Tyndale Tutoring Experience (I just need a place to record this information for later)
I had my first tutoring experience at Tyndale on Monday, October 20, 2008. I was working with cycle 1 elementary students (grades 1 and 2), an hour with an English group, and then an hour with a French group (well Anglophones learning in French, immersion or completely in French). The teacher or facilitator I was working with was named Amanda.
I help a boy, sulakstan, work on a story for his journal. The hardest part for me here was knowing how much to expect from him and how picky to me. As an example, while he was writing in his journal, he would write some of his letters with capitals although he was not beginning a new sentence. I was not sure whether he should already know the capitals were only for the beginning of a sentence or whether I should just encourage the fact that he was writing in the first place.
In the French half, i was working with a girl, Destiny, with her math homework. She had to count by 5s and then count by 10s. For some reason she was fine counting 6, 7, 8, 9, till 10 or 20 or 30 but it was the 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 (especially five that she had trouble with) She would count, for example, 31, 32, 33 ,34 ,36 and then would write down 36. When I asked if she was sure, she would say Oh oh oh 37! When I said try again, she would say 34? There was something about the 5s... I tried to bring this to her attention, and it seemed to go better from there. I was trying to get her to see the pattern in counting by 5s (will end in either a 0 or a 5) but she still had to count each time to get to the next number, which I guess is okay for her age level. I'm not sure exactly wha tto expect of children and how hard to push them or how proud of their accomplishments I should be. I guess i would need to know the children better. She could see the pattern in counting by 10s tho and had no trouble here until we got to 100. after 100 she couldn't quite see the pattern just repeating. I think it was her first time going past 100 though so i'm sure this is normal. Also, counting by 5s in French, she did not know what came after quatrevingt dix-neuf, but she knew what came after ninety-nine in English. (I just thought this point was interesting). Kids in the classroom also got to participate in a special activity or go to the math or reading corner once finished their homework. I went to the math corner and saw children working with geometry. More than anything, most kids were just having fun, they were not understanding the questions asked in the game, and some were not trying to. Thye were just being goofy. I don't necessarily think this is a bad thing, they had been in school for over 8 or 9 hours at this point, so I don't think more can be expected. BUT for the ones who were trying to do the problems and work on the questions, there was not enough guidance in the math corner. I worked with a few children on the problems and they understood. It must be hard for a teacher to meet all the needs of students in the classroom.
Okay gotta go to class
I had my first tutoring experience at Tyndale on Monday, October 20, 2008. I was working with cycle 1 elementary students (grades 1 and 2), an hour with an English group, and then an hour with a French group (well Anglophones learning in French, immersion or completely in French). The teacher or facilitator I was working with was named Amanda.
I help a boy, sulakstan, work on a story for his journal. The hardest part for me here was knowing how much to expect from him and how picky to me. As an example, while he was writing in his journal, he would write some of his letters with capitals although he was not beginning a new sentence. I was not sure whether he should already know the capitals were only for the beginning of a sentence or whether I should just encourage the fact that he was writing in the first place.
In the French half, i was working with a girl, Destiny, with her math homework. She had to count by 5s and then count by 10s. For some reason she was fine counting 6, 7, 8, 9, till 10 or 20 or 30 but it was the 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 (especially five that she had trouble with) She would count, for example, 31, 32, 33 ,34 ,36 and then would write down 36. When I asked if she was sure, she would say Oh oh oh 37! When I said try again, she would say 34? There was something about the 5s... I tried to bring this to her attention, and it seemed to go better from there. I was trying to get her to see the pattern in counting by 5s (will end in either a 0 or a 5) but she still had to count each time to get to the next number, which I guess is okay for her age level. I'm not sure exactly wha tto expect of children and how hard to push them or how proud of their accomplishments I should be. I guess i would need to know the children better. She could see the pattern in counting by 10s tho and had no trouble here until we got to 100. after 100 she couldn't quite see the pattern just repeating. I think it was her first time going past 100 though so i'm sure this is normal. Also, counting by 5s in French, she did not know what came after quatrevingt dix-neuf, but she knew what came after ninety-nine in English. (I just thought this point was interesting). Kids in the classroom also got to participate in a special activity or go to the math or reading corner once finished their homework. I went to the math corner and saw children working with geometry. More than anything, most kids were just having fun, they were not understanding the questions asked in the game, and some were not trying to. Thye were just being goofy. I don't necessarily think this is a bad thing, they had been in school for over 8 or 9 hours at this point, so I don't think more can be expected. BUT for the ones who were trying to do the problems and work on the questions, there was not enough guidance in the math corner. I worked with a few children on the problems and they understood. It must be hard for a teacher to meet all the needs of students in the classroom.
Okay gotta go to class
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