Burns_TP2

This was too much fun to be short.  I first met with David's mom to discuss her assessment.  Her heart's desire is that David read an entire book, chapter, by chapter to the end.  David is 9 and in the 4th grade.

We began with David completing his math homework in very short order, with one minor error that he self-corrected.  David then selected two books that interested him.  Mrs. Hong brought over a copy of a book named Sacajawea as a suggestion.  David politely demurred as Mom left.  I asked David if we could thumb through Sacajawea to see why his mom liked it so much.

As we did, he told the story because he had seen the movie, but the book contained cool marginal points that we discussed.  David became more inquisitive toward the end of the book when Lewis and Clark reached the Columbia River.  He asked if that was Alaska and I was able to show him how it was the border between Oregon and Washington, how cool Astoria is, the difference in the sand between Oregon's gold and Washington's gray.  His eyes lit up as the dashed line came to life and he asked future and outcome oriented questions. Took 10 minutes.  Great idea, Mom, especially when the movie left out interesting details the book had for David.

Then we turned to his book about a sabretooth tiger.  He read with inflection and good intonation.   He very rarely stumbled and quickly self-corrected.  Occasionally he read too fast which was a blessing and a curse.  The curse was short words like I became I'll, etc.; but the blessing was his apparent interest in what would happen next.  The chapter was about a search for a missing friend.  It ended with four children in bathing suits in a tree house, in the woods and it was snowing.

We shared some excitement and speculation about how bathing suits and snow might turn out. This future orientation will, I believe, keep him reading.  He has a habit of reading a chapter and that is it for that book.  This time he is looking forward to chapter two.

There is a list of questions that he answers in a specific order as a written exercise as he reads a book.  Usually he writes short summaries of one or two chapters and that is it.  This time, I asked him about the anticipatory questions that come after the summary and we discussed.  Then I read the question, "Do any of the characters remind you of anyone like a friend or yourself?"  He smiled and nodded.  I asked, "Who?"  He said "Me" and I asked, "which one and why."

Then he told me I would have to wait, because that was question number three and he would answer that next time.  He smiled, because he knew I was interested.  He was almost teasing me.  So I said, "Okay, but you are going to remember to tell me next time, right?" and he smiled and said, "yes."

Then he wrote a full page of an expository summary instead of his usual half page.  He wrote with smaller letters, so he really said much more.  His mother was happy and, perhaps, a bit surprised.  She was also happy we thumbed through Sacajawea from beginning to end and he learned five new things from that book.  David seemed proud and happy.  I was surprised because it had been so much fun.

My plan for next time is to review his summary notes and try to recreate that anticipation of what happens next.  I think that encouraging his curiosity about future events may be the key to keeping him going through an entire book.

Sorry this is so long, but it was the fastest 80 minutes that I have experienced in a long time and we were having fun doing things he often does not do.  His mom was excited and I think that between David, his mom and a little help from me, we may figure out a way to sustain his interest in reading.