![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fabrisseA very kind friend has given me two more months of paid livejournal. Thank you ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
svendra.
A couple of months back, I was wondering about how to find guidance. For certain types of Christians, it's easy -- they even have bracelets with the initials for "What Would Jesus Do?" I'm not ready for that yet, and the question that I came up with was "What Would MacGyver Do?"
In that spirit, I'm now a tutor. I'm trying to teach reading comprehension and basic English to six different kids with six different levels.
The most difficult one for me to work with is the one who doesn't seem to be trying. One of the people at the Boys and Girls Club actually took me aside last week and told me that he was stupid -- not developmentally challenged -- stupid. However, she also told me that he's a brilliant swimmer. He can pick up anything athletic easily, but at the age of 13 (7th grade) his favorite book is The Cat in the Hat because it's one of the few he can read to himself. Anyone who can come up with a kinetic way to help him access language and reading, please let me know.
The next one down in the difficulty scale is a beautiful six year old boy. He's dyslexic. At least according to this week's Time Magazine, he's dyslexic. He loves Spiderman comics and can tell long stories about the pictures in front of him (not necessarily Spiderman, but also from his book about Sharks or Clifford the big red dog). Last week I spent an entire hour trying to get him to hear that Shark and fish had the "sh" in common. He can't recognize letters that are made with different strokes than the ones he's used to. My challenge at the moment is trying to convince his parents that I'm not the right person to work with him; he needs someone who's been trained.
The high school senior wants to do better on her SATs and is willing to work for it. She's a lifeguard at the center and wants to become a doctor.
I have a ten year old girl who can't do her multiplication tables. But when I wrote out six times six, I watched her factor it out and come up with the right answer. She's been held back twice because her math is so bad and because her teachers claim she can't read. But she borrowed a children's book from me that's set in Imperial Rome. She sounded out the latin words, looked them up in the glossary when I told her where it was, and asked pertinent questions about the passage. So my question is, why do her teachers hold her back and tell her mother that she's dumb, when the 13 year old who can't read above Dr. Seuss level has been promoted to 7th grade? I've recommended multiplication rock; she immediately asked if having the tunes might help her remember them. Yeah, she's real dumb. (What's the emoticon for eye-rolling?)
The other two children are the same age and grade (12 going on 13, 6th grade) and their parents want them to get into the local exam schools. The girl was in tears because she's terrified of the test. The boy doesn't care about it but knows that his Mom wants him to go to this high school.
They're both bright and funny. They both think. She was given a summer reading list that included a book about the Civil War. Her teachers didn't suggest any books that might help the students understand the war better and gave no background on the conflict. The questions she asks. Did they have hospitals then? Why were they fighting? Which states were Confederate? Why would a ten year-old boy think it was time to get a job to help the family? I grew up in a Southern household. I knew that I'd had family on both sides of the conflict probably before I knew what the conflict was called. But she's working blind. When I told her that my father had photocopied some pages that had a timeline of the war and a map marking all the major battles, she lit up.
The books on the boy's summer reading list are more socially oriented. He's bright, but he doesn't ask many questions. He'll answer the ones I ask, and he surprised his mother by stating that the world he'd been reading about (she was now reading the book) wasn't a good world. Note that I mentioned his mother. She's trying to be part of his sessions.
I'm glad that she's interested in what he's doing, but having her hover in the background and very obviously listen in on our conversations (and silences) is nerve-wracking. When we were going over his writing assignment, we diagrammed a sentence. I asked him about prepositional phrases, and he didn't know the answer. I gave him some time then prompted him with a leading question (we'd done some of this the week before). He still didn't know the answer, so we went over it again. She kept looking like she wanted to get up and give the answer herself. Any suggestions about how to keep her out (tactfully), would be welcomed.
I'm enjoying this. It's nice to be thinking about the future.
I've also applied for a particular job that I really want. It's administrative (for the most part), for a local university's Center for International Studies. The main reason that I feel so passionate about it, is that their main focus is human rights. Please cross your fingers or perform any good luck rituals you have that I get this job. It sounds perfect for me, and, frankly, I need the money.
svendra.A couple of months back, I was wondering about how to find guidance. For certain types of Christians, it's easy -- they even have bracelets with the initials for "What Would Jesus Do?" I'm not ready for that yet, and the question that I came up with was "What Would MacGyver Do?"
In that spirit, I'm now a tutor. I'm trying to teach reading comprehension and basic English to six different kids with six different levels.
The most difficult one for me to work with is the one who doesn't seem to be trying. One of the people at the Boys and Girls Club actually took me aside last week and told me that he was stupid -- not developmentally challenged -- stupid. However, she also told me that he's a brilliant swimmer. He can pick up anything athletic easily, but at the age of 13 (7th grade) his favorite book is The Cat in the Hat because it's one of the few he can read to himself. Anyone who can come up with a kinetic way to help him access language and reading, please let me know.
The next one down in the difficulty scale is a beautiful six year old boy. He's dyslexic. At least according to this week's Time Magazine, he's dyslexic. He loves Spiderman comics and can tell long stories about the pictures in front of him (not necessarily Spiderman, but also from his book about Sharks or Clifford the big red dog). Last week I spent an entire hour trying to get him to hear that Shark and fish had the "sh" in common. He can't recognize letters that are made with different strokes than the ones he's used to. My challenge at the moment is trying to convince his parents that I'm not the right person to work with him; he needs someone who's been trained.
The high school senior wants to do better on her SATs and is willing to work for it. She's a lifeguard at the center and wants to become a doctor.
I have a ten year old girl who can't do her multiplication tables. But when I wrote out six times six, I watched her factor it out and come up with the right answer. She's been held back twice because her math is so bad and because her teachers claim she can't read. But she borrowed a children's book from me that's set in Imperial Rome. She sounded out the latin words, looked them up in the glossary when I told her where it was, and asked pertinent questions about the passage. So my question is, why do her teachers hold her back and tell her mother that she's dumb, when the 13 year old who can't read above Dr. Seuss level has been promoted to 7th grade? I've recommended multiplication rock; she immediately asked if having the tunes might help her remember them. Yeah, she's real dumb. (What's the emoticon for eye-rolling?)
The other two children are the same age and grade (12 going on 13, 6th grade) and their parents want them to get into the local exam schools. The girl was in tears because she's terrified of the test. The boy doesn't care about it but knows that his Mom wants him to go to this high school.
They're both bright and funny. They both think. She was given a summer reading list that included a book about the Civil War. Her teachers didn't suggest any books that might help the students understand the war better and gave no background on the conflict. The questions she asks. Did they have hospitals then? Why were they fighting? Which states were Confederate? Why would a ten year-old boy think it was time to get a job to help the family? I grew up in a Southern household. I knew that I'd had family on both sides of the conflict probably before I knew what the conflict was called. But she's working blind. When I told her that my father had photocopied some pages that had a timeline of the war and a map marking all the major battles, she lit up.
The books on the boy's summer reading list are more socially oriented. He's bright, but he doesn't ask many questions. He'll answer the ones I ask, and he surprised his mother by stating that the world he'd been reading about (she was now reading the book) wasn't a good world. Note that I mentioned his mother. She's trying to be part of his sessions.
I'm glad that she's interested in what he's doing, but having her hover in the background and very obviously listen in on our conversations (and silences) is nerve-wracking. When we were going over his writing assignment, we diagrammed a sentence. I asked him about prepositional phrases, and he didn't know the answer. I gave him some time then prompted him with a leading question (we'd done some of this the week before). He still didn't know the answer, so we went over it again. She kept looking like she wanted to get up and give the answer herself. Any suggestions about how to keep her out (tactfully), would be welcomed.
I'm enjoying this. It's nice to be thinking about the future.
I've also applied for a particular job that I really want. It's administrative (for the most part), for a local university's Center for International Studies. The main reason that I feel so passionate about it, is that their main focus is human rights. Please cross your fingers or perform any good luck rituals you have that I get this job. It sounds perfect for me, and, frankly, I need the money.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2003-07-23 11:08 am (UTC)How do you get to teach kids? What do you have to do to prepare for something like that?
no subject
Date: 2003-07-23 11:27 am (UTC)What sorts of things does he have problems with? Phonics, phonemic awareness, word recognitions? The only general things I can think of is doing readers theater with him (first you read to him and have him act it out and keep doing it until he's reading his lines (one or all of the charactes) while you read narration [or switch off]). If he's having problems remembering words, have him act out the words. I came across a musical chairs version to word recognition, but he might be too old.
I'll try to keep looking, but it'll be easier if I knew what his problems were.
no subject
Date: 2003-07-23 11:29 am (UTC)Good luck on getting the job, too!
no subject
Date: 2003-07-23 11:41 am (UTC)After meeting each of the kids for the first time and giving them similar assignments for the following week (to allow me to assess their writing strengths, for all but the 6 year old), I've been thinking about books that might interest them, new approaches to old problems. I try to let them tell me what they think they need most and work from their, so it's not like I'm doing lesson plans or anything.
All I know is that these kids need someone who believes that they can do it and who listens to what they want.
How you doin?
no subject
Date: 2003-07-23 11:42 am (UTC)Hugs
no subject
Date: 2003-07-23 11:48 am (UTC)Personal note. I've started your story, but I was distracted by food poisoning (or something icky) over the weekend. Now I'm back to tutoring mode, but you're at the top of my list for Friday. Sorry. I meant to email you yesterday to let you know what was happening, then got distracted.
The fact that I have to keep turning off the computer when the thunderstorms start isn't helping either*g*
Love
no subject
Date: 2003-07-23 11:53 am (UTC)The older child seems to be OK on the phonemes, but can't seem to make the words make sense. He CAN sound out, but doesn't link things together very well. I can't really figure out what's going through his mind. When I told him last week that I found it hard to communicate with him because he wouldn't meet my eyes, he immediately asked if he could leave early to swim. This week, he made the effort to look at me when I was speaking and, even better, to meet my eyes when HE was speaking. He was able to read age appropriate passages to himself, but he couldn't answer the questions about them, unless I read the questions out loud. Then he did much better.
Guidance is welcome. Begged for, even.
no subject
Date: 2003-07-23 02:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-07-23 04:42 pm (UTC)At the moment, I have no plans at all, so let me know what you want to do. As long as it's cheap.
no subject
Date: 2003-07-23 08:46 pm (UTC)I've thought about you so much this week. I'm so happy to read this. This is just a wonderful outlook and I'm really very thrilled to see it.
I will pray for you re: the job.
Wow, Fabi. You seem to be doing well and I'm so happy for you!
no subject
Date: 2003-07-24 04:14 am (UTC)I've been thinking about doing big-sister type of mentoring for a few years now. My schedule hasn't really permitted it, but I would still like to get involved.
How you doin?
Oh fine. Work is fairly boring--a state I loathe. Although it's good to have a job. I just got through reading "Devil in the White City" which is about the Chicago's World Fair of 1893. It was fairly interesting--I'm going to write a more lengthy review in LJ later on.
I've been brushing up on my algebra because I intend to take a CLEPs exam to get out of taking math at NYU. I expect to take it in the next month or so.
I guess that's pretty much it. How are thing going with you?
MacGyver in the classroom
Date: 2003-07-24 09:27 am (UTC)He'd probably build an engine that rearranges gum wrappers into letters and words, or some sort of pulsing light that stimulates mental acumen.
I feel for your dilema. I hate kinetic teaching. Do you think that his reading would pick up with other senses like reading along with a story on tape or something visually stimulating like the classics in comics? Would changing the subject matter help? Otherwise, go with acting out a story or doing acting exercises with the text to move it into his body and not just his mind. Even though this works your strengths and acting experience, bleah, situations like that suck. Take out the creative pedagogical shotgun and hope something hits the mark.
Best of luck with the job and yur students. I can see you enjoying this which is something you deserve.
no subject
Date: 2003-07-24 09:28 am (UTC)Thank you for your prayers. It means a lot to me.
Love.
Re: MacGyver in the classroom
Date: 2003-07-24 09:33 am (UTC)See, I'll never be good enough to live up to his example. *Sob*
Ok, now that I'm done with the drama,*g* Story on tape... Hadn't thought of that, it would give him something to practice with when I'm not there. And acting out the story might work, if I can get him over his shyness. Thank you.
Smooches, and what's up with you, ducks?
no subject
Date: 2003-07-24 09:36 am (UTC)Good luck on the algebra. I CLEPed out of it, lo, these many years ago.
Don't worry about your schedule. If you're in a big city (as I know you are), the Boys and Girls clubs are open long hours and seven days a week. They'll work around you to a certain extent.
Hugs
Re: MacGyver in the classroom
Date: 2003-07-24 10:10 am (UTC)Commedia, preparations for war, grappling a virus, King Lear and moving to Arlington. My narcissistic journal covers most of these.
I should make plans to stop by and be terrorized by you and your dwelling-mates sometime. Haven't been by since New Year's day which was quite... ...entertaining.
Re: MacGyver in the classroom
Date: 2003-07-24 05:56 pm (UTC)Persuading kids
Date: 2003-09-03 11:46 am (UTC)My son, on the other hand, has nothing wrong with him except terminal laziness. He took an age to start reading (having taken a lot longer to walk and talk than the other kids did - in fact, without the Teletubbies starting on TV encouraging him to talk back, I doubt he'd be talking now at 8.). I've had books in the house for my kids since the first one was born, and we read with them all the time, so it wasn't as if he was being ignored. Then along came the Harry Potter film. He got interested and by the age of 7 could read the first book with very little help.
The upshot of this is this. If you can find books or pamphlets or anything that deal with the subject that this boy is interested in, you may kickstart something. It's worked in my experience. Forget trying to get him to read what *you* want him to read (that's the generic you sense *g*), get him to read what he wants. Then be available, but for the most part, leave him to do it himself. If he wants to know how to improve his sporting ability from the words of a famous coach, he'll have to get off his ass to do it. Assuming he's not dyslexic and that hasn't been missed (which as you will know will need a different sort of coaching), this should work. It's got to be worth a try.
DM