Last night, I worked with David and Mathew. Both of them proved to me that they can polish off the book series that they select. While I was reviewing their math homework, they silently read a chapter and were ready to deal with tougher questions than simple summaries. The series is grade appropriate, but follows the same structure, characters, magic treehouse, adventures and resolution. They resemble the formulaic TV shows that receive such high followership, because they are so predictable.
So his mom and I decided to kick the level up and pick new books for David. Mom checked out several books and after reviewing them, I have selected two to present to David this afternoon. I will explain to David the reasons for a change and check for his understanding and assess his affective reaction. I hope our relationship will encourage him to read a +1 book. We will see how he responds to the introduction of a necessary change.
Like David, Mathew polished off a chapter while I was reviewing his math homework. He handled tougher questions with ease and wrote a six point character comparison rather than a summary. Mathew told me that his grade problems in class are vocabulary related. It appears that he has no system to seek help and practice repetition, in different ways (context), the words that he does not know. Apparently, these are not the same words from the assigned vocabulary list. They are random words in a reading assignment in class that he either never learned or has forgotten.
His mom and I discussed ways to address this that create opportunities to use the word more often than writing just one sentence. All of this depends upon Mathew's consistency in writing down every significant vocabulary word that caused him to misinterpret a reading.
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