Brandon worked on his Discussion 2 for College Composition which asked him to provide an opinion on the complexities of memory and truth in relation to storytelling. After posting this response in his classroom discussion board, Brandon began work on his Narrative Draft (due Sunday). We created an outline for this assignment and Brandon began writing.
We started the session working through Brandon's management class. Even though he eventually dropped it, it should be noted that this is a class he very easily could have done. Yes, there's reading, but if he breaks the reading up into sections it wouldn't be a problem. I showed him how to find information in the book relevant to his discussion topics, but he chose not to do anything about it. We then shifted focus toward his composition class, where he started working one of his discussion prompts.
Brandon and I read the Week 1 lecture notes for his College Composition course, and I had Brandon take notes on the material to ensure retention. Afterwards, Brandon started the Week 1 Discussion Topic "Writing about "That Which Haunts Us."
Brandon and I started reading Chapter 1 of his "Managing in a Diverse and Changing World" class, getting through about 5-6 pages of text. Afterwards, Brandon and I watched the course's audio component, and then we printed out and reviewed the Lecture Materials.
Assignment
Read Chapters 1 and 3 of Managing Text
Session Minutes
90
Minutes Student Attended
90
Lesson Comments
We didn't make much progress today; reading 5-10 pages of text took up most of our time. I told Brandon that he will have to start reading the text outside of class if he wants to make the most out of our class time. Otherwise' all we will have time do is read.
Brandon had a little trouble getting focused in the morning, but once he got to work he did a really solid job. He worked on Algebra in the morning and composition in the afternoon. His answer for his discussion post question was thorough and well thought out.
Intro to Classes/organizing activities/Discussion Boards
Lesson Outline
Intro to Classes
organizing activities
Discussion boards
Assignment
finish discussion board posts
Session Minutes
120
Minutes Student Attended
120
Lesson Comments
Brandon was understandably distracted today and had a very hard time focusing on one thing. He was more interested in checking out each of his classes than actually doing any work. I emphasized the concept of "focused structure" as the key to getting through the work, and that is something Brandon is going to have to really work on. He spent about 40 minutes watching the videos for his management class, and the rest of the time on his Composition class, reading an article and then responding to the prompt on the discussion board. But he didn't finish and didn't work on it at all between then and today's session. We talked about the danger of procrastinating and leaving things unfinished. I predict he'll start to see the logic of that as the week continues.
1)Brandon accessed his courses via Northeastern's Blackboard online program. For every course, Brandon read the syllabus, Instructor Announcements, and got a feel for the general class structure. 3) After reviewing the class structure, Brandon looked at the Week 1 lesson outlines for each class. 4) Brandon and I worked on completing the Week 1 requirements for his College Composition Course.
Assignment
N/A
Session Minutes
90
Minutes Student Attended
90
Lesson Comments
Brandon kept on task and did a good job of getting through College Composition's Week 1 course readings and audio.
