Bobby_TP_#15

On Tuesday after class I had my weekly session with P.J. This time the session took place at CIES, which really benefitted me because I was feeling particularly restless that day and relished the opportunity to use a room with not one but two white boards and plenty of space to excitedly walk around. I’m feeling that P.J. and I are beginning to form a healthy rapport. Once we started he quickly got over his initial tutoring blues. We started by working on his homework. I believe this went smoother than the tests we usually cover because there it felt like less of a critique of something he’d already taken and was forced to review and more like a productive, useful activity. I also think my ability to walk around the room rather than remain stuck in the chair next to him helped make finishing the homework more exciting. I eagerly made use of the whiteboard to draw graphics to help him with answering questions. After we finished the homework we went over the mistakes he’d made in two mini-magazines. I stressed the difference between “thinking questions” such as what is the main idea and the author would most likely agree with and “info questions” that could be found by scanning the reading. I hope that by being able to identify a specific type of question he can relate that to a corresponding answer strategy rather than seeing all questions as equal obstacles. We made it through these with ease, and I think P.J. actually enjoyed his time.