Monday, August 4, 2008

Don't Call on Me

I'm in the town's public library right now, watching a frustrated young boy stumble over words while reading a book aloud to his tutor. This poor kid is trying so hard, so I felt like I should write about him.


Don't Call on Me

We all know the feeling of embarrassment, the hot sweat that surfaces on our face as we are called upon, without an answer or an idea of what to say, but for you, these obstacles are the least of your worries. You can speak fluently, because the words in your mind aren't on print, but when faced with a page of text, you tongue flaps around mindlessly, with fragments of sentences occasionally escaping your mouth. Every day must be a secret struggle for you, anxiously crouched in the back of the classroom, the textbook open but the words meaningless, printed on the glossy paper, longing for your name to slip the teacher's mind, so your private challenges won't be revealed to your unforgiving classmates. I can't say that we know how you feel.

4 comments:

Maria said...

Poor kid! Well written, very eloquent as always, although I am a bit surprised by the absence of the verb "whipped". ;)

"you tongue flaps around mindlessly" Great phrase, but proof-read it. I'm pretty sure you meant to say "your tongue" rather than "you tongue".

The last sentence, "I can't say that we know how you feel," seems to say that most people don't understand the struggles students with reading problems go through. I would have to say I don't know how that feels, but this description really whips up a great image in my mind.

Maria said...

By the way, there are picture books by Anna Dewdney entitled Llama Llama Red Pajama and Llama Llama Mad at Mama. In both books, the phrase "llama drama" is used multiple times. What drama llamas!









Okay, that was excessively lame, even for me! :)

*Monet* said...

That is so sad.. >>>>Poor Kid<<<<

Maddie said...

oh, that was really sweet of you, in a way. i feel bad for him, and i agree with maria. it was written very well.