May 13, 2015

Discovering new passions

Russ Goedde, father of four and grandfather to five, has a strong commitment to education and public administration. Russ came to Reading Partners with an enthusiastic and earnest desire to help students with their reading. He was also interested in learning new tutoring strategies that he could maybe even use with his grandkids.

Russ knew he had a lot of work to do with his student, Sheyden. When they first met, Sheyden told Russ he didn’t enjoy reading. Immediately, Russ’ goal became to change Sheyden’s mind and show him how reading could be fun and cool! Recently, at the end of a session together, Russ and Sheyden were talking science–about the color wheel, light spectrum, and the nature of galaxies in the universe. Sheyden lit up speaking about all of these scientific curiosities and he began to speak up, asking a lot of questions. Russ felt delighted that Sheyden felt engaged and confident enough to show off his science knowledge.

Russ’ openness and willingness to converse, helped Sheyden recognize a passion for science, that can be explored and charted through books. We look forward to seeing how Sheyden develops his passion throughout life.