While we have been concentrating on completing homework assignments during past sessions, today I addressed test preparation and note taking skills. Matthew has a test in history next week on China, and we discussed the need for him to take good notes and to study from the notes. To practice this skill , we viewed an assigned video on China, and I stopped the tape at strategic points to address what to write down during the presentation. Matthew very quickly recognized how to proceed and took good notes during the remainder of the video presentation . He then completed a short quiz on the material. In English class, he has been assigned reading from a short biographical sketch about Shakespeare and instructed to list 5 salient features about Shakespeare's life. As his teacher did not distribute the material and play until earlier today, Matthew had not yet had the opportunity to read the biographical information. Consequently, I spoke about the life of Shakespeare and placed notes on the whiteboard. Matthew made some annotations in his book along side the biographical sketch. He can incorporate our class notes into his homework assignment after he completes the reading. Matthew also has a long term reading project due in May. He has elected to read "Of Mice and Men". In order to prepare him for the testing in May, I distributed today a question and answer study guide on the novel and suggested he read Chapter 1 for next Monday and address the study guide questions on Chapter 1. We will review his work on the novel next Monday as well as work on studying for the history test on China by reviewing the history notes.