Monday, 20 August 2012

Report on Wolmark Stewart


Stewart Wolmark, in Los Angeles Private Jewish School, has been seeing me once a week for educational support. We have been working with Stewart since December, when he asked to be included in our support group within the classroom. This shows a maturity and self-awareness we rarely see in boys this age.
Stewart Wolmark is a talkative, friendly, and curious student. He has a lot going on in his world, and always has something he is busy thinking about, learning about, or doing! On days that he is focused, he accomplishes a lot. He understands concepts, completes assignments, and thanks me before he leaves!  What a gentleman!
            StewartWolmark is missing a lot of basic Hebrew skills and vocabulary. Over the last semester, Rabbi Ploni has been working on building a shoresh root vocabulary with the boys He also has worked on recognizing basic prefixes and suffixes. Stewart's ability to translate a pasuk and general Hebrew has really improved.
However, he still needs to be more proficient at manipulating a shoresh and prefixes/suffixes to succeed in fourth grade. He also needs to become more accurate at his Hebrew reading. As of now, he manages to read accurately only when he is forced to slow down and break down each word into syllables. Stewart has succeeded with a little "window" in a blank index card to break down words for him, but when he is confronted with the whole page, he compensates for his inaccuracy by using his sight word skills. Unfortuantely his Hebrew vocabulary is very limited so the words he guesses by looking at their form are usually the wrong words.
            Over the summer, I recommend concentrating on the skills most crucial to smooth Stewart’s transition into fourth grade: Hebrew verbs (shorashim), prefixes, suffixes, pronouns, and answering simple and specific questions about a short text. Learning with a professional tutor would be the best way to give Stewart the skills and knowledge he needs. You may also call Rabbi Almoni and ask him for resources and for his ideas on what areas are the most crucial for Stewart to progress in over the summer.
I enjoyed working with StewartWolmark. He is quick, cute and creative.

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