Observation Log

March 4, 2003

Today I went to a local high school and met with a tenth grader from Latin America named Cara.   We met at a table in the counselors office.  Another student, Sara, was working there also.  Cara and I worked on graphs for her algebra class.  I had to re-learn coordinates and slope.  It took me a few minutes to learn it from her textbook but she was patient with me and once we got rolling we made some real progress.

An obstacle I encountered was that Cara kept speaking in Spanish to Sara, asking her to translate to me.  I asked her once to talk to me, not to Sara, but they both ignored me.  I don't think I can help her much if I am unable to speak English with her due to the presence of a translator.  She didn't make much of an effort to talk to me at all.

I learned some valuable lessons today.  First, I learned never to assume what I think she knows.  I assumed that since she sits through a math class every day, she knows that "times" means multiply.  I kept saying to her,"2 times 1 is what?"  She didn't answer because she didn't know that times meant multiply.  I would ask her if she understood something and she would say yes, but then I'd find later that she didn't.  I know now to teach everything from the very basics.

It is obvious that Cara may not possess an attitude conducive to language learning.  She does not want to be here and her environment is not supportive.  It is probable that, with the treatment shes receiving from her peers, she does not have much respect for the people here. 

Today I read Chapter 6 in Nation about technical vocabulary.  It tied the day together well for me because what Cara needs is math vocabulary.  She needs to learn words like "times" and "evaluate."  There's a suggestion in the chapter to immerse the learner in text and activities that use the technical vocabulary. 

March 17, 2003

Today was a great day with Cara.  Together we learned mean, median, and mode, and had a lot of fun with it.  I explained the words to her in several different contexts and we worked problems for each over and over again.  She picked up the vocabulary very quickly.  I don't think she completely understood at first how the words related to the problems, but she began to identify the appearance and sound of the words after some repetition.

Also, I made up quite a few word problems and said them out loud once (only once) and had her work them out on paper.  That really worked well.  I also tried to use words that werent in the book (as well as the ones that were), that I thought her teacher might use.  We went over every type of problem at least eight or ten times.  I didn't let her stop until I felt comfortable that she really understood. 

We went over it before they learned it in class (because she gets so lost in class) and I feel like she walked away really knowing it.  Which, more than anything, should help her confidence in the classroom.

   Cara learned quickly when I explicitly taught her, but she was not motivated to look up the words on her own and try to learn the lesson herself.  Perhaps the book, with all of its technical vocabulary, is intimidating to Cara.  Maybe my motivation urged her to learn.  All I did was go over with her what I learned from her textbook. 

I tried to push her verbal and written vocabulary skills in both the receptive and productive aspects.  It was lucky that the activity she needed help with was centered around vocabulary words.  It was also interesting that the words not only had meaning but actions that lead to the use of more vocabulary words.  For example, to get the mean you have to add and divide.  We certainly did a lot of productive vocabulary work today. 

April 1, 2003

Today Cara and I did some of her math homework together and then I realized that she was letting me do the work.  I thought I was showing her how to do it but realized quickly that she was not paying attention as I was doing her Algebra homework.

I moved to a case-study exercise.  I tested her range of knowledge of a list of vocabulary words.  I am interested in the manner in which vocabulary words exist on a continuum so I tested her for spelling, definition, phonology, and production capabilities. 

For the verbal-receptive exercise I gave her a list of math-related words.  She was to point to them as I read them out loud.  She got all of them right.  For the written-productive activity I said the words out loud and then she wrote them.  She got all but two right.  For the definitions-productive exercise I read the words and she was to verbally tell me the definition.  She couldnt come up with definitions for any of them but attempted to negotiate on a couple.  For the definitions-receptive one I read the definitions and she gave me the word while she looked at a list of the words.  She got all of them right. 

She was competent in all but production.  In her defense, its hard to ascertain a definition for words like multiply, parallel, and divide.  She did negotiate with me on several of the words.  As far as the sound and spelling aspects of the words, she knew them well.

It was fun to see what she knew.  I realized that receptively, shes extremely competent.  However, I think she has a hard time with some of the other students in her high school.  I think her incompetence in speaking (its tough to get her to talk to me) has a lot to do with self-esteem.

April 9, 2003

I decided before meeting with Cara today that I was going to have her teach me Math.  After the case-study exercise last week, it became apparent that she knows a lot more than she lets on.  She pulled out a very long homework page of math exercises.  It was on polynomials.  Fortunately, I just happen to be awful in Math.  So I picked up a pen and piece of paper and asked her to describe to me how to do the problems.  She walked me through each one until we (she) came to an answer.  She told me to add, multiply, divide, subtract.  She used words like equals, negative, and positive.  We negotiated and talked together.  It was really effective, she was producing words she wouldn't produce the week before.

She also told me that the day before she had received a 100 on an Algebra test!  Her worst subject!  We rejoiced.  It is obvious that the test score has done wonders for her self-confidence.  Today she did her work quickly, confidently, and accurately. 

When she finished her homework I asked her if there was anything else I could help her with before I left.  She looked at me and said, I am an intelligent person.  I said, I know.  You are very intelligent.

It was exciting to watch her knowledge pour out as we engaged in an activity together.  She told me how to do problems that I was scouring the book to figure out a couple of weeks before.  I even showed her how to use the index in the back of the book to find out how to do a problem she was having trouble with.  She was verbally producing words that she had learned recently.

April 23, 2003

I went today with nothing in mind to do regarding my case study project.  I simply wanted to work and talk with Cara.  I learned today that Cara has a brain tumor and has to go back to El Salvador to have surgery to determine whether or not it is benign.  She said that she had been having bad headaches and her hair is falling out.  She told me, "I am very sick." 

For the first time she was really making an attempt to communicate.  It was a little bizarre.  She has always been kind of closed up and aloof.  But today she was asking me questions to make conversation and really reaching out.  I think that maybe shes been feeling bad for a while and is relieved to learn that there really is something wrong with her and it is not all in her head.

We just sat and talked in English today.  I did a bit of translating from her Spanish.  I think she was surprised at how much Spanish I knew.  (Almost as surprised as I was.)  And once she realized that I could understand her when she spoke to Carla she started asking me for translations.  I don't know why this is the first time weve interacted like this together all semester.  Its really an interesting end to my work in the high school.