A-day: Session 1

Affect:

Throughout my second session with Andrew, it was clear that both of our comfort levels were very high.  I believe that this is due in part to Andrew’s eagerness to learn.  He is very well behaved and willing to try any and all suggestions that I bring to his attention.  For instance, after giving him a warm up problem, finding the mean, median, mode, and range of a set of data, I realized that simple addition errors were being made because Andrew was doing all the work in his head.  With this in mind I made him show his work and double check his answer before he showed it to me.  Seeing the positive results of this problem solving method made Andrew even more excited to continue with his work.  And from then on, he worked his problems this way. 

Prior to this tutoring experience, I was nervous as to what to expect from my student behaviorally and my effectiveness with teaching a subject that am not as passionate about.  However, setting a standard form my tutee with rules and goals for achievement made our fist session a success and I am enjoying my tutoring experience with struggling math students.

Behavior:

In order to create a learning environment which is engaging for Andrew, monitoring behavior is essential.  In order to set a work pace which was beneficial for continuous learning, I adapted my behavior in our session to match or balance out Andrew’s.  When we first began our session, he was extremely focused.  However, being an extremely active and social student, Andrew needs time to share his feelings and recuperate in order to continue actively participating in the lesson.  Therefore, when I noticed him become fidgety, I allowed Andrew a three-five minute break during which he was permitted time to reflect on his day and what we had review so far.  After this short amount of time he was ready to go back to work.  Furthermore, incorporating various competitive activities including timed problem solving, memorization and review games, and matching terms and definitions (flashcards), keeps Andrew alert and willing to learn. 

Content:

As examined and explained during our class discussions, having effective communication with and understanding the values of one’s tutee can set the tone for the overall success of a tutoring session.  After speaking with Andrew I understand that he does value math and describes it as one of his favorite classes.  However the value of grades and test scores seems of lesser importance to my tutee.  I believe this may be due to the fact that this importance was not clearly communicated to Andrew by his teachers over the years.  He didn’t know why he was in intensive math courses or why he was receiving my assistance because he did not know his scores on the FCAT were technically poor.  Therefore, I took it upon myself to explain to Andrew the importance of good test scores and the rewards that will result.  Wanting to take P.E. rather than intensive math, Andrew and I came to the agreement that better test results lead to an exit from intensive math courses.  This seemed to motivate Andrew greatly and I hope that this academic goal/value remains at the forefront of his mind.