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.