Before I started working with Mathew, his mother expressed the
importance of benchmark testing and asked if I would focus more on FCAT.
Mathew seemed like he didn't want to be
tutored today. His focus wasn’t in his school work today. Nevertheless, we
started as if it were a regular session and began by going over his homework
packet provided by the school. Seeing as it is FCAT season his homework was
laid out like a sample reading passage. I had him re-read the story and
periodically asked him comprehension questions. After the reading we answered
the questions that followed plus a writing sample.
Next, we did more FCAT reading prep plus more writing samples because
I felt that he needed more attention in that area as far as expressing himself
in a full sentence.
As part of usual routine, I had Mathew read from a book of his
choice. To facilitate our routine and advance his skill I decided to start a
chapter book of his choice. We read for about 20 min and I asked him questions
when he finished the chapter. I think this will be a good activity for us so
that I can see his improvement from beginning to end of the book.
Until next time
B
FCAT is definitely not a fun thing to teach nor tutor in. It's really hard to gain the focus and attention of a child through FCAT, but seeing that he really likes you I think that's great! I think him re-reading and reading out loud is definitely helping him and allows him to self-correct. And I love the chapter book idea because you're creating an intensive/extensive reading environment for him and he will have intrinsic motivation to want to read the book, rather than you assigning him a book to read continuously over time. Keep up the great work!
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