Today I helped Andrew to better organize his room and desk in order to promote an improved study environment. He boxed up several items to take home in order to reduce clutter and organize things better. We discussed having future meetings to talk about developing computer skills and how they can be used to manage business problems.
Session Minutes
30
Minutes Student Attended
30
Lesson Comments
Andrew expressed to you that he wanted to reorganize his room rather than work on business concepts today. As we discussed, he really needs to work on several things to stay on track for 8th grade.
Cabo worked with me to complete HW from three classes: History, Spanish, and Math. He didn't have any English or Chemistry HW today.
Session Minutes
30
Minutes Student Attended
30
Lesson Comments
To my knowledge, he's completing everything successfully, and his teachers aren't sharing otherwise. I'm giving him space to do it on his own without pressuring him to show me, and it seems to be working...
Today I met Bobby on Microsoft Teams and we talked for over an hour. I am the new skills for business teacher, so today I focused on learning about what he already knows so that I could determine the best approach to help him advance from there. Bobby demonstrated significant knowledge of financial markets and some previous use of Microsoft Office Software. We plan to use Excel extensively going forward, and discussed ways that a business can reduce costs, improve profit margins, and increase revenues. We discussed the use of technical analysis to predict future stock price movements, and I offered to teach him some techniques.
Session Minutes
60
Minutes Student Attended
60
Lesson Comments
Bobby is an impressive young man who already demonstrates significant understanding of basic business concepts. We talked about Stocks, investing in businesses, and real estate. He was not using a computer for our "Teams" session today, so I recommended that he obtain one for our sessions going forward (he indicated he can get one). We discussed plans to learn more about using spreadsheets to model companies and to analyze data for business purposes. As we work together, I will integrate more strategies to build up his capabilities.
Today I met Andrew for the first time as his new instructor for study skills with a focus on business. We discussed his personal goals and interests and talked about ways to make a business improve by lowering costs or increasing sales. We also talked about learning Excel, PowerPoint, and Word since he will need to use them extensively.
Session Minutes
30
Minutes Student Attended
30
Lesson Comments
Andrew is a very nice young man who likes hockey very much. He wants to play hockey professionally and did not express an interest in an alternate career when I asked. I advised him that my goal is to help him learn skills he will need for High School and beyond. He mostly avoids eye contact and sometimes is resistant to changing subjects in discussion. I recommend that he has a computer with Microsoft Office available for future sessions.
I'm still getting his teachers aligned with posting his HW in a specific area of TEAMS, but he openly lied and said he didn't have other HW. Then, I found out later from Rosie that he actually did.
I"m going to speak in person to his teachers tomorrow to ensure we're all on the same page and know how and where to communicate his HW.
Cabo and I talked about things that worked and didn't work in the past when it came to his homework. We got a little game plan together to hopefully see a positive change this year.
Assignment
None
Session Minutes
30
Minutes Student Attended
30
Lesson Comments
He said he lacks motivation when it comes to doing HW, so I suggested maybe it's a matter of us understanding and making a connection with the personal benefits to HIM rather than just feeling like he "has to because adults said so". We'll see how this year goes...but I think having this time at the end of the day will help leave him on a positive note.
Cabo completed the research assigned for biology class. We reviewed study skill strategies we worked on throughout the school year including time management, organization, prioritization, highlighting, minimizing distractions and the need for a clean, uncluttered workspace.
Cabo had homework in biology, math, English and social studies. Teachers will now add homework directly onto Microsoft Team. Cabo completed his biology homework and half of the math problems. He worked on researching the Prime Minister of India. While on line together, Cabo took a break to organize the desk area saying that it is 'less ugly and more usable'.
Session Minutes
60
Minutes Student Attended
60
Lesson Comments
The new learning format is posing challenges such as keeping Cabo accountable with regard to keeping track of his work and staying on task. Cabo said he did not have his math book at home. However, it is not in his room at school.
While we have been concentrating on completing homework assignments during past sessions, today I addressed test preparation and note taking skills. Matthew has a test in history next week on China, and we discussed the need for him to take good notes and to study from the notes. To practice this skill , we viewed an assigned video on China, and I stopped the tape at strategic points to address what to write down during the presentation. Matthew very quickly recognized how to proceed and took good notes during the remainder of the video presentation . He then completed a short quiz on the material. In English class, he has been assigned reading from a short biographical sketch about Shakespeare and instructed to list 5 salient features about Shakespeare's life. As his teacher did not distribute the material and play until earlier today, Matthew had not yet had the opportunity to read the biographical information. Consequently, I spoke about the life of Shakespeare and placed notes on the whiteboard. Matthew made some annotations in his book along side the biographical sketch. He can incorporate our class notes into his homework assignment after he completes the reading. Matthew also has a long term reading project due in May. He has elected to read "Of Mice and Men". In order to prepare him for the testing in May, I distributed today a question and answer study guide on the novel and suggested he read Chapter 1 for next Monday and address the study guide questions on Chapter 1. We will review his work on the novel next Monday as well as work on studying for the history test on China by reviewing the history notes.
