Today we focused on how to use specific examples to prove a point and how to use detail to make examples more convincing. At the end of class, I wrote three sentences and asked him to rewrite them with more detail. We talked about how it would be better to write a sentence about how the sun reflects off of the ocean rather than to just say that the ocean looks beautiful.

We started with an example of a dolphin swimming at a speed of 8 km/hr and found an expression distance for a given time. Then we worked through several examples on the white board. We fished with a mini-review from the text.

Cal wrote a 5-paragraph essay for homework that I revised in our class today. We focused on how to make his argument more specific and logical. It is important that Cal comes up with a strong thesis that he can defend with specific examples. If he chooses a wishy-washy thesis, his writing will be unconvincing. Together, we drafted a new outline for the essay. He came up with a specific thesis and listed three different examples that could prove this thesis. We talked about how and why these examples proved his thesis. Whenever possible, I've urged Cal to be even more specific with his writing. He understands the structure of the essay; we now have to work on the sentence construction and the logic of his arguments.

Cal didn't get a chance to do his homework, so he did it at the beginning of our class. He wrote a paragraph using interrogative, imperative, declarative, and exclamatory sentences. I think he had fun writing this. Next, we discussed pronouns. Cal made a chart listing subjective, objective, and possessive pronouns. He also identified pronouns in sentences. At the end of class, we reviewed the structure of a five-paragraph essay. I told him that he should think of his introduction as an upside-down pyramid: start off broad and narrow-in on the thesis.

We started at the beginning of the Pre-Algebra Text, discussed numerical and variable statements, work several problems from the text. We took an example problem from the text about a dinosaur which ran 60 fet in one second. We converted this to mph, did the same for Secretariat's Belmont and Usayn Bolt's 100m time (Result Bolt - 23mph, Dinosaur 35mph and Secretariat 45mph. We started Order of Operations, with which Cal is familiar.

Cal finished the diagnostic test. He did quite well. He was a bit intimidated by long division with large numbers (e.g., 316,422 /322) but overall, he did well. We finished up by going over solutions to problems with which he had difficulty.

Today, Cal and I reviewed Simple and Complex Subjects, Simple and Complex Predicates, and Compound nouns and verbs. We also reviewed Simple Sentences and Compound Sentences. Call remembered some of the topics, but it was still good for him to review these basics. At the end of class we talked about Interrogative, Exclamatory, Declarative, and Imperative sentences. This was new for him. We discussed why it is important to use different tones in one's writing. Cal wrote an example for each of these types of sentences. For homework, he will write a short paragraph using these four different types of sentences.

We discussed how Cal felt about what he needed. I gave him a Pre-Algebra text and we started a diagnostic assessment.

It was a pleasure meeting Cal today. He's a terrific kid and easy to work with. I can tell that he has some insecurities about his writing. I told him that he is a good writer and he must trust that he's better than he thinks he is. I had him write a brief paragraph about his favorite activity. This allowed me to evaluate his writing process. It also allowed us to review some grammar and discuss how to vary sentence structure. I brought up an idea that I will continue to review with him: in his writing, he should always show and not tell. It is better to describe something rather than to just tell the reader flat out what to think or feel. We will work on grammar and some more structured writing assignments next week.

introduction
thesis statement/topic sentences

I thought we had more time to work on this exercise, but it turned out today was Cal's last day. We talked about how to write a literary analysis essay. Using the Cask of Amontillado, we first talked about how to develop ideas from the text and craft a solid thesis statement. I then had Cal write and introductory paragraph before we ran out of time.