Sample Hour #1 – Bethany and Fred:

A typical one-on-one tutoring hour with Fred on Friday might start with a friendly chat and catch-up session on the learner’s life and issues that may affect his learning (or that Bethany can use to make learning more relevant for him). The two will then review Fred’s work outside of class, Bethany being careful to ask probing questions, as well as requesting that Fred explain his thought processes out loud where applicable. Bethany and Fred will then review one or two new phonics rules, and have Fred practice decoding skills – both old and new - for 5 to 10 minutes. Fred will then dictate a story attempting to integrate words from a vocabulary list that uses the new skills. Bethany reads his story back to him, while he makes verbal edits or corrections to what she has read. Bethany then listens as Fred reads the story back to her, again listening for application of old and new word analysis skills. They discuss and make any additional edits and this story becomes something Fred will practice reading during the week. As the end of the one-hour session nears, they discuss Fred’s progress and satisfaction with the lessons for the day and Bethany assigns him some additional word analysis and vocabulary-building activities. They confirm his phone appointment on next Monday, when Fred will call Bethany at the center and practice reading to her over the phone.

Sample Hour #2– Donal’s Class:

This evening Donal is teaching a lesson on overpopulation and its effects on the environment and society. He begins class with an introduction to the topic of overpopulation and a short video of a news clip on overcrowding and housing shortages in a nearby city. Donal then pairs up students and asks them to address several open-ended questions about overcrowding and how it might affect people/society. Pairs report out their findings and Donal lists all the ideas and issues on the board in a web. Students then silently read a short article from CNN on the effects of overpopulation on farmlands in China. He then has students pair up differently, and discuss how overpopulation can affect the environment. Again, pairs report out their thoughts and Donal creates another web. As a class, they summarize their findings and generate some things they themselves can do about the issue. The students, who have also been studying how to interpret graphs, then work independently on pages in their GED workbook where they are required to interpret data relating to overpopulation and the environment. Donal moves about the room, checking on students and offering additional exercises for homework and/or brief one-on-one instruction for those needing assistance.

Sample Hour #3– Liam’s New Students:

This afternoon, Liam is working with four men who are new employees at the plant. They are unfamiliar with the metric-based tools used at the plant. The men have all been assessed as needing additional training and education in metrics and the use of these tools. Liam decides to focus on linear metrics to start. He begins class with a welcome and asks the men to share a little bit about themselves, their families, and how they came to this new position. Liam then puts a number of metric wrenches on the table, encouraging the men to pick them up and handle them while he gives a brief overview of the metric system – where it comes from, and how it is different from the more standard American measurement system of feet and inches. Liam then reviews the root word “meter,” as well as the measures of millimeter and centimeter and the decimal relationships between them. After showing a few items as examples, Liam asks them to brainstorm things that would be measured in meters, centimeters, and millimeters, and writes their ideas on the board. He then dumps out a number of different sized machinery nuts on the table and asks the men to use the wrenches provided to determine the approximate or exact measure of each item – sorting them into small marked bins. The men are encouraged to talk with each other to check their judgments and to be sure all nuts in a bin are alike. At the end of the activity, Liam checks to see if there are any further questions, and gives them a copy of a study sheet and materials on metric tools for further review. He lets them know that next class will look at the same measures, but this time using a ruler to measure distances and lengths.