Missing Tampa

If I were in Tampa still I would probably be working with the two students I worked with most days at this time, Brandon and Joel. We mostly did reading together which was always really fun because Brandon and Joel would help each other with the words they didn't know. They were both ELL students. When Joel couldn't think of a word he would go into Spanish, "como." Sometimes he would figure it out himself, sometimes Brandon would help him, sometimes I would.

They were both quiet and shy at first but every time I entered the room a smile spread across their faces. We'd go outside and read and talk about their pets, where their from, brothers and sisters. Brandon was an especially good reader for his age, I think. He would read sentences together rather than each word as its own unit. As the story progressed he would tire of sitting and start reading standing up. Joel liked to move around when he read, going from the bench to the table to standing on the table and leaning on the pole for its umbrella.