Deb_CP2 & TP2-July 12, 2012

After my class observation, I met with my tutoring partner, Joyce.  We had decided to begin our sessions with conversation since her goals include speaking clarity and grammar.  We chatted about her class sessions for the day.  She showed me the reading selection for the day on “nanotubes.”  Then, she indicated that she would be moving at the end of the month.  We talked about how to change her electric billing, cable service and mail service.  I showed her the appropriate websites and the vocabulary that she would need to refer to on the website to accomplish her tasks.

As we switched into tutoring for vocabulary and comprehension to take the nursing license exam, I explored with her about the best ways that she had experienced learning in her past.  I asked her to close her eyes and visualize two different situations.  The first situation was to visualize a nursing class subject that was her favorite.  The second situation was to visualize how she learned from instructors that she liked or instructors that she did not like.  My goal was to determine whether she learned best from audio or visual, individual or group.  It turned out that her favorite subject was anatomy and physiology, which would require an enormous amount of text contact due to learning the systems of the body.  But, with the question regarding learning from instructors, she was surprised to realize that with an instructor whom she liked or admired, she learned by audio.  With someone she did not like, she would tune him or her out, and would primarily learn the subject matter on her own from the text.

Next, I shared with her some information from the nurse at my school regarding the nursing test and how the exam is structured.  As with most major tests in this country, it has a psychological base incorporating basic skills and facts within situations requiring a demonstration of judgment.  I shared with her several of the free testing websites that were suggested to me.  We also looked at the study guide that she was using for the exam.  Since it had Chinese writing on the cover, I assumed she brought it with her from Taiwan.  We talked about the concern that this guide may not be enough to prepare her for the exam and made a plan for our next tutoring session.