Kayla TS#13

Date/Time: October 14, 2016/4:30 pm - 5:30 pm
Location: Tutee's Home
Topic/Skill: Writing an Explanatory Essay/Revising
Feedback provided to tutee:

PJ really needs to focus on revising (expanding and improving) his essay first before editing (fixing grammatical, punctuation, capitalization, etc. errors) when he revises/edits his essay next session.  He also needs to be  more independent in his thinking.  I made sure to express this to PJ also stating that I'll help clarification questions but not content questions (i.e. "Can I say this...? or "I don't really know what to put here," and then I make some suggestions).  This is all in preparation for next session.

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

 I had originally planned for PJ to revise and edit his essay, and then compare my comments/suggestions to his own comments/suggestions/corrections.  This will still happen (next session), but it did not happen today.  I figured I needed to go over the difference between revising and editing.  The first thing I did was explain the differences, and to check PJs comprehension, I had him read aloud a short story (about 7 sentences) and then correct it twice.  The first correction to be done was revision.  He had a hard time with this as he wanted to correct all the grammar and punctuation first.  He also wasn't really sure what was wrong with it content wise.  I stressed to him that supporting details were missing.  Then I had him go back and only edit the story.  He was able to spot some mistakes which is good.  I then went over a few more mistakes.  This portion took up a lot of time as a lot of explaining was needed, and he would occasionally get off track.  Then, I had him read his essay aloud.  I was going to tell him my suggestions, but I figured he needed to do his own revising and editing first.  Also, we didn't have much time left, and I know PJ will need some time for this process.  I have revision and editing worksheets and questions printed for him to help guide him through this process.  I believe that PJ can do it if he puts his mind to it and really strives to put some heart into the essay.