Tue, Feb 10

Before I arrived I printed the 2nd TAKS Reading test for him to take today. Once I arrived, the session began with him notifying me that I wasn't giving him the right lessons for the test. He informed me that he saw the test and it was not the same as the TAKS test and not nearly as long. I informed him that I got the tests from the state website, and he let me know that the ones from the website were the wrong ones, and that it must be from the 5th grade test.  

We started working on his Monday homework where we left off, the Valentine's Day box. After 30 mintues we moved on to taking the 2006 April TAKS test for 3rd Grade. He once again let me know it was the wrong test, and that it was too long. I informed him that he will be taking this sample test, but he kept insisting that it was the wrong one. So, I took the test away from him, and told him to stop arguing with me about it. I let him know I will be informing his mother of his actions.

Next, we started on his homework. He finished a page and said he was done. I looked, and he had more pages to do. I made him to those pages, but each time he had more that he did not finish. On the final two pages he did complete them without me having to ask. 

I had him study his spelling words, writing them 3 times each. I asked him to say the words after each, and he informed me that he said them in his head. When I asked him how to pronounce tough, he mispronounced it "toe". This was the 2nd time I had to tell him how to pronounce tough.

We then proceeded to read, and he wanted to know how long he would be reading today. I told him that he should read for as long as he can. He asked if that meant that he could skip reading. I said not, that he should read for as long as he could. His reading lasted six minutes, but he asked me if he had been reading for twenty minutes. I let him know it was only six minutes, and he was satisfied with six minutes of reading.

As yesterday, friends came over to his distraction. What little interest he had in learning went away. We then worked for about 10 minutes on the Valentine box.

Teaching this day lasted a little over two and half hours.

Mon, Feb 9

I never know what to expect, and Monday was no exception. He was obviously mentally drained from earlier in the day with his regular schooling and then tutoring for an hour right after classes let out.  Then I come along.

He does start by letting me know that he is excited about the homework. This is because homework included creating an arts and crafts box. A Valentine box to be exact. I was skeptical, and waited until later to confirm. Still, I let him know that we had to go over the answers he got wrong from Saturday and Sunday. 

He quickly tuned me out and did not respond to my questions with much else other than "huh?" I took another tactic after that and asked some important questions. He asked me, huh, again and I simply stared at him expectantly. He eventually asked politely "what did you say?" to which I ask why he didn't answer the question. The stories he had read from the previous day were no longer in his head, so reviewing the answers was pointless. We moved on.

Visitors came and he could not keep his mind on his tasks. It got worse when the visitors started playing music and practicing on the piano. He did manage to study his spelling words, but got one word copied down wrong three times. 

He asked to play, but I let him know that he probably would not be playing with his friends becase he kept wasting time.

Eventually we got downstairs to work on the Valentine box, and that's when the 2nd set of friends came by. It was late, and I had been there for nearly 3 hours. I left.

Sun, Feb 8

I get there, and we quickly get to the 2nd material on the test. He puts on a good show of wanting to get started, but that quickly devolves into him telling me that it was boring. The story was not boring, and he later enjoyed reading it. In fact, he liked it so much he read the parts he liked again out loud. 

After reading I gave him one page of the test at a time. He keping asking how much there was left to do and how long before I leave. I refused to let him know either. My previous experience has shown giving him any information outside of the current topic would only supply him with ammunion to complain, distract, delay, and manipulate. 

I gave him a break and reviewed his answers. He did not do as well as I would have expected, given that he enjoyed the story so much. The answers he gave appreared, at first, to be from a consistantly different story.

After the break, I gave him the 3rd material to read. He delayed and attempted to distract me with questions and a desire to look things up on the computer or on the globe. After insisting that he read, he settled for a short period to reading. However, this lasted only a few minutes. 

I explained to him that passing the test was more important than any time in the past. Without passing the test he would be held back for a whole year. He would be the big kid in the class, and that might not be so fun without all his friends. It took about 10 minutes of explaining and answering his questions for him to realize that the test is important. How much of that understanding actually got into his head I do not know. 

He began to read the 3rd material again, but he started to drift from the task. I let him know that I knew that he did not care about the test, but he stopped me before I could finish. He began to read in ernest. I then gave him the test questions for the 3rd material. 

After finishing, I gave him a break so that I could examine the results. He got 7 answers out of 13 incorrect. The answers he did give seemed to indicate that he read the material but got some of the meaning of the words wrong. After looking back at his 2nd material, I could see that he does have a problem with understanding some words. He skips over the words he does not understand and does not attempt to figure out their meaning.  Either he has not developed a skill in reasoning out contextual definitions, or he is not interested in knowing what really happend in the story. He is satified with the gist of the story. 

I spent 2 1/2 hours getting him to do the test and going over the material.

Sat, Feb 7

I get there, and Josh immediately begins to turn things to his advantage. I tell him that I'm not ready. He takes the opportunity to eat and comes back before I'm ready for him. 

I find the sample tests that I was asked to give him. I print one from last years along with the asnwer key. Now I'm ready.

I give him the first part of the test, knowing that if he see the entire test at once, he'll complain endlessly. He also wants to know how long I'm going to be there and I don't say how long. I can tell he awaits the moment that I have to leave so that he can get back to his own activities.

I keep instructing him to read the material. Once he is done reading, I give him the test questions for the portions he just read. Eight questions and he got only one wrong. 

I am thinking to myself that he has no problem with comprehension. What I'm I doing there?

While I'm grading his work I give him the 2nd reading material. He starts complaining that his teacher does not want him to do this. He tells me that his mother wants him to do something else. He tried to explain all the different things he should be doing. 

I inform him that he as to read the material and that I was given instructions to do this. He said it was boring. He found little ways to distract himself and keep himself from doing anything but read. I finnally got him to read a portion of the 2nd material, but he quickly moved to sharpening his pencil and rolling around in his chair. 

It was an hour and a half by that time and I was fed up with his attempts at manipulating me. I don't him I was not going to be made a fool of and that he was going to cost his mother another $500. I made to leave, but he pleaded that he wanted to do the work. I've heard that tune before. So, I left.