O'Neill TS # 3

This past Wednesday I finally had the opportunity to meet with my child tutee, Rina Oh. I was not sure how to prepare for the session, all I knew is that I would show up, assess my student and attempt to help her where she needed it the most. I met her family, they were all really nice, and then sat down to read a Dr. Seuss book. She was well behaved, read thoroughly the first 15 mins with no trouble at all. There were a few words that she didn't quite understand, so I asked her to write them down. After the first time, she would just grab the paper and do it herself without needing me to tell her. I was relieved thinking that she would be a good easy going student. Well, after those 15 mins, she started loosing her interest.
She started getting out of her chair, walking around the room and did not desire to continue reading. I tried to understand her, perhaps she was getting angsty, and was maybe just loosing interest in general from a long day. So we colored a few pages, and I told her ok, we can have a 5 min break, but we will return to the reading. I would also pull us back to the book and made sure that she understood what she had just read, so we could continue the interest. I was a little stressed out when she wasn't cooperating because at that point it seemed that she was taking charge (she is also a cheeky child by telling me that my leggings were grandma style). Anyways, after those 5 mins were up, she still did not want to participate, so I got stern with her and squeezed out whatever I could before our time was over. She was not as difficult as tutoring my cousin (my cousin was unbelievably difficult, every reading hour involved screaming and crying) yet, she's not an easy child.
At the end of our session, I was relieved when her mother told me Rina is not an easy child. This way I knew that her mother was approachable and understanding of my position. However, I do secretly believe it was that darn Dr. Seuss book which turned the situation around. When I was a child, I would be lured to the colorful illustrations, but always regretted checking the book out. His stories are so long and complex, not truly interesting for a child. I still don't like his books.