Tutor Session: Feb. 25th

Time: 1.5 hours

Plan: For this lesson I planned on introducing the idea of a personality test to my students. They are both women and very interested in this type of topic. So, I thought working with personality tests would be an effective way of introducing them to more academic language.

I’m using the Myers-Briggs personality test. It is above their reading level but my hope is that by allowing them to work together their stress will be reduced and they will be able comprehend well enough to complete the test.  I will continue to use the “clink and clunk” strategy to encourage the students to evaluate their own understanding. Further, I will introduce the idea of a word study to help them fully understand new vocabulary. I will front load some key vocabulary but students will also be tasked with selecting three new words that they believe are important.

Actual: As I hoped, the students loved talking about personality and were even mildly excited to take the “test”. First, I asked some discussion questions about their own personality. This gave us the opportunity to brain storm some common personality vocab and for me to introduce some new key words.

Next, students went about taking the personality test. They answered questions that were easy and somewhat difficult (questions they had marked with a check mark). After every 25 questions of the test I set aside some time for students to discuss any problems (especially those questions they had marked with a minus). Also, during this time (and throughout the testing period) students felt free to discuss with their partner and to ask me questions.

Once the students finished and were given their result (a four letter Myers-Briggs personality profile), I gave them a paper that summarized their own personality. Students then read their profile and highlighted words/phrases that were difficult for them. After reading we discussed their results as well as any confusion over their personality profile.

In the last couple minutes of class I gave the students homework to select three new vocabulary words that they deemed important.

Changes: Again, I tried to cram too much material into 1.5 hours. The test took longer than I anticipated. So, the word study will have to wait until out next session.

Analysis: The personality test worked very well considering it was well above their English reading ability. Since they were interested in this topic their motivation to understand confusing language could not have been higher. At points, finding out what a phrase meant seemed like a life or death situation for them. This was great to see. Allowing them to help each other throughout the test was beneficial because it lowered their stress level. Instead of getting frustrated about a question they simply worked together to figure it out, or asked me for help. While my plan was to have a more structured test taking period, it turned into more of a free flowing session. I don’t believe this had any affect on the result.

Overall I think the session went well. Homework is always nice because it helps them to keep our sessions on their mind. Also, homework will give them some hint about what to expect during our next meeting. Next class we will finish the word study exercise.

Tutor Session: Feb. 6th 2014

Plan: (Update) I've added a second student to my tutoring session. The original student is Wubayheu, an adult ESL student from Ethiopia. The new student is also an adult ESL student. Her name is Cake and she is from Thailand. Both students have similar struggles with reading and similar interests.

For our first official session I wanted to, first, find an article that interested them. Secondly, I wanted to introduce a strategy to help them with their concentration. The article I chose is called "Birth Order: What it Means for Your Kids... and You". We read this article and implemented strategies such as "clink and clunk", "think aloud", and pair work both during and after reading.

Actual: Before the reading the article we had a short discussion about birth order and whether or not it has any effect on personality. Next, the two students worked together to make a list of personality traits and how they related to the different birth orders (oldest, middle, youngest).

After this activity I front-loaded some vocabulary that I thought might be challenging. I introduced the basics of each of the eight words (ex. word form, 1 or 2 synonyms) then had the students write sample sentences using some of the words.

While reading students  used the clink and clunk strategy to manage comprehension and paused every two paragraphs to discuss what they read with their partner and to ask any questions to clear up confusion. Finally, after reading the essay students were tasked with creating a set of quiz questions. Finally, we revisited our vocabulary words. By looking at the words in context we were able to clarify the meaning and use of the vocabulary.

Analysis: The lesson went fairly well. The students enjoyed the topic of the article and the discussion associated with it. My first reaction to the lesson is that there were simply too many steps. I picked out this reading activity from one of the online recourses. While each individual step was beneficial, the overall lesson was a bit tedious. It seemed like the students were tired of completing news tasks by the end. If I had to do it again I would focus on the strategies before and throughout the reading process. The post reading strategy could be used to begin the next class.