1. Karen Martinez

2.  The first time I went to The Learning Zone, I didn’t have a child and read to Laura’s daughter. She was a good student and then we played games. I could tell from this first session that Laura really was passionate about children. It is always a good experience to see parents involved with their child’s education. She did not leave out her student and treated them equally. The beginning is the hard part because we are new at starting and one doesn’t know what to expect or what is the outcome. Regardless, I was happy that I had started The Learning Zone.

4.  The second week, I worked Alejandro and he was working with blends and diagraphs. He knew most of the answers, but I noticed that some of the pictures on his worksheet, he didn’t know what they were. Once we told him what it was he was able to figure out his responses.  The third week, I finally got my student for the rest of the semester! We were on table eight and worked with another tutor, Amanda. Tamara had already worked with Amanda and talked to her easily. Tamara talked to me with ease and talked a lot about school and family.

6. Session 4  Tamara worked on math this session and she knew the basic concept of subtraction in double digits, but she really didn’t understand it when it came to borrowing. Edwin was already working with her and was impressed that he used her glove to help her with her subtraction. Later Maria came over because there wasn’t enough tutors. I felt that she became uncomfortable having so many to help her and observe her. Throughout the session she became more and more comfortable.

7.  During this session, Tamara had math homework. We worked together with fractions, but it was easy because all she wanted was someone to double check her homework. We read afterwards and read out loud. Then she read, and noticed that she needed a lot of encouraging. It also looks like she needs to work one on one when it comes to reading, which is okay because everyone is unique and different.

8.  During this session, we did a lot of reading. Tamara read, but still lacked confidence. I complemented her several times when doing a good job. Tamara does enjoy it when she is read to, but when it comes to her, her voice gets low. This was also the time that I wanted Tamara just with me so that she could speak up and not be shy. I believe her effective filter was high, because she was shy, quiet, and read with her hand in front making it really hard to understand. She still read and I was happy with just that.

9.  Tamara was really set on not reading! We would do everything for her to read. So while we came up with many reason why she could, and should, she just wouldn’t. So Amanda, and I read her a book and decided we would color. So, we colored and we let her for a while. Tamara is really special and I love to work with her. I would love to spend more time on her with reading. She really does need to practice it at home.

10.  Tamara, Bertha, and I work on compound words. She had a worksheet on compound words and we decided to focus on that. Bertha got a board and dry erase markers to do this activity. Each one of us would draw a picture and then a plus sign and another drawing. The other two would try to figure out the word she had in her mind. Tamara caught on really quick and really enjoyed this activity. I think it really stuck how compound words work. For games, we played hangman that dealt with compound words also.

11.  When I came for this session, Edwin was already reading with her. I didn’t bother them because I wanted Tamara to continue reading. She was still quiet, but she was more willing to ask for help and more acceptable to get it. I was very happy and she would self correct herself when she knew it was wrong. That was a huge progress, because she knew it was okay to ask for help and would go back to try to fix her mistake when she knew she had made one. Later, we played Measuring Monkeys because it was her favorite game she liked playing while at the Learning Zone.

13.  At first she didn’t want to play the game I created, but finally gave in and she loved it! We were practicing her sight words in a fun way that she didn’t even know that she was learning from it also. I would definitely add more higher level words because Tamara knew most of them. I know I have learned a lot from Tamara and I enjoyed my time there. This has helped me grow and has made me use strategies that I have learned in class. I want to continue to grow and hope to continue to help out more children in the future. All children want is attention and to be noticed and Tamara is one special student. I know she will do great things in the future!