I haven't had time to post recently. Last week especially was rather hectic. It was the first week of summer school, and both Yosuke and I were overwhelmed by the fast pace. Miki's sister is also taking a summer class - English I - and I helped her out substantially as well. I found out that she has a different tutor; I was only helping out because her regular tutor was on vacation. However, her mother has asked me to continue helping her occasionally after I finish tutoring Miki, so it may become a regular thing.
I'm enjoying the extra work and the challenges. There is one downside: Yosuke's Algebra 2 teacher is neither intelligent nor helpful. It would be manageable if she was one of the two, but the combination is lethal. Her online course is riddled with both errors and technical problems, and she is of little help resolving these. I don't have time for any specifics at the moment, but maybe I'll be able to post a list of her shameful failures later. I'm happy to say, though, that I'm enjoying the summer courses overall.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Algebra II Nostalgia
Yosuke's summer Algebra II class is nostalgic; it reminds me of when I took Algebra II over the summer. It was the summer before my freshman year at high school. I took it over three weeks at Duke University through the TiP program. At the time, it felt helplessly over my head. I honestly believed that I had reached my "math limit" and was incapable of learning the material. In the end, though, I managed to grasp the concepts, and I even scored 97 on the EOC.
Now I see myself in Yosuke, who was able to yawn his way through his regular math classes. He's struggling with Algebra II, and I can even sense a bit of hopelessness in him. I'm glad I'm here to help him, though, so he doesn't have to struggle by himself.
...
Well, he has to struggle by himself a little. We spent a long time working on this problem, and he's close to figuring it out. I left before we finished, asking him to try and complete it on his own.
Here is the problem:
1. You scored 92 and 90 on the first two tests. There is one more test. What range of grades should you get on the third test for your average to be between 88 and 93?
2. Repeat #1, only this time the third test counts twice as much as the other tests.
Yosuke worked out #1 with a bit of help from me. I recognized that the second problem is more difficult, but I didn't think he would have as much trouble with it as he did. I gave him several hints, but finally I just had to leave him to work it out on his own. I want to help him, but I can't just tell him the answer, so I had to leave him struggling and feeling helpless. This is going to be a rough summer for both of us!
Now I see myself in Yosuke, who was able to yawn his way through his regular math classes. He's struggling with Algebra II, and I can even sense a bit of hopelessness in him. I'm glad I'm here to help him, though, so he doesn't have to struggle by himself.
...
Well, he has to struggle by himself a little. We spent a long time working on this problem, and he's close to figuring it out. I left before we finished, asking him to try and complete it on his own.
Here is the problem:
1. You scored 92 and 90 on the first two tests. There is one more test. What range of grades should you get on the third test for your average to be between 88 and 93?
2. Repeat #1, only this time the third test counts twice as much as the other tests.
Yosuke worked out #1 with a bit of help from me. I recognized that the second problem is more difficult, but I didn't think he would have as much trouble with it as he did. I gave him several hints, but finally I just had to leave him to work it out on his own. I want to help him, but I can't just tell him the answer, so I had to leave him struggling and feeling helpless. This is going to be a rough summer for both of us!
Friday, June 13, 2008
A Fine Balance
I had a good day yesterday. We've had several rough sessions recently, but yesterday Yosuke seemed able to think and learn.
This is good news for me because I find myself unable to teach him when he can't think. When he doesn't think, "teaching" would consist of just telling him the answers, just explaining the author's purpose and meaning. That's both dishonest (he should be doing the work himself) and unproductive (he can't really absorb that much information). When he's thinking, though, I'm happy to give him some of the answers. I don't expect him to understand 100% of the material by himself.
On the other hand, my presence seems superfluous if he understands everything already without my hints and directing questions.
Yesterday was the perfect mix of understanding and confusion that allowed me to smoothly lead him to comprehension. It was one of the (sadly rare) tutoring sessions where I could walk away with the feeling that I had clearly made a difference in Yosuke's academic success.
This is good news for me because I find myself unable to teach him when he can't think. When he doesn't think, "teaching" would consist of just telling him the answers, just explaining the author's purpose and meaning. That's both dishonest (he should be doing the work himself) and unproductive (he can't really absorb that much information). When he's thinking, though, I'm happy to give him some of the answers. I don't expect him to understand 100% of the material by himself.
On the other hand, my presence seems superfluous if he understands everything already without my hints and directing questions.
Yesterday was the perfect mix of understanding and confusion that allowed me to smoothly lead him to comprehension. It was one of the (sadly rare) tutoring sessions where I could walk away with the feeling that I had clearly made a difference in Yosuke's academic success.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Cultural Barriers to Understanding
I had the most infuriating tutoring session last night. Yosuke had to read a speech by JFK for his English II class, and I wanted to make sure he understood this important quote from it: "The rights of every man are diminished when the rights of one man are threatened." He didn't understand what it meant, and it became clear that he had no concept of 'rights.'
So I gave examples - voting, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, etc - and went into detail about freedom of speech. After a while, he interrupted me saying that he didn't believe that rights exist. Puzzled, I asked him to explain, and he said it was because "everyone makes mistakes." I had to emphasize, again, that 'right' doesn't just mean 'correct' and resumed my explanation.
He told me he disagreed with the freedom of speech because people might yell or say inappropriate things. I told him it was okay to disagree; I just wanted him to understand what rights are. And yet he continued to argue that they don't exist. I still don't think he understands what a right is. It took an hour and a half to read about three paragraphs of the speech.
It's probably not his fault. That a sixteen-year-old can have no concept of human rights can only be a result of the group-minded Japanese society. Individual rights are not important in Japan, and Yosuke's stubborn indifference to them illustrates this. Japan and the US seem so alike to me sometimes that I tend to forget how huge some differences really are. (Did you know that in Japan, you are presumed guilty until proven innocent? And proving innocence is prohibitively difficult as the court system is nothing but a farce.)
I find myself in a difficult position - I need to help Yosuke understand this speech, but the ideas in it are completely alien to him.
So I gave examples - voting, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, etc - and went into detail about freedom of speech. After a while, he interrupted me saying that he didn't believe that rights exist. Puzzled, I asked him to explain, and he said it was because "everyone makes mistakes." I had to emphasize, again, that 'right' doesn't just mean 'correct' and resumed my explanation.
He told me he disagreed with the freedom of speech because people might yell or say inappropriate things. I told him it was okay to disagree; I just wanted him to understand what rights are. And yet he continued to argue that they don't exist. I still don't think he understands what a right is. It took an hour and a half to read about three paragraphs of the speech.
It's probably not his fault. That a sixteen-year-old can have no concept of human rights can only be a result of the group-minded Japanese society. Individual rights are not important in Japan, and Yosuke's stubborn indifference to them illustrates this. Japan and the US seem so alike to me sometimes that I tend to forget how huge some differences really are. (Did you know that in Japan, you are presumed guilty until proven innocent? And proving innocence is prohibitively difficult as the court system is nothing but a farce.)
I find myself in a difficult position - I need to help Yosuke understand this speech, but the ideas in it are completely alien to him.
Friday, June 6, 2008
EOC Requirements?
Well, the EOCs were rather anticlimactic. Yosuke's Geometry teacher told him he would be excused from the exam because he has been in the country less than two years. He asked his English teacher about this, and she told him the same thing. He'll receive credit for both courses, so that's great.
That's assuming his teachers are right, and I have some doubts. I can't find any information about it now, but I was under the impression that only students who have been here for less than a year were exempt from standardized tests. (That was Miki's case, thankfully.) This information contradicts our previous experience. When Yosuke tried to take English I last summer, he passed the course but failed the EOC, so he didn't receive credit. Also, earlier in the school year I spoke to his current English teacher and asked her for help preparing Yosuke for the exam, and she gave me a practice test. If he was exempt, wouldn't she mention it to me? But so long as he receives credit for the classes, I guess it doesn't matter, at least for now.
What worries me, however, is that the English I EOC is required for graduation. I'm afraid he might have to take it later on, although I suppose he would have a better shot at it in a year or two than he would now. I emailed his counselor to ask about it. I'm hoping she'll reply. It's always frustrating when people ignore your emails.
That's assuming his teachers are right, and I have some doubts. I can't find any information about it now, but I was under the impression that only students who have been here for less than a year were exempt from standardized tests. (That was Miki's case, thankfully.) This information contradicts our previous experience. When Yosuke tried to take English I last summer, he passed the course but failed the EOC, so he didn't receive credit. Also, earlier in the school year I spoke to his current English teacher and asked her for help preparing Yosuke for the exam, and she gave me a practice test. If he was exempt, wouldn't she mention it to me? But so long as he receives credit for the classes, I guess it doesn't matter, at least for now.
What worries me, however, is that the English I EOC is required for graduation. I'm afraid he might have to take it later on, although I suppose he would have a better shot at it in a year or two than he would now. I emailed his counselor to ask about it. I'm hoping she'll reply. It's always frustrating when people ignore your emails.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Miki's Math Progress
On Tuesday, Miki's tutoring session was divided in half - I tutored her mother for the first half and then Miki for the remaining time. Both were enjoyable but also frustrating.
Her mother had homework from her adult ESL class. She had a list of weather-related idioms (under the weather, any port in a storm, etc) and had to use them to complete sentences. It was difficult to explain the meaning of the idioms in Japanese, a difficulty that was compounded by her constantly interrupting my examples. In any case, though, tutoring her was fun because she's working hard and she has a good sense of humor.
Then I worked with Miki on a math lesson I'd made. It was intended to be easy, but she made several mistakes. Why is she unable to add and subtract negative numbers? Something about negative numbers really confuses her.
Up until now, I was under the mistaken belief that some practice would clear it up for her. I'm trying a different approach now in which I reteach the methods as if she was learning them for the first time. I actually had to check out a book from the library for this because I wasn't sure how to teach adding say, -7 + 3. It's always seemed pretty natural to me.
Thankfully, this approach seems to have helped. When I tutored her Thursday, I gave her about fifteen short math problems at the end of the lesson, and she got all but one correct! Before, she probably would have gotten only half correct. I guess all she needed was to be retaught the material and to learn to slow down and be careful. We're still working on that last one, though!
Her mother had homework from her adult ESL class. She had a list of weather-related idioms (under the weather, any port in a storm, etc) and had to use them to complete sentences. It was difficult to explain the meaning of the idioms in Japanese, a difficulty that was compounded by her constantly interrupting my examples. In any case, though, tutoring her was fun because she's working hard and she has a good sense of humor.
Then I worked with Miki on a math lesson I'd made. It was intended to be easy, but she made several mistakes. Why is she unable to add and subtract negative numbers? Something about negative numbers really confuses her.
Up until now, I was under the mistaken belief that some practice would clear it up for her. I'm trying a different approach now in which I reteach the methods as if she was learning them for the first time. I actually had to check out a book from the library for this because I wasn't sure how to teach adding say, -7 + 3. It's always seemed pretty natural to me.
Thankfully, this approach seems to have helped. When I tutored her Thursday, I gave her about fifteen short math problems at the end of the lesson, and she got all but one correct! Before, she probably would have gotten only half correct. I guess all she needed was to be retaught the material and to learn to slow down and be careful. We're still working on that last one, though!
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