Thursday, February 28th, at 6:30pm
Jared, Wonmi, and I had the
opportunity to observe a tutoring session with our child tutee, P.J. This
session was beneficial in helping us understand P.J. as a student, while also teaching
us useful techniques that will aid us in our one-on-one tutoring sessions. We
learned that our tutee attends 4th grade at Desoto Trail Elementary
School and enjoys expository subjects like history and science.
The tutoring session began with a
homework assignment from school. The tutor instructed the tutee to read the
article out loud before answering the comprehension questions that followed.
P.J. read slowly, making sure to sound out each word he struggled with. If P.J.
mispronounced a word, the tutor was quick to correct him.
Once the homework assignment was
complete, the tutor transitioned into more reading comprehension practice. The
tutor presented a five minute, interactive video that defined and discussed
what a main idea is and how to find it in a passage. Afterwards, the tutor had P.J.
read several paragraphs from the textbook to practice distinguishing the main
idea. P.J. did a great job of picking up the main idea the more they practiced.
I noticed the tutor provided minimal
positive reinforcement when working with the tutee. This seemed to affect P.J.’s
energy level during the session, which could easily be improved if there was
more positive feedback. I learned how important it is to have patience and to
allow the tutee to finish speaking before responding. It is also vital to constantly check that
the tutee is grasping the concepts or terminology that we are discussing that
day.
Michaella, all of the observations you pointed out in the last paragraph was exactly how I felt that day also! I'm glad to know that I wasn't the only one! I also noticed the lack of eye contact between the tutee and the student, and will focus on trying my best to keep these observations in mind when we meet him! :)
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