Certified Tutors From University of Mary Washington

The student and I prepared for a test involving integration by parts. The integration by parts went by smoothly, we practiced a handful of those problems. We went over the tic tac toe method (he called it something else), and I think he has a solid grasp on how to solve those.

As the student did not have any homework for state testing week, we worked on strengthening his algebra skills. I wrote random problems involving "solving for x" using division, subtraction, addition, and multiplication. He had to find the answer without any help or prompting from me and did very well. He only missed one or two problems. He was trying very hard to get the right answers. He has learned a lot. Next time we will work on word problems.

Today was my last session with the student . I had a lot of fun with her and I'll miss having our sessions. We reviewed her pre-calc homework, which involved figuring out writing equations for geometric sequences and figuring out how to use the sequence function on the calculator. We worked through all the problems together. She has improved greatly in her ability to solve challenging math problems on her own--she has been great at showing her work and catching minor calculation errors. She has been a pleasure to have as a student, and I wish her the best!

This afternoon, the student and I started off by reading three sections from a nonfiction book about storms. He then wrote on his reading log that he enjoyed the section about lightning because of the pictures. Next, he completed workbook pages related to suffixes (-ful, -less, and -ly). He enjoyed creating words with new meanings such as careful. Next, he worked on pages related to the five senses and seasons of the year. Finally, he read one of his favorite new books about FLY GUY. He did a great job working on each task.

Outside of quiz review, the primary concept in this session was linear programming. The student understood the concept, but seemed a little unsure on how to get the equations out of the word problem. Once we worked that through, she grasped the concept quite well. Next we worked on solving inequalities both by graphing and algebra. She has the rest of the quiz review to work on tonight, and the quiz tomorrow, so hopefully we will have news of progress in the next session.

We worked on strategies for outlining history chapters to improve comprehension and retention. I showed her a method of viewing history as a narrative and looking for the "Who?" "What?" "Where?" "When?" and "Why?" of notable historical moments as a way to identify the important details that may appear later on a test. Our plan is to keep working on ways to get ahead of the study guide by reading and interacting with the material outside of class long before the guide comes out as a way to avoid having to cram a couple days before the exam. There was some improvement on the test last week (from a 40 to a 60), and I assured her we could make bigger strides now that we're working on a completely fresh unit. I feel that she will continue to see improvement if she follows our strategies.