Tiger Reading Buddy

In early October, 2019, I was given a name – Mason. I knew only that he was in first grade, and that my role was to be to assess this child’s reading fluency and to provide supplemental instruction to this young reader. I had no other information about him, but I was excited to learn.

Upon meeting Mason, I realized that he was an extremely happy child, who was always laughing, smiling, and eager to learn. Above all, however, I quickly realized that Mason was incredibly kind and was motivated by social interaction. He helped his nervous peers find their reading buddy after he introduced himself to me. As we began to walk down the hallway to find a place to do the introduction activities I had prepared, a little girl walked out of the special education classroom and asked Mason for