Cruisin' along

When I feel anxiety while driving, I crank up the rock-n-roll & have a sing-along with the radio.  A long-standing fave that is in somewhat heavy rotation on the local airwaves is the above Led Zeppelin song called Over the Hills and Far Away. (The video is a pretty trippy, if you're so inclined, take a gander.) My steering wheel becomes a drum kit and my closed fist doubles as a microphone. Any knuckle-headed behavior by other motorists takes a back seat--har-har--to the electric guitar-heavy music that keeps me cruising comfortably down the highway to my destination. Thank goodness for the car radio!

To go with more driving puns, I feel as if I've hit a bump in the road with my 'tutee', M. Last week, he spent a majority of our time together being rather contrary. Any questions posed, thoughts expressed, ideas to be shared were met with a resounding NO. His behavior became somewhat fatiguing to deal with and, as I am still new to the tutoring game, it sort of threw me off track (is that another driving pun?). Fortunately, I had my notes at the ready, so I was able to shift to a new topic when necessary. 

During session, we went over a reading strategy called 'visualization'. I don't recall explicitly being taught this trick as a new reader. I think it may have just come naturally to me. And, honestly, doesn't the ability to visualize a story as it is being read come fairly naturally to most of us? Well, in any case, it's being taught to the students who are in our program. I introduced the concept (Me: You're going to use your imagination... Him interjecting: I don't have one!) and explained to M. that he would read a page aloud to me, then close the book and tell me what he could see in his mind that connected to the words on the page. He really didn't want to close either the book or his eyes for the visualization exercise and as we were nearing the end of the hour, I did not push further. Interestingly, when the volunteer coordinator came to our to table to check in with M. about what he'd learned he showed her that he could imagine all that he'd read in the short few pages we had gotten through. M. is a tough nut to crack. I think that I may need more tips and tricks beyond the occasional Tic-Tac-Toe game to help him succeed at becoming a better reader. There's a tutor in the center who has been with the organization for twelve years already. I need to ask for her email address, then ply her with questions (if she's keen, that is).