I have to admit, that I was a little sad to leave Hawthorne this Monday. It felt like I hadn't accomplished as much as I would have wanted to in the time being given. But I suppose that is to be expected considering how much time we really had.
I opened the stage for my student to choose what she wanted to work on this week. Since it was the last day, I wanted her to address any issues which she thought needed to be covered for her writing assignments. So I emailed her over the weekend and asked her to think of something she wanted some help with. To my surprise, she didn't want to talk about the writings for Mr. Harder's class, but something completely different instead (don't tell John). She was stuck in a writers rut, and had no idea what she wanted to write about for an upcoming history assignment on the Klondike gold rush. All she knew was that she wanted to write a letter from someone who went looking for riches. So we did what any 21st century learner would do. We googled it! I figured if she couldn't find any inspiration within herself, maybe looking at some online resources might spark some inspiration. I taught her a couple of tricks for googling things, and I showed her a couple of resources which she could look at for future projects.
We finished our session by just shooting the breeze. I knew she was feeling overwhelmed by the pressure of school, so I thought maybe the best way to end would be to leave writing behind, and give her someone to talk to, even if it was only for a short period of time. I'm hoping that our conversation will remind her that she needs to find time away from her school work to talk with people and resolve her problems. I really believe that if she can put the pressures of school on the back burner that her schoolwork might actually improve. I wish I could be around to find out.
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