Observation Reflection Week Two

     This weeks observations went extremely well. I was able to observe two very strong tutoring sessions. The first session was primarily a tutoring session to help the tutee with reading, which allowed me to get a taste of how this kind of session works. Holly was helping the student with his science homework. He had to read an article and answer specific questions. Holly helped him look for definitions that he needed in the text, and showed him the best way to make a correct citation. The student took the time to write his answers while Holly observed comfortably. Holly also tried to refresh tutee's memory with things they had talked about in the last tutoring session. Holly explained the nature of citations/using them in sentences with great clarity. She had the student define vocabulary words from the text in his everyday terms. She helped the student with a few grammar edits throughout the paper. Holly helped the student with the article by breaking it down paragraph by paragraph. Student made great verbal point about article and Holly helped him articulate it efficiently in his paper. Holly helped the student pull specific examples out of the article to support his points. She read over the student's paper with him before submitting it. It was a very successful and productive tutoring session. 

     The second session was primarily for brainstorming. Holly was tutoring a student trying to outline a 1500-word paper. Student was very organized and knew what he wanted to write about, but he was having trouble with assigned topic and how to fulfill the hefty word-count requirement of the assignment. Holly helped student with how he could organize his paper as far as how to break it down efficiently. She suggested that he center the paper around a key focus or phrase, and suggested the student write a strong thesis. She gave him suggestions as to what to include in his introduction to make his paper stronger. She was very helpful in this tutoring session, despite the fact that the student came so well prepared and with such strong ideas. It was nice to watch Holly find ways to be helpful, and the student seemed very appreciative at the end of the session.