Alex TP2

I met up with Mubarak today just after he got out of class. Last week I had assigned him the task of finding an article in the Western publication The Atlantic, reading it, and writing a short summation and brief analysis of it. The article was about a type of hardware that eliminates ads on PC’s. It was short and to the point with very little fillers. I like that he chose it because it clearly defines his interest in technology and business.

His writing started off well. There were a few instances where he made mistakes in tense, punctuation, and/or simply forgot filler words. I would have him reread the paragraph or sentence and have him tell me what he thought was wrong. He is at a high writing and speaking level and it is clear that if he were to have taken his time and proofread the final product would have been much better. I pointed this out and explained the importance of editing and proofreading. Then I showed him how he could change sentences that were either bordering on run-on’s or just not flowing right.

I decided for next week to make the assignment a little more challenging. I asked him to read “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor. I also asked him to write 150 words summarization and 150 words of analysis. It’s a great story and I think it will be good to go from the non-fiction that he normally reads to a piece of classic American literature and a little bit of analysis. I’m excited to see his response.