Kaitlin's+Page

=February 8th 2011=

February 7th was my first tutoring session with Jonathan, a kindergartener. When Jonathan first showed up, he did not seem shy at all. However, as soon as we parted from his mom and got into the elevator he shut down. He would not talk to me all the way to the tutoring center, I have never had a problem with kids being shy before! Since I had never had to deal with this, I wasn't really sure what to do. That is fine. There is always a first for everything and we learn by doing. With each new experience we are better prepared. We sat down on the couch and I started asking questions about what he likes to do for what, his family, school, sports, etc. Jonathan sat (mostly stood) on the opposite end of the couch completely facing the other way. He started at the wall and if I asked him questions he would just shake his head. I was getting so nervous! Then I remembered that he loved video games, from when I talked on the phone with his mom a few days before. So I started talking to him about video cames, and he finally seemed interested. A couple more minutes in and he couldnt stop talking! See! You did it. I was very thankful for being able to break through to him. For the rest of the hour, we worked on this book I had brought in. The book had a little riddle about an animal, with empty squares for the answer to the riddle. The reader then has to take lettered tiles that came with the book and fill in the blanks with the correct answer. He really liked this! He kept having trouble with the word "frog", he would say f-r-w-g and some other ways. I kept going over that word with him. I then read a short story aloud to him. and him do a free retell for me at the end. At the end of the hour he did not want to leave! It was a good experience. Yes, sometimes the most challenging situations present the most rewarding feelings of accomplishment.

=February 10th 2011=

Today I was supposed to meet with LeeLanda, a fifth grade girl. Unfortunately we were unable to contact her, so we will begin meeting next week.

=February 15th 2011=

This was my second tutoring session with Jonathan. He seemed very excited to come! Unfortunately, he had just gotten his eyes dialated right before his session, so he was having a hard time seeeing which affected his reading abilities. When we first started, we began by reading another alphabet book with animals. The book was interactive, so he liked it. However, some of the words were far too advanced for a Kindergartener (ex: flamingo) so I had to do a lot of the reading for him. He had fun guessing the animals and then spelling them, though. After that, I had him try and read a story to me. He would read a few words, and then get frustrated because he could not see. Then I would read to him for a minute or so and then he would want to show me his reading again! It was nice that he actually wanted to show me his reading, but was just getting discouraged. Since he was having problems, we mostly worked on his spelling. I had him to free retells of short stories as well. It was great that you incorporated his reading (comprehension) through his retellings. Also, he practiced spelling "frog" and "Miss Kaitlin" while he was home, and he can spell both now! He was very proud. Jonathan also loves talking about video games. I told him that maybe next time he can bring in his Nintendo DS and we can play a phonics game I have for the last five or ten minutes of the session. He seemed excited about that!

=February 17th 2011=

Today was my first session with LeeLanda, a fifth grade girl. When I first met her, we talked about school, her family, friends, etc. for awhile. She seemed very open and was not shy at all. I honestly was not even sure what I was going to do with her. Before the session, I went to the bookstore and bought two copies of Island of the Blue Dolphins, and printed out a question packet for each of us. I remembered reading this book in fifth grade, and I loved it. So I brought it in case she was interested. Before we started, I asked her what books she enjoyed most. She said mysteries, Judy Moody books, and books written by Judy Blume. To see what reading level she was at, I had her read any story she wanted (she picked out a 3rd grade reading level picture book) and I did a miscue analysis. I was starting to think Island of the Blue Dolphins was not a good idea, since she seemed to struggle with some very basic words. However, I told her about the book I brought and said this is what we will do today, but if she really does not like it we can do something else next week. We took turns reading paragraphs, and I would stop and ask probing questions. When we were done, we filled out questions sheets and a vocabulary sheet over the first 2 chapters. Hey, Kaitlin, I have a great authentic vocabulary activity that LeeLanda can do now and incorporate into her reading practices. It is with word cards. I can discuss this with you on Thursday March 24th at the center before your session. I then asked if she wanted to do something different next week (the first chapters of this book are pretty dry) and she said "No! I want to Keep reading this one I like it!" So that made me very happy :)

=February 21st 2011=

Today we were supposed to do the Kindergarten assessments. However, due to his pupils being dilated the prior week this was postponed. Today, Jonathan and I focused on sight words. I decided to focus on this because when Jonathan reads, sometimes he just looks at the first letter of the word and then guesses even though I know he really knows the word. So, we went through an entire stack of Sight Word Cards for grades PreK-2nd. There were only about six or seven cards he did not know! He did very well with the word cards, and he gained confidence when he saw his pile of words that he "knew" grow taller and taller. The words that are at second grade level are in a different color, and when he saw these he was even more motivated to get the word correct, and then was so proud of himself when he got them right. When he saw I was impressed at some words, he would tell me where he learned them from. That is great that he is being word conscious in his learning. It sounds as if he is intrinsically motivated which includes interest and enjoyment as well as understanding the sense of purpose in learning to read new words, adding these to his sight vocabulary. After going through the deck, we decided to make up a baseball game dealing with sight words. First, I went through and picked out the words he had to use strategies to figure out. Then, I made a miniature baseball field on a piece of construction paper and had Jonathan color it however he wanted for a couple of minutes. I also made a little standing figure to be his game piece. Then, we went through the sight words and for every one he got, he got to move a base. He kept going around to see how many points he could score. He really liked this. Next week, I plan on doing Sight Word Bingo with him. I am delighted that you made a game out of this for him.

=February 24th 2011=

Today I met with LeeLanda for the second time. Her mom gave me a list of sight words she needs to work on that were given to her by her teacher. I wrote the words down and plan on making flashcards with them so we can work on them for a few minutes every lesson starting next week. Hopefully this will increase her sight word vocabulary and fluency with these specific words. We started out by me doing a read aloud with her. Throughout the story, I asked comprehension questions and then asked her to do a free retell of the story. She did well with this, and I was surprised because I was concerned she was not listening to me reading the story. After that, we read one more story while she decorated a binder cover for me to use for her assessments and worksheets. I will show you some authentic, engaging reading activities you can substitute for worksheets. :) This gave her a few more minutes to get into the reading mode. Afterwards, we read a couple more chapters of Island of the Blue Dolphins and did corresponding worksheets. When reading, we took turns reading paragraphs. I am still a bit concerned this book is too advanced for her. She is reading at a third grade reading level and this is a fifth grade level book. If she is engaged and reading with you at an instructional level, this is fine. I would have her work on independent reading as well. However, she is interested in the book so I not want to stop reading it with her. I just noticed at certain parts I ask her if she understand what the author means, and sometimes she does and sometimes I need to explain and give her examples. When she reads on her own, it is not very fluent so I was concerned she was not comprehending what she was reading. However, I addressed this by asking her to summarize after each time she read. She did well with this.

=﻿March 4th 2011=

We started the session by going over sight words she needs to learn for schools to help with her fluency. Afterwards, we read a book called, "Those Shoes". I grabbed this book at the library yesterday without even flipping through it. It ended up being about an African American boy who is left out at school because all of his friends have these super cool, very expensive new shoes. Unfortunatley, the boy's grandma cannot afford to buy these shoes for him. His teacher gives him a pair of shoes with cartoon characters on them and hes really embarrassed...

Obviously the story goes on, and it was a very good story actually. What was interesting was how LeeLanda brought up on her own how she could associate with the boy in the story. At first I don't think she really understood in what way he wanted the shoes, because she said, "I know how he feels because at school all of my friends have straight hair and I ask my mom all the time if she can give me straight hair like them but she said she cant. Except one time she straightened it for me and it stayed like that for only a week". Then later in the story she talked about how she said she wanted to do basketball at school but her mom said she didnt have money for it, but then eventually she was able to join. I didnt ask her why she was able to join later on...I didnt think it would have been appropriate.

Anyway, I am not sure if it was a good thing I read this story to her or not. I feel like it would be more appropriate to read to a person who is not in the same situation so they can learn to value what they have. However, she did not seem uneasy with the topic at all. In fact, at the end of the story I asked if she was done drawing (she was drawing something for me while I read to her) and she said "No I'm sorry I was just so into the story!" so she liked it. I just thought it was interesting how open she was about that topic. =﻿March 8th 2011= So for now I will tell you about my tutoring session with Jonathan I had today. I think I forgot to mention before that the second time I met with Jonathan I gave his mom a form to fill out if she wanted a scholarship to pay for Jonathan's tutoring (we give it to all of the parents, this was before I knew she was low-income) She said she would definetely be needing that, and I know for sure it is a low income family.

Today I spent the first five or ten minutes just chatting with him. He told me all about his birthday party (he was able to get him a present, yay!). I dont remember at all how we started talking about this, but somehow money came up. I think he told me he was going to the park after our session and then I said I wish I could go to the park....and for some reason he asked me if I get paid to teach him? I said no, and he asked if I had a job. I told him I did, and he told me where his mom works. He kept going on and on about how "sometimes she makes two hundred dollars. She takes other peoples shifts so she can make more money. She works lots and lots of hours". It was kind of strange to hear a five year old talking about an adult picking up shifts to make more money, and he seemed to be really fixated on it throughout the lesson. For example, we were doing this one book where he fills in letters where there is a blank, and then there are little questions on the page. One of the questions were "Circle in the type of place you live" and there was a fish bowl, a dog house, a bird cage, and a house. He looked at it and said, I live in a trailer. Then he started talking about his mom working so much again. I do not know what to say to him when these things come up.. =﻿March 10th 2011= Leelanda was about forty minutes late today, so we just read pictures books for fifteen minutes... =﻿March 17th 2011= Leelanda showed up very late so I only got to meet with her for about half an hour. Her dad had just gotten out of the hospital so she was running late...basically we just read chapters of Island of the Blue Dolphins and answered questions about it. On this day I learned about how much she loves basketball and is also involved in Girl Scouts.

=March 21st 2011=

I did not really notice up until two sessions ago with him about how much money plays a role in his life. When we were chatting he was telling me about his favorite show, "Ben Ten", which are also his favorite books to read. I asked him if he enjoys watching Ben Ten on TV after school, and he said "No, I used to but the bill was not paid so we have no cable now". It was shocking how open he was about it, and I was caught off guard. Kids will tell you absolutley anything though...

Also on this day, he told me about how he was going to his friends birthday party on sunday. He started talking about getting him a birthday present for him but he said his mom wasnt sure if he could. At the end of our session I always give him a sticker. When I gave him his sticker this time he asked if he could have a sheet of stickers to give to his friend for his birthday so that his mom wouldnt have to buy him a present. =﻿March 28th 2011= This week Jonathan and I worked on his sight words. At first, we were just going through the flashcards but he was too antsy. So i decided that for every word he said, he would jump while saying it. This helped a little bit but then he got tired. So then we decided to play a "game" where I made a miniature basketball court, and each of us had a net. I made a little basketball for him to move about the court. The ball started at the middle line, and for every Sight Word he got correct, he got to move one space closer to his net. If he got the word wrong, the ball moved towards my net. Jonathan LOVES basketball, so he was super excited to see the game with his name on it and everything. It also was very helpful because it caused him to really think about words he didnt know instead of just taking a guess, because he knew there was a consquence if he didnt get it right. However, he also wasnt discouraged by moving backwards it just gave him more motivation. We also made a score board and for every "basket" he made, he got a small sticker, so he got to fill his board up with stickers to show his mom.

Overall, Jonathan was really excited to learn today. He was engaged throughout the lesson and was happy to share what we did with his mom. :) =﻿April 4th 2011= Today I met with Jonathan. For some reason, he was extremely shy and was hiding his face in his coat the whole time when he mom was dropping him off. His mom said this is how he flirts with older people! When we got to the tutoring center he looked at me and said. "I noticed your hair". Which was so funny to me because the only person who noticed my hair was different was a 6 year old boy. Quite the observer!

Today we also worked on sight words using his basketball court like we did last week, he is so engaged when we do this and its so helpful at keeping him focused! But, before we did that I told him I was going to read him a story so he can just sit and relax. He wanted NOTHING to do with it, all he wanted to do was read it to me. I was nervous because he will only even attempt to read books with very large print, even though he is a very good reader. So when he opened the book I was nervous he would get discouraged and throw the lesson off. But, he got right to it and did awesome! He read about 500 words, maybe more and he did awesome at it. he was so proud of himself too. He read words like "angry, children, homework, schoolwork, Halloween" and many more words I thought he would struggle with. It was a big step for us because I never thought he would even think to try reading a book with that size font and have that many words on a page (some pages had about 80 words). He didnt finish the book, but it was still great!! =April 11th 2011= During this session with Jonathan, I had to deal with something I've never dealt with before! We were working on Jonathan's sight words using his flashcards, and the word "as" came up. He said the word "as", but had a funny look on his face and started giggling. I didnt ask why, because I already had an idea, but he said "thats almost like the swear word". I was sort of caught off guard, so I just told him that yes it was similar but we do not use those words here. He then asked me how to spell it, and I said I do not know. He kept saying I do, and was so fixated on trying to figure out how to spell the word. I was holding up new flashcards and he would not even look at them. He kept saying "a-s-e...a-s-n.." trying to spell it out. I kept telling him we are not here to learn those words. He then said, "Fine! But I know s-h-i-t!" Of course the other kindergartener and tutors in the room all whipped there heads and stared. It was a tough situation but I am sure this is just the beginning. I told him we are not allowed to spell bad words either, and he told me he could spell them just not say them. I tried to just move on, and sure enough the next word in the deck was "but". I skipped it because I didn't want to start this conversation all over again. I was nervous he would spell the words for his mom downstairs after the session, but he didnt. Thank goodness.

After the flashcards I had him read some more of the story he was reading last week. He did awesome, and he got some really hard words. After a couple of pages he lost interest though, which is typical for a six year old. I was still very impressed, and he was too! He made me count every single word he had read in the book so far...327 words! =April 18th 2011=

Today was my last session with Jonathan. I was so sad because I did not know that this was going to be my last session! I thought we had one more week to go :(

When Jonathan came in today he was very excited. He was spelling every word he passed, and his mom told me he was very into spelling lately. When he got upstairs he told me that his sister is a better speller than me, and she can spell anything (she is in second grade). I told him I was a pretty good speller, and he said nope she can spell anything. So I let him quiz me for a bit. We then worked on his sight words again, which he did better than ever at so I was glad to see much improvement. However, this did not hold his attention as well as it usually does. He got off to talking about swear words again and trying to spell them. After I got him off of that topic, we finished the cards and I gave him a sticker of a bear on it. He told me his mom had just bought him a bear, and it was from her work and that it cost 5 dollars. He then asked me if I had ever been to where his mom works, and I told him I had not. He said "thats because you dont have the key. My mom has the key. Except when she worked at the park she used to have a key for the park, but then she got fired so we cant go to the park anymore". Jonathan has a slight speech impairment and he was talking very quickly, so I could not understand everything he was saying. It seemed he was very fixated on where his mom works and money. I feel so bad because I do not think he realizes what he is saying sometimes, and he thinks it is normal. I dont think a six year old should know so much about his parents work and money issues.

I always give him a prize at the end of our session. Usually a small pencil or eraser. Today I told him to pick something out and he told me that he wants a pencil because he always gives them to his mom. It has happened before when he has asked if he could have a prize for him and his mom, and he asked for stickers to give to his friend for his birthday. I think this shows so much about Jonathan's personality and how much he thinks about and cares for other people. =﻿April 21st 2011= Looking back, I know I have learned so much from both of the students I tutored this semester. However, most of what I have been talking about in my previous posts have been about Jonathan, so I will focus on him. I think not knowing the background Jonathan came from is what made this experience even more valuable to me. I think if I had known the economic background and his family situation from the start, I would not have been as shocked as I was by it. And I mean shocked in a positive way, since I had to find ways to deal with it on the spot.

I did not find out until a few weeks in that Jonathan's family were just above or on the poverty line. What was an eye opener to me was that I found most of this out from Jonathan himself, and then was later confirmed. Jonathan is such a bright boy, and his sister is as well. Even though he spent so much time talking about money situations, it never seemed to bother him. The way he talked about it with me seemed more like he just wanted me to know about him. However, in the back of my mind I also feel that he must know there is struggling with making ends meet otherwise it would not be weighing so heavily on his mind. The way I see it is that it could be worse, and he does not seem to let it affect his happiness. Jonathan was always trying to find ways to help his mom. For example, he would always ask to get two pencils (prizes I give to him) because he always gives them to his mom and sister.

Aside from that, I have been so happy to see Jonathan actually improve. We have been using a deck of flashcards as an ongoing assessment. At the start, he had roughly half the deck as sight words. By the end, there were only one or two he still struggled with, but could get if he tried hard enough. Also, for the first 3/4 of the semster Jonathan would not even attempt to read books that did not have large print. By the last 3-4 weeks, there was one book I picked out just to read aloud to him and he just wanted to try and read it to me! I had no intentions on having him read one word to me, and I got nervous when he opened the book and saw the font size. He got right to it, and read 327 words! I was so proud of him, and he and he has been very proud of himself! Overall, I found this experience to be extremely valuable to me and I will never forget it. As a future teacher, I learned a great deal from tutoring one on one. Reading has always been a subject that made me nervous to teach, but being able to help a kindergartener improve has given me a boost of confidence.