Award-Winning Private Summer Tutoring in La Grange, IL

We met at the library, where I went through the student's research paper. I pointed out, using different colored pens, verb tense issues, grammar issues, abbreviation/contraction issues, and areas he was still missing information in. This is similar to what I had been doing via email, but this way, corrections are more on him. I went over the markings. We talked about him making a plan for final exams and the need to get the exam schedule as soon as he returns next week. We may meet again over the extended weekend but will certainly pick up next week. He is to email or text if he has any concerns with his paper.

The student and I talked about the structure of her courses, her homework load, and her typical routine in the evenings. She showed me her school's online platform that allows me access to her daily assignments and calendar. She is intelligent and can discuss exactly where she struggles and is keen to listen to my advice and make changes. We came up with strategies to eliminate distractions and to break up homework time into chunks split up by short breaks to refresh her attention. We also discussed an order for her to use when doing homework so she doesn't put off the most difficult subject until last. She and I went through her book bag to organize and discard of old assignments. We will continue to work on organizing her binders and notebooks so she won't lose/forget to turn in assignments. Before we meet next time, I've asked her to make her binders with dividers/folders/etc. The second student and I looked through his nightly homework and also discussed which subjects he takes at school and which are easier/harder for him. Together, we reviewed a math study guide for his test on Wednesday (long division). We didn't finish it, but plan to during our next session. Math is his best subject and he excels in long division, although he sometimes rushes himself. We then moved onto a reading comprehension worksheet with a short passage and several multiple choice questions. He read aloud and did pretty well; although, he also rushes himself in this subject. He stumbles over some words, but is disciplined and repeats himself until they are worked out rather than skipping over them or looking to me for the answer. As far as comprehension, he answered half the questions correctly on the first try, but all of them correctly upon closer consideration. We talked about strategies for finding textual evidence to help with comprehension. I think he will make quick progress.

At this session, the student and I reviewed her science chapter on cellular activity. After that, we spent the remainder of the session discussing time management and planning. I brought two 24" by 32" white boards. One we labeled with the days of the week, and we used different colored dry erase markers to plan the student's week. We included all her activities and scheduled days for her to clean her notebook and backpack. I also showed her how I use to-do lists and my calendar to manage my time.

Today we reviewed the Pythagorean Theorem and worked for the rest of the session on English, as she will be taking her final tomorrow. We discussed essay structure and paid close attention on writing strong introductions and conclusions. She has improved significantly over the past month. She believes she is now ready for the final.

Today, we continued with studying for the student's final exam next week. We defined a radius and a diameter, and worked on finding the area of a circle when given either a radius or a diameter. We also went over exponents, pie, and rounding. By the end of our session, he was able to define all the terms, give me the equation for the area of a circle, and knew how to find the area confidently.

This was a very productive session! We started with her Reconstruction essay. I could tell that the student had been put some time into it since our previous session. We worked on a paragraph about the Equal Rights Amendment, and I helped her improve the paper's organization. She and I then switched gears and began her Humanities homework for the following day, which was to write 2 poems in the style of other poems they'd read in class. After finishing this assignment, we returned to her Reconstruction essay and composed the introductory and conclusion paragraphs. By the end of the session, she had completed her paper; all that was left was to review the places where she had directly or indirectly quoted from sources and made sure those sources were cited.