Olivia Schaap is a senior at the University studying Creative Writing with a minor in Spanish. In addition to developing her honors thesis and working as a writing tutor, she holds office as President of the UofA’s chapter of Sigma Tau Delta, an international English honors society.
The first child I sat with to tutor at my summer internship in 2021 struck a cord of terror in me with their trusting blue eyes. I’d been tasked with teaching this child to read, which felt like a monumental responsibility I would surely fail at. Interacting with young children never felt like my strong suit, and this internship was going to challenge my instincts screaming at me to run away from the tiny humans around me who needed my help.
My one hope of forging a rapport was during the countless games of tic tac toe that almost every child chose to play during their “game time” at the end of each lesson. My first student won every round, because I hadn’t played tic-tac-toe in years. They found my failure hilarious, which I figured I could work with.
They’re not aliens, right? I told myself. These kids are still people.
That auspicious beginning set the stage for a whirlwind of chaos, learning, and fun at my summer internship with Lexicon Speech, Language & Reading. Lexicon is a local tutoring center in Fayetteville, AR, that specializes in therapy for children who suffer from dyslexia or other language-processing disorders. At this internship I was taught how to teach children reading, spelling, and handwriting, all in ways that made more sense and were more accessible to them.
Specifically, my internship focused on training me in Lexicon’s Orton-Gillingham-based instructional model. The Orton-Gillingham approach comes from the research of Dr. Orton and Anna Gillingham, two researchers who, in the early 1900’s, broke down the science of reading into a systematic, multisensory guide with clearly defined rules and explicit instruction designed for children.
Modern curriculum for reading and spelling are often vague or rely too heavily on a student’s intuitive skills to achieve mastery. So often, people complain about the “illogical” nature of English – but in reality, the English language is built on a set of strictly defined rules; we just don’t teach it according to those rules. English is not an illogical system, it’s taught in an illogical way.
This is why children with dyslexia struggle so much to master reading and spelling – public schools rarely instruct dyslexic students in a way that makes sense to them. And with dyslexia ranking as our most common learning disability affecting up to 20% of the population, it’s sobering how great their need is right now.
Even with the training under my belt, however, I was still someone with a natural gifting towards words and language. I never struggled to learn to read or spell, and although I desired to help my students, I was afraid my lack of hardship would make it difficult for me to connect to them. One day I watched a girl who was paralyzed with fear by a spelling test, terrified that she’d misspelled the simple words that she was giving the right answers to. Although I’d never been terrified of a spelling test, her fear rang similar to all the math tests I’d failed growing up.
In that moment, the surge of empathy I felt unlocked the final door I’d been missing as a tutor; compassion. Any time I had a student stumble through their answers, drag themselves through a short story, or limp through their spelling words, I recalled my own childhood shortcomings with long division and fractions. I may not know their struggle, but I did know what it felt like to struggle. My ability to empathize with my students gave me patience, and combining that with my genuine love and passion for language helped me progress from an uncertain intern to confident tutor in just a handful of weeks. By the time my internship was over, I felt like I’d been working with my students for years (and I also won some of the tic-tac-toe matches).
Aside from all the fun, the learning, and my mastery of tic-tac-toe, this internship opportunity gave me the chance to test my own merit. I’d never believed I would make a good teacher, but after this summer I understand that teaching takes empathy and dedication, and I have been inspired by all my own teachers over the years. There is an indescribable sense of accomplishment I’ve felt in seeing all the progress my students have made. The memories I made with everyone at my internship have made it an utterly unforgettable experience, one I never could have accepted without the help and sponsorship of the Honors College, which I am endlessly thankful for.