Bobby_TP_#5

Yesterday I had a tutoring session with P.J. that Sarah would be observing. The atmosphere was definitely a little tense, and I could tell that P.J. was particularly opposed to doing something when I walking in that evening. Whether it was homework or something else that was going on I can’t know for certain. I had been loaned three Minecraft manuals from Ms. Kim to look through and use as comprehensive reading material, but I figured P.J. already knew how to do all the things in those books. I thought it might be more intrinsically motivating if he could read something that was still Minecraft related but had a little bit more room for comprehension questions, so I had the idea of using some fan fiction. I found a story that I thought would be good and prayed that he would like it. Granted, I took a risk using the fan fiction. It was hard finding a text that fit his reading level exactly, but I tried to find the closest thing. When I returned his manuals and said that I’d borrowed them to look at for the lesson, the look on his face could only have been interpreted as a dejected, “damn, man, what the f**k.” We started working on his homework, which practiced the use of your and you’re, and there, their, and they’re. He did very well on this section and didn't seem to have any problems at all. The short reading at the end about elephants seemed to give him some trouble though. He had difficulty answering the questions and I think that was a little bit discouraging and frustrating for him. After we finished the homework I showed him the fan fiction story. He was not amused. He was deterred by its falsehood, claiming that it’s not real because the things in the story don’t happen in the game. I tried to tell him that someone was just using their imagination with the game, but he wasn't convinced of its worth. On top of his unwillingness to concede to the idea of the story, the vocabulary was slightly above his level. After the elephant fiasco he was already burnt out enough. After salvaging what I could from the fan fiction story we spent a few minutes talking so I could attempt to rebuild rapport. This had definitely been the worst tutoring session thus far.