Leadership Essay

risk retention. Tyler tested at a level 4 on the district DRA assessment for 2nd graders which was marked a low 1st grade reading level.  Having a slight advantage over the other high school tutors because both my parents and my sister are teachers, my instructor felt I was the perfect candidate for this job.  If Tyler did not make huge improvements in his reading, he would have to be a second grader the following year. Tyler and I started out working with short sentences with small one syllable words such as spot, dot, run, and fun. As the year progressed, Tyler was tackling some enormous reading objectives that weren’t even supposed to be met by the end of the year.  After countless and lengthy family dinner table discussions about teaching reading, listening to the latest techniques to make learning to read fun and keeping a positive, supportive, attitude, Tyler surpassed everyone's expectations.  Tyler had climbed from a level 4 in the beginning of his school year to a whopping level 27 by the end of the year!  (Level 27 in the DRA is the score for a mid to high 2nd grade reader.)  We were given special recognition and a party for our hard work since we had accomplished the biggest accomplishment out of all the readers.  Tyler not only gained 23 reading levels, he also gained confidence and a new love for reading.  Through this experience I learned how to take initiative in teaching kids to read.  In addition to gaining such experience, I learned how to handle myself in setting a good example to the elementary kids since they constantly watch older high school students visiting their school. Along with tutoring struggling young readers, I got to be a ‘Big Buddy’ to five kids.  Big buddies are assigned to kids whose home lives are not the best, kids who have social insecurities with other children their age, and/or recent problems in their family.   Being a kid’s big buddy was tremendous.  I learned how to use my leadership skills I had learned while being a ‘natural helper’ in my past years.  I became an unconditional friend to each of these five students.  No matter what they did or said, I was there to talk to them and lead them into positive decision making skills.  I learned that those buddies really looked forward to the minutes and hours we spent together.  They would ask me advice about family problems and relationships with friends.  I knew what a powerful affect I had on these students and I did my best to help them to become kind, caring little people.   Being a big buddy made me realize how fortunate I am to have a supportive, caring family.  Many children are missing that encouraging person in their life.  Being a high school leader to so many students truly proves the saying “It takes a village to raise a child.”