Kids were running around the shopping mall. It was the fourth rainy day in a row and the parents' faces were covered in stress.
I noticed some younger children racing around the entrance way without adult supervision. They screamed and sang while running randomly around the perimeter of the main lobby. Older shoppers stared and expressed disapproval.
While trying to escape, I bumped into a second grader I used to tutor in the fall. He was with his mom and dad. They were quietly sitting at a metal table drinking lemonade and eating lunch.
He didn't recognize me at first. Kids often don't remember you when they see you in public, out of school or tutoring.
When I tutored him, his teacher described him as difficult and at-risk. He was described as hyperactive and loud. No one had diagnosed him.
Yet.
But here, in the mall on this rainy Saturday, he was well-behaved and calm.
Sometimes you have to see kids in the middle of the mall on a rainy Saturday to really get an idea of what they are like.
Assessment in real-time.
