Michael is motivated to learn. He is very willing to work on basic mathematical tasks but is having some trouble with them. After working on factors and multiples, we began working with fractions. He still has some trouble finding the GCF, which is making reducing fractions difficult. He is getting better with practice. I hope to move on the adding and subtracting fractions by the end of the week.

Michael and I had a very interesting discussion about religion as a prelude to reading Inherit The Wind. He is a very thoughtful guy, and I thought his focus and participation in the discussion were quite strong. We then read the short story "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" so I could get an idea of his reading skills. It's clearly very difficult for him, but he works his way through the material and is able to understand and follow the details of the story. I do think the language barrier adds to his difficulty with reading.

I noticed that Michael had trouble with GCF and prime factorization on the diagnostic test. Today we spent some time working on those concepts. He struggled to find the factors of a number, even with a calculator. He seems to know most of the multiplication facts for smaller numbers but struggles with larger numbers. This is hurting him even though he has a calculator because trying to find factors of a number such as 72 is almost impossible if you don't know that 2x36=72 or that 12x6=72. I think I will need to work with him on this.

I subbed an etra 45 minutes with Michael, during which we covered the lesson I had planned today. We had a good discussion about why he's here and what his goals are. The goal of this class is to work on Michael's comprehension, analytical and communication skills. I plan to use multiple sources for this class including: poetry, plays, novels, periodicals and film. He says his goal is to get himself ready for college and I want to focus on creating his own opinions and being able to communicate them. We had a very good discussion about the poem and Michael was very receptive to the ideas I put forth. As I see it, Michael has two obstacles to overcome, the first is his dyslexia and trouble with writing, and the second is the language barrier. He clearly struggled at times to find the right words to express what he was thinking. In the second class, we had a very interesting and thorough discussion about current events and the differing perspectives of Europeans and Americans. I think he got a lot out of the discussion and is willing to take chances in this class. I stressed the importance of creating his own ideas and opinions and the need to support any and all statements he makes. I'm looking forward to working with him.

I met with Michael twice today (once for 60 minutes and once for 30 minutes). Michael had trouble completing the diagnostic test: Fractions, Factors, Multiples, etc. I plan to try to find out what type of coursework he will be taking in college so that I can cover the deficiencies that will be necessary for college.