TS: #1
David
David
I hadn’t been sure what to expect on my first day with David. He’s a 5th grader, needing help in English. I had been previously told prior tutors had difficulty getting him to pay attention, a problem I thought I could handle.
I greeted
him, friendly, and gave him a high-five. He seemed receptive to that. His
mother had a language arts work book for us, since he just needs help in
reading and writing. He had a few books: a mock encyclopedia on dragons, a
couple graphic novels from the TV shows he likes, and a paperback that looked
like it had been in at the bottom of a backpack for a while.
“Why don’t you tell me what your favorite dragon is?” I asked. He flipped through the pages and found a green one. I asked him to read it out loud to me, as if I couldn’t read myself and I counted on his help. He did so.
“Interesting,” I said. “But I’m not sure about a couple of parts. Could you tell me what ‘specimen’ means?”
“Um……” He looked up in the air.
“Why don’t you tell me what your favorite dragon is?” I asked. He flipped through the pages and found a green one. I asked him to read it out loud to me, as if I couldn’t read myself and I counted on his help. He did so.
“Interesting,” I said. “But I’m not sure about a couple of parts. Could you tell me what ‘specimen’ means?”
“Um……” He looked up in the air.
More than a
few moments passed by.
“David?” I asked.
“Hold on, I’m thinking.” And then he struck a comic pose, hands on chin. I can tell he had a flair for the dramatic.
“David, I know you’re trying to be funny and get out of reading. I’ll tell you what, if you agree to work with me, we can read that comic book, the one on Legos, during the last five minutes of session. Deal?”
“Fine,” he said, eyes rolling.
“Shake on it?” And we shook hands.
“Triple high-five it?” I asked, and he laughed. And I gave him another high-five.
“David?” I asked.
“Hold on, I’m thinking.” And then he struck a comic pose, hands on chin. I can tell he had a flair for the dramatic.
“David, I know you’re trying to be funny and get out of reading. I’ll tell you what, if you agree to work with me, we can read that comic book, the one on Legos, during the last five minutes of session. Deal?”
“Fine,” he said, eyes rolling.
“Shake on it?” And we shook hands.
“Triple high-five it?” I asked, and he laughed. And I gave him another high-five.
“Okay, back
to ‘specimen’…”
From there on, David gave me guesses on what he thought certain words meant. They weren’t right, but not terribly far off from wrong. I continued to have him read and asked comprehension questions, having already read the section a few times over myself (I am a trained speed-reader).
It was difficult, at times, sustaining his interest. I was cheerful, energetic, and enthused about what we were doing, but any infection of that to him seemed limited. There was something getting in the way. Once, when he put his head down, I had the idea of using a timer, to add suspense to our activities. “Okay David, we’re doing to spend ten minutes on reading about dragons, and then another ten minutes going over your workbook. Is that alright?”
I quickly got a good idea of his main obstacle to reading. It’s his vocabulary. I found that often when he doesn’t know a word, he skips over it. If there are a lot of words he doesn’t know, he’s skipping right and left. His vocabulary needs help if he’s to advance.
So, the next time, I had the idea of making flashcards with him. The selection of vocabulary would be from “The Giver,” a book Marco, Chris, Jordan, and I will be using with the twins in our tutoring. We’re trying to make a “plan of attack” to be more effective than if we had all been working alone.
From there on, David gave me guesses on what he thought certain words meant. They weren’t right, but not terribly far off from wrong. I continued to have him read and asked comprehension questions, having already read the section a few times over myself (I am a trained speed-reader).
It was difficult, at times, sustaining his interest. I was cheerful, energetic, and enthused about what we were doing, but any infection of that to him seemed limited. There was something getting in the way. Once, when he put his head down, I had the idea of using a timer, to add suspense to our activities. “Okay David, we’re doing to spend ten minutes on reading about dragons, and then another ten minutes going over your workbook. Is that alright?”
I quickly got a good idea of his main obstacle to reading. It’s his vocabulary. I found that often when he doesn’t know a word, he skips over it. If there are a lot of words he doesn’t know, he’s skipping right and left. His vocabulary needs help if he’s to advance.
So, the next time, I had the idea of making flashcards with him. The selection of vocabulary would be from “The Giver,” a book Marco, Chris, Jordan, and I will be using with the twins in our tutoring. We’re trying to make a “plan of attack” to be more effective than if we had all been working alone.
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