Kayla TS #10

Date/Time: October 1, 2016/11:05 pm - 12:05 pm
Location: Tutee's Home
Topic/Skill: Writing an Explanatory Essay/Planning
Feedback provided to tutee:

PJ did great today as always.  Just told him to continue what he's doing and good job.

Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned:


So today was supposed to be a continuation of last session.  Last session was a bit disorganized, so this time I came armed with a graphic organizer for him to plan out his essay.  We again, only got through the intro and first body paragraph, however, the quality is  much better.  The graphic organizer allowed him to see each paragraph broken down.  Although graphic organizers are used to jot down ideas, I told him to write the ideas in complete sentences so he can fully express his idea, and won't feel overwhelmed when he writes.  I also tried something new: I started timing him to give me a topic sentence, then three supporting details, then a conclusion (three separate timings).  I did this in hopes that he wouldn't ask me so many questions and have him come up with his own ideas.  Sometimes when he asks me questions (i.e. What should I say in this paragraph), I sometimes give him a good answer, but that is not good to do because the idea didn't come from him; it came from me.  So hopefully timing him made him come up with his own ideas, and then we can review them later.  Teaching/tutoring writing is difficult because you want to keep the integrity of the students' ideas and writing style, but you want to change it too.  Sometimes I'm not sure whether he should keep an idea because "I" don't think it's the best idea, however, he may can turn it into something good.  Hopefully I can find a balance, but this is my first time tutoring someone in writing too, so it is a little challenging.

Also, some people say that writing a 5 paragraph essay in 5th grade is a little challenging.  Even if they can do it, the content is usually not as good.  I do plan for PJ to write a 5 paragraph because in 6th grade they will start to expect it, and I just want to prepare him (I+1 remember).

Other than those few things, he did great today, and I think he's going to write a great essay.