Most students associate finals week with grueling testing periods, chock-full of enough stress to dishearten even the strongest of students. Luckily, Billings Central teacher Danielle Tate’s generals English classes were spared this fate.
Having already finished their finals for the semester before the school-wide established “finals week”, Tate decided to bring back her tradition of having the generals English classes read to preschoolers. While her classes didn’t do so last year, they have gone in several prior years, and Tate has found it to be a remarkable experience for students and staff alike. She said, “the kids will be talking about it for the rest of the week.”
Typically, they read these stories before Christmas time, but, due to an unforeseen case of influenza in Tate’s family, she rescheduled it to be during the finals period.
She typically receives mixed feelings from her students, but most are grateful to have an opportunity to connect with younger kids, even if they can be a hassle sometimes. Junior Ethan Miller said, “It was a fun and rewarding experience.”
Tate hopes to bring honors students next semester to read to the preschoolers. This is something that she has never done before, but she has no doubt that it will go over fantastically with them, too.
