Crystal had trouble focusing today, which made the reading comprehension questions much more difficult. We reviewed to the techniques for vocabulary and reading, which she remembered, and then worked on a practice section. (We will have completed all the grammar/reading sections of the 1st practice test in the book by the time I leave.) It was an excellent opportunity to talk about focus and commitment. She hasn't put in enough time on the vocab and reading drills I've asked her to do. She says she'll get really focused after the summer session at Palm Beach State is over. When she really focuses, she's excellent, but she needs to focus on not going with her first response, but rather working through the process of elimination.
We started working on the reading comprehension section today. Crystal has been working on the vocab, but needs to put more effort into learning the rules of grammar and doing her daily reading exercises. I am convinced that she will do very well on the test if she puts in the work. We worked our way through the first practice section, and she did pretty well, but needs to focus on the process of elimination and recognizing the details of the answers.
We spent approximately half the session working through the Algebra Review in the text and the rest of the time getting started in Section 4 of Practice Test 1.
Assignment
None.
Session Minutes
60
Minutes Student Attended
60
Lesson Comments
Crystal is quite sharp and has excellent recall. She is a hard worker. Her only difficult area is making the translation from the words of the problem to a mathematical expression that can be used to solve it. Practice will help!
After doing a little check in on her progress outside of class, it became clear that Crystal needs to put in more of an effort. Granted, the test isn't until October, but she needs to get cracking on the vocab and working on her reading now. We had a good discussion about what she needs to do, and she re-committed to putting in a daily effort. On the bright side, she continues to improve in the grammar practice questions, and although she doesn't have the rules mastered, she is doing a great job of spotting issues and eliminating wrong answers. For the most part, I'm very pleased with her progress thus far.
We spent the first half of the session working our way together through the arithmetic and algebra 1 review sections of the text. In the second had, we completed all but one of the remaining problems (# 20) from last week's effort with Practice Test 1, Section 2.
Assignment
Try # 20 from Section 2, Practice Test 1.
Session Minutes
60
Minutes Student Attended
60
Lesson Comments
Crystal has a sharp mind and excellent recall. Our objectives should be twofold: (1.) improved time management and speed, and (2.) improved recognition of what the problem is asking. I'm very confident that practice will help us reach those goals.
We discussed Crystal's goals re college and the SAT I. We agreed that trying a math section from an SAT Practice Test would be a good "test run" and that's what we did. Crystal worked through Section 2 of Practice Test Number one in the text.
Assignment
None.
Session Minutes
60
Minutes Student Attended
60
Lesson Comments
Crystal kept herself involved in the session. After trying the section of the practice test, she realized that she's forgotten some of the basics of algebra and geometry. We finished the session by addressing that she found troublesome. We'll continue there next session and structure our sessions along reviewing the basics.
We finished up going over the rules of grammar Crystal has to learn. She hadn't started working on her vocabulary yet, but I strongly encouraged her to do so this coming week. We then started working on the first type of question, and I was very pleased with her first effort. She easily adjusted to the process of elimination, and when she made mistakes, she kept meticulous notes to avoid repeating them. I'm very pleased with her effort so far.
Crystal seems to be a solid student and is prepared to do the work to score well. She has a couple of months and has committed to working on the vocab and reading articles every day. We spent today going over the first half of the rules of grammar, and she seemed to have little problem. She's a meticulous notetaker and did a great job.
