LDRS 1016 Sample Work

Craig McKenzie

Grimes, LDRS 1016

Field Notes Final Reflection

Team Based Tutoring

            Now ending my field experience, it brings many feelings as I reflect back on my field notes. My background in education came from two sources: going to school myself, and tutoring “gifted and talented” middle school students while in high school. I chose to tutor for my field experience because I thought it would be the most familiar setting. However, while tutoring GT students, my job was to challenge and stretch the curriculum to challenge students who were to otherwise bored. On the other hand, at Gilbert Linkous, I tutored a fifth grader during homework club. From my first day at GLE, I really had no idea what to expect coming from a similar experience. The experience was, though, far from what I was similar to in a GT tutoring setting.

            My first day at tutoring was, lets just say, difficult. We tutors were put in the library, which was really a normal sized classroom with shelves of books, at tables. Two of us sat at each table and the students walked in after school and chose their tutor. Many of the tutors had worked there before and it was discouraging as students ran in running to their usual tutor. The last few stragglers came into the library and I finally got to meet the student I would be tutoring! My student was Isaac: a ten year old, fifth grade student at GLE. It was a lot of work to get Isaac to get his homework out. Starting with this first day, our usual conversation went something like this:

Me: “Hello, Isaac! How was your day at school? What do you have for us to work on today?”

Isaac: “Nothing. My teacher didn’t give us any homework”

Me: “Lets see your agenda then. Maybe we can read a book together instead.”

Isaac: “I don’t want to read. All I have is a test in [fill in subject here] on Friday. I already studied for that, though.”

Me: “Let me quiz you so I can see that you’re prepared.”

Isaac: “Actually, I want to work on math homework instead.”

            Working with Isaac on that first day was frustrating. I really got the feeling that he didn’t want to be there and had no motivation to do his homework. He was also very good at getting distracted. He was an expert at avoiding doing work and directing his attention back towards his homework was a big task. At the same time, during the first few weeks, his comments were at points rude and disrespectful. At the same time though, I found a passion of Isaac’s: animals and in general science. I decided to build upon that.

I knew I had a lot of work to do. I had to learn how to make this hour a week of time I had with Isaac most effective. I knew I had to adapt and find ways to get him to enjoy what he was learning more. It was hard for me though because it seemed that in the first few weeks, I would get a little over half way through the hour, and become exhausted.

During the third week of tutoring, Emma Ramsis and I went to GLE tot tutor together. At this point, I was getting better at keeping Isaacs attention and began to understand what made him tick. I still didn’t enjoy his attitude toward education and sometimes wished he’d keep his comments to himself. Honestly, it is true that kids are likely those humans that are most brutally honest. If they don’t like something, they will tell you. It was keeping these negative comments to a minimum that made this tutoring work. Emma and I would tutor Isaac together, taking turns so when he got sick of one of us, we could quickly switch to keep his attention. Sometimes, Isaac benefited from having explained things to him in different ways. At other times, it was two positive attitudes rubbing off on him that seemed to make his day a bit better. It was hard though in the middle weeks. At times Emma and I were frustrated but never fully gave up. We had to be strict at times and Isaac eventually learned that we were there for his benefit.

If I could explain the last few times tutoring in one word, it would be positivity. It began with Emma’s rule. Isaac was no longer allowed to say “everything” when we asked what he didn’t understand about a problem, math in particular. He had to say a specific part of the problem he didn’t understand instead. We began identifying his strengths, in science and math in particular.  He knew so much about science and found it really cool that was he was learning in fifth grade was something that college students still used. We got it down to a quick routine. Isaac would come into the room and have five minutes to unpack his bag and open his agenda. He would get to pick what we were to work on first. If he didn’t pick, we would. We would then work diligently together to solve math problems, memorize spelling for his weekly quiz, fill in the blacks on his English homework, and more.

As much as I disliked tutoring in the beginning, it became something which I enjoyed, and yes even looked forward too. I really liked being there for someone who needed help. It was nice to see someone warm up to you over time and begin to trust you. Additionally, while I never knew Isaacs exact grades, I feel pretty confident that his understanding of the material improved. I feel as if I did my best and made an impact. This experience, while taxing at first, was a great application and test of previous experience and very successful.