Rowan and I spent most of class reviewing his homework. He completed an English and a Reading passage for homework, however, he rushed through them so we ended up re-doing the questions together. Rowan was very distracted today, but when he focused, he was able to correct his answers. We discussed introductory and concluding sentences, and how paragraphs and passages are put together effectively. Also, I kept reminding Rowan that he should not be randomly guessing on reading passages. The answers are on the page; he just needs to go to the text and find them. In general, I will keep urging him to slow down and to always return to the text.

At Rowan's request, we went back and reviewed every problem on Practice Test One. We progressed as far as problem # 20 (There are 60 problems in the math section of the test.)

Rowan had a difficult time focusing today, but at the beginning of our session he did tell me that he had a lot on his mind and was feeling distracted. He continues to request lots of homework, which shows a commitment to improving. We corrected his homework, which allowed us to review grammar topics and rhetorical strategies. Rowan is often able to correct his mistakes when he is focusing. In the English section, he should particularly watch out for wordy sentences--as we've reviewed, concise is always best. We looked at a couple of short reading passages, but we weren't able to look at a long passage, as Rowan's attention began to wane at the end. I've assigned him some English and Reading homework for the weekend. He apologized for his lack of focus throughout our session, but I told him that he shouldn't feel discouraged. I know that he is capable of doing quite well when he is feeling more focused and I'm sure we will be productive next week.

Rowan was incredibly focused today. We corrected his homework, which went well, but together decided that he would re-do one English passage that he rushed. This will be his homework for our next session. We spent half of our session reviewing rhetorical skills questions in the English section that ask how paragraphs, passages, and sentences are effectively put together. We also looked at Except/Least/Not questions, which can be confusing because of their wording. Rowan should rephrase these question for himself so that he is answering them correctly. Rowan has a good sense of how sentences and paragraphs should be logically put together. He must remember that each paragraph within a passage has its own main idea and everything within that paragraph must remain consistent. We ended our session by looking at mini reading passages. This allowed us to practice some skills before advancing to the full text. Rowan read the questions first and then read the passages, looking for the answers as he read. I then had him answer the questions in his own words before looking at the answer choices. This allows him to trust his instincts and engage in the text so that he is not easily distracted by answer choices. His reading comprehension is quite good; I will continue to find ways to engage him directly in the text so that he doesn't lose focus.

We started going over missed problems from the test that Rowan took last session and made significant progress.

It was a pleasure meeting Rowan. He remained attentive and focused throughout our first session. He has an awareness about his tendency to lose focus and he seemed very motivated to stay on track. He told me repeatedly that he wanted to be assigned plenty of homework, which shows a wonderful willingness to work. We began our session by looking at some basic grammar topics. We discussed verb/noun agreement, pronoun/noun agreement, and prepositional phrases. He has a good sense of proper grammar, but reviewing these rules allows him to have a firmer grasp on the material. I'm also having Rowan keep notes during our sessions so that he can go back and review what we've covered on his own time. We ended our session by looking at one humanities reading passage. We reviewed that he must read for the Main Idea and that he must remain active as he reads. I told him that he should behave like a detective as he reads: he should look closely for clues and answers in the text. He responded well to this. I look forward to working with Rowan in the days ahead.

We discussed test-taking strategies for the math portion of the ACT. We used the remainder of the time working through the math section of the practice test in the text.

Last Day Conversation
Watch George Carlin

Final Exam

Review all prayers from the Amidah learned this year. Review for final. Discussion with Rowan about the place of Judaism and spirituality in our lives.