Bobby_TP_#16

Last Monday I tutored P.J. for the last time this session. We didn’t have any of the usual articles or homework to go over like we usually did, so we just read a story from his reading book about a boy, his grandfather, and a family of seals. P.J. read well, as usual, but still reading comprehension poses a problem. I stopped after every page to ask him comprehension questions about what he had read. He could usually answer the questions I asked based on information readily presented in the text, such as “What did Ben and his grandfather see at the harbor”, but questions like, “Why do you think Ben enjoys going to the harbor with his grandfather”, were more difficult for him to answer. For questions like the latter I tried to guide him toward answers based on questions about his own experience, such as “Do you have anything special you like to do with your parents/grandparents/relatives?” Sometimes instead of answering the question to the point of the story he would go on a tangent and I would have to reel him back in toward the topic. I think the key to helping him with his reading comprehension is teaching him how to think about what he’s reading to make inferences that could most likely be true. When asked to answer questions that don’t immediately correlate to what he’s just read he seems to make wild guesses.