On Tuesdays I go to an elementary school in my area, via a program called Reading is Fun. I work one-on-one with two students–one in the second grade, one in the third–whose reading skills are lower than their grade level. It’s an inner-city school district, but it’s the same one from which both of my children graduated. Volunteering is one way for me to give back to the school district for educating my children well.

We start in October so that the teachers have a month to identify students in need. Of course, there are more students who need help than volunteers to help them. The program receives donated books through various foundations, volunteers read them with students, and then give books to the students to take home to start building their own libraries.

Today, the second grader with whom I work was tied up in a project. All the kids in the class ask me to take them if he’s not available. “Pick me! Pick me! Ms. Fischer.” Today one of the newest students went into the hallway with me. We read a “Fly Guy” book. This child recently moved back to Schenectady from Atlanta. “My grandma still lives in Atlanta,” he said, “And I still miss her.” It turned out that this child is an absolutely fantastic reader. He didn’t need any help from me, but it was a pleasure to hear him read every word.

Before I went up to the third-grade class to work with my second student, I told the youngster with whom I normally work that I’d see him after vacation (next week). He was still working away on his project. He smiled and waved goodbye.

After slogging up the steps to the third floor, I poked my head into the third-grader’s room. She was in her classroom and came out in the hallway (we always work in the hallway). This student loves books about a character named “Pinkaliscious.” I confess that I am not enamored of those books, but I try to get books for the RIF library to keep her interested in reading. She reads way below a third-grade level, although I have seen an improvement in her skills since we began in October.

This week, I didn’t have a Pinkaliscious book for her. I had a few about Fancy Nancy (a character who’s so sophisticated that she throws in French words or phrases during the course of her books). The student rejected those books. She was, however, interested in a story about Peter Rabbit and Mr. McGregor. It’s based on the Beatrix Potter series but easier to read.

She read the whole thing, start to finish, only having difficulty with pronouncing “McGregor” whenever it appeared in the text.

As I was sitting with her and Peter Rabbit, I noticed a billboard in the hallway, advising students about how to solve problems. One of the suggestions was: “Plan A doesn’t always work, there’s always a Plan B.”

I asked my young student who loves Pinkaliscious if she knew what that meant.

“No,” she replied. “Do you?”

“Indeed I do,” I told her.

“What’s an example?”

I told her how, last night, I had to sing in front of nearly three hundred people, and the two guitar players who had been supposed to accompany me contacted me yesterday morning and said they “couldn’t make it.” We had been rehearsing together for a couple of weeks.

I was at a loss. My name was in the program my guitar playing skills are pretty much non-existent these days, and I had committed to this several months ago.

I told this student that my Plan B was to sing it a cappella, or without any accompaniment. But my Plan B-2 was to try to find someone else to play guitar for me. I got on the phone and called my friend who plays the guitar but lives an hour-and-a-half away. He told me he was planning to come to the event anyway, and he would meet me about half an hour before the show so that we could rehearse. He also admitted that the song was one of his favorites of all time.

The student said, “I never would have thought of that. Maybe my mom would have, but not me.”

My friend met me, we went through the song about five times, and when it was appropriate, we took to the stage. He played, I sang, and Plan B-2 came to the rescue.

Reading school billboards has a way of influencing people of all ages, I’d say.