAT!? Look at all those fish! I bet he got wet swimming with them."
"Oh gosh, look at those... Um... What are those again?" (They are sea lions....)
"Dang, looks like the mom died..." (Reads page) "Whoa! She survived... But she lost all her credit cards. Not good."

As we wrapped up the book she had me count the goldfish. Apparently she couldn't count past 4 which was alarming but I didn't push... Ashley's time was up and I needed lunch before I became the Reading Buddy Witch.

We parted and I told her that the book standards had been raised and she better not let me down after such an exhilarating first book... And yeah, that may or may not have been too much pressure, but Ashley didn't seem intimidated.. She just smiled and said okay.

"See you next week Ashley."
"Uh... Yeah you will!"