Heather's+Page


 * Session # 1**

My first tutoring secession went really well. I started with introducing myself and then we went into the interest inventory interview. Through the interview I was able to find out some information about his schoolwork, his home life and what interest he has. With this information I can choose books that he will be interested in. I did have a lot of trouble with keeping his attention. He tried to make every excuse not to sit down and read with me. He admitted that he hates to read which was discouraging to me but I know that I have to just find things that are interesting to him. After the interest interview I conducted a Burke interview. Through this I learned that Anthony does not like to read. I also learned that when he comes to a word he does not know he says he sounds it out. This correlates to what I saw when I read a book with him. He often sounds out words and usually gets them right. He considers himself and average reader but does not like to read so I am going to try and make sure he is interested in the books I choose for him.

This session went great. Anthony seemed a lot more comfortable with me and more willing to participate. YEP, children need to warm up to us. I am glad he feels comfortable with you. We started by reading a G level book just so I could see if a G leveled book would be good to use in a running record. After reading it I think it is a good level to start Anthony with. Then we read a book together called //Smash! Crash!// It was a little hard for him and I had to help him a lot but he really enjoyed the book so it was still a success. Then I let him draw his own car (like the ones in the book) and write a brief description the car he created. He wrote " My name is giant wheels he runs over things! he is giant and he hass spikes his truck has a dragon. I helped him with spelling when he asked but I did not correct anything because I wanted to see what his writing is like. I am planning on doing a running record during the next session on a G leveled book. I also want to do more writing with him. I think things are going well and I am excited to continue working with Anthony!
 * Session # 2**

This week was a little more frustrating then the last two. Anthony cut his tongue at school so he was having trouble reading. Even though we come prepared to teach, sometimes we have to go with COP-change of plans. ;) Keep in mind when you are teaching in the classroom, dependent on what you are trying to accomplish you may need to veer from your original course. It is fine to return later if this means that you will gain a more authentic assessment. I performed a running record on him but we had to stop ¾ of the way into it because he said he could not read anymore and refused to read. We took a little brake and then we continued to read. I had him retell the Gingerbread story to me to see where his comprehension level was. Just as a head's up when assessing comprehension, it is best to select a less popular story. Fairy tales, popular children's books, etc. may taint the data, because the student may have already been exposed to the text. He understood most of the story well. The running record on the other hand did not go so well. He often appealed for help and I would prompt him to try it but in the end I would have to tell him the word. It was a G level book so I think that I am going to try an E or F leveled book. Gotcha, so Anthony is at an independent level with F, whereas he is at an instructional level with G. Great work identifying this! :) I asked him at the end of the lesson if we could try harder for the next lesson because we did not get a lot done. He agreed so I am hopeful that the next session will be better. I am looking forward to hearing about what writing activities you are doing with Anthony. Thanks, and keep up the great work.
 * Session # 3**

This lesson was also frustrating. I choose easier books for Anthony this time and he still did not want to read them. I think it is a confidence problem. I know he can read some of the frequent words because he will read them on one page and then not read that same word on another page, so I think he says he cant read because he is afraid of not being able to read it. He also asked me if he could bring one of his own books in with him next time. I think it is because he knows he can read the books he has at home. In order to make him feel comfortable and confident when reading I am going to give him level d books to read to build up his confidence and then start gradually giving him harder books. He also has problems with directionality. He gets caught up in a picture and will skip lines and pages when he reads. I just bought a Popsicle stick and put an eye at the end of it so that he can use it to read word by word. The one thing that did go well was the predator book I brought with me. I had to read it too him because it was too hard for him but he really enjoyed it and could remember details when I asked him to retell me some of the characteristics of the animals. I think I just need to build up his confidence and go over some high frequency words with him.
 * Session # 4**

This lesson went really well. I was nervous that it would not be successful because the last couple of session had not gone as planned but things went a lot better. Anthony brought his own books with him this time. He brought a nonfiction lion book with him that he had already read but said it was a hard book. He wanted to read it anyway because he really likes wild life books. We also worked on a couple of strategies. First I made flashcards that had words on them and asked if he could predict the word on the card. It was impossible to predict the word without any clues. Then I showed him that he could figure the word out if I wrote a sentence. So he had to use context to figure out the word. He did really well with the activity. I also gave him words with similar letters in them like hop and hit and had him show me where the differences were because he often gets words mixed up. This also went really well.
 * Session # 5 **

**Session # 6** This week went really well. We went outside because it was so nice which put him in a good mood and more willing to work with me. I had him read me a book that I had brought for him. First I gave him an easier book to read to build his confidence a little and then I gave him a more instructional book. He had only a couple of problems but it did take us a long time to get through the book. He has been having problems with directionality so I made him a Popsicle stick with a googely eye on the end so that he could point to each word as he reads so that he does not get distracted by the pictures as much. I also had him read me a list of high frequency words to see which ones he did not know because I have noticed that he is not good with word recognition especially high frequency words. He did okay with the list but I could tell that I need to work with him on the high frequency words. I had previously made flashcards for him with the words on them and we went through some of the words together and made a pile of words he knew and did not know. He has more flashcards in the pile of words he did know so that encouraged him to try the other words. I gave him the flashcards to take home with him because he said he really liked them and wanted to take them home. I think the next lesson will focus on high frequency words again so that he can be more comfortable with the words when he reads.

This week went really well. We went through some high frequency words again and practiced using them in sentences. I would write a sentence out and he would have to fill in the blank with the appropriate word that made sense with the sentence. We also read through a predator book because he is really interested in wild animals. I had him make up his own predator and write a couple of sentences describing it and he drew a picture of the predator. He really enjoyed making his own predator, which made him write more than he usually does. I also did not have to prompt him on what to write because he was excited to write about it. I also started reading The Diary of a Wimpy Kid to him because he really likes those books but he cannot read them yet. Next week I am going to do some rhyming activities with him to get him to see some patterns in words. This week was challenging but Anthony did really well. I worked on rhyming with him for most of the lesson. I would give him words and he would make a list of the words that rhymed with them. He could only think of a few words for each one so I gave him letters and had him spell out the word and them use different first letters to make new words. This helped him a lot because he would just try different letters and sound them out to see if they made rhyming words. I also did an activity called tic tat toe rhyming where there were one set of rhyming words that he had to find and draw a line through them just like tic tact toe. This made him more willing to participate because it was like a game. I also read more of the Diary of a wimpy kid with him because he wanted to hear more of the story from the last time that we read.
 * Session # 7**
 * Session # 8**

This week was our last session and it went really well. I did a lot of reading too him and had him retell me the story. He was very interested in The Diary of a Wimpy Kid so he was able to recall a lot. He was also making predictions by himself about the text. He really enjoys the pictures in the text and used the pictures to make predictions. He also read through a book that he brought with him. He said that he only wanted to read it because it was easy and short. His Idea of an easy book is short but the words in the text gave him come problems. He was a lot more engaged in the text when he thought it was easy. He was very confident and actually tried the words that he did not know. Overall I think the tutoring went well and I think the best thing that happened is that he gained more confidence to read.
 * Session # 9**