Saturday, August 6, 2022
Last night, as I bit into an almond, the cap the dentist had just replaced came off. No, wait! I didn't lose the cap. The whole tooth sheared off at the gum. There it was, wedged inside the cap. I called the dentist's office immediately to leave a message. "We don't have to worry about the fillings in what was remaining of that capped tooth." No, we were at a whole different level of dental care now.
I couldn't have dental treatment for another month. I have to wait three months after hip replacement surgery to avoid infections – in the hip. This means I have to live with this gap until then. I have to be careful when I smile. If I was discreet, I could hide the gap.
Then I thought, what if the exposed tooth poured bacteria into my system? I would need to be on antibiotics. I left a message for the dentist expressing my concern. My one objection to Kaiser is that if the dentist prescribed antibiotics, Kaiser wouldn't cover them. Medicine had to be prescribed by a Kaiser physician. However, Kaiser doesn't cover dental care. Medicare does. Medicare limits what dentists you can go to. There is only one dental practice in town that accepts Medicare. If I call my primary and tell her my dentist wants me to be on antibiotics, she can't prescribe them. The good news is I will be seeing my primary on Monday. I made the appointment a while ago because the PT was concerned about the varicose veins in my legs. I have several things to discuss with my primary.
Judy was still not driving herself. She passed out behind the wheel, a potentially hazardous situation. She was crossing a four-lane road and swerved into the oncoming lane. Fortunately, that lane hadn't started moving yet, and she was going slowly. It was a minor fender bender. She stopped driving while having a series of medical tests to determine the cause. None showed up. It looked like it was dehydration. But she still wasn't driving. She arranged to take an Uber to the church this morning. I would have driven her if someone hadn't signed up for my Saturday morning Reading & Writing Office Hours. I hoped the person wouldn't cancel out at the last minute and make me feel lousy for not driving Judy. It would usually be nothing for me to do it. I'm up at that hour.
The tutor who signed up didn't show up immediately. I sat there fretting about abandoning Judy in her hour of need. When she did show up, she was a delight to work with. She was an experienced tutor who had yet to meet with her student. I told her I would forward Julia's information on what to do in the initial sessions. It was her second year with Step Up Tutoring; she didn't need that. She read the notes of the previous tutor on her student. Wow! I didn't know that was available. I wondered if the other new tutors I worked with also had such notes on their students. From now on, I will know to ask. The notes were very helpful.
The student was a third-grade girl from a Latinx family with comprehension problems. "Wait! I have something you can use." I showed her the questioning process I had developed. It teaches students how to decode sentences and understand the relationships of all the words to each other.
I'm including the process here. It can be used with any language. I have used it successfully in several situations. I had a fifth grader ask for help with comprehension. She saw a difference after one session and was now in honor's English classes. It's a simple process. If you decide to use it, don't feel you have to do everything perfectly. I don't think that way, thank God, because I make constant mistakes. This process teaches us to ask questions. It doesn't have to be perfect.
INSTRUCTIONS: Don't worry about doing it perfectly. I've been doing this for over 30 years and still make mistakes. The object is to teach the students to ask questions as they read. We don't need them to be able to ask those questions themselves when they start. Exposing them to this process teaches the unconscious mind to do this work. This is what all good readers do automatically. For example, if you read the sentence:
"She stood gazing at the sky." Your mind is going to ask, "Where was she standing?" It will provide an answer. Each person's response may be different.
People at the zoo in Portland, Oregon, have a new way to wash elephants. Formerly, they washed the large animals with brushes. Now, they put them through a car wash. It takes only a minute or two. "The animals seem to enjoy it," says the zoo manager.
Hopefully, anyone reading this will find the answers obvious. Don't assume the same holds true for your student. If they do well, move on to a close examination of paragraphs.
We did the following exercise over several days. This student enjoyed it. If you have one who doesn't. Cut it short. Do a little every session, just one of two questions.
There are people at the zoo in Portland. Oregon.
They have a new way to do something.
They wash elephants.
These are the four types of questions.
IN THE BOOK: In this section, all the answers should use the "exact" words in the sentence. It is a way of teaching different syntactical options to students. It's a great way to teach English syntax to those who speak another lesson.
THINK & SEARCH: In this section, you make inferences explicit. Connecting one part of a sentence to another or one sentence to the preceding sentences in the passage.
THE AUTHOR & ME: Here, the student brings in background knowledge, definitions, previous experiences, etc.
BEYOND THE TEXT: Prediction or speculation comes in here.
IN THE BOOK:
People at the zoo in Portland, Oregon, have a new way to wash elephants.
1. Who has a new way to wash elephants? People at the zoo in Portland, Oregon.
2. Where is the zoo? In Portland, Oregon.
3. What do the people at the zoo in Portland have? A new way to wash elephants.
4. What do the people at the zoo in Portland, Oregon wash? Elephants.
5. What kind of a way do the people at the zoo have for washing elephants? A new way
THINK & SEARCH:
1. Where do the elephants live? In Portland, Oregon, in the zoo.
THE AUTHOR & ME:
1. Who do you think the people who wash the elephants are? Zookeepers.
2. What do you think the old way of washing elephants is? By hose
3. What is the opposite of new? Old
BEYOND THE TEXT:
1. What do you think the new way of washing elephants might be? Putting them in a pool.
People at the zoo in Portland, Oregon, have a new way to wash elephants.
Formerly, they washed the large animals with brushes.
IN THE BOOK:
1. Who washed the large animals with brushes formerly? The zookeepers
2. What did they wash? The large animals
3. What did they wash the large animals with? Brushes
4. When did they wash the large animals with brushes? Formerly
THINK and SEARCH:
1. What did they wash? Elephants
2. What were the large animals? The elephants
3. What does 'they' refer to? Who are 'they'? the zookeepers
THE AUTHOR & ME:
1. What did they wash the large animals with besides brushes? Water
2. Where did the water come from? The hose
3. What does formerly mean in this sentence? It means before they did it another way.
BEYOND THE TEXT:
1. How did the elephants feel about being washed with a hose and brushes? I think they felt relaxed because they like cold mud.
People at the zoo in Portland, Oregon, have a new way to wash elephants. Formerly, they washed the large animals with brushes. Now, they put them through a car wash.
IN THE BOOK:
1. Who puts them through a car wash? The zookeepers
2. What do they do? They put them through a car wash.
3. What do they put them through? A car wash
4. When do they put them through a car wash? now
THINK & SEARCH:
1. Who is "they" in this sentence? The zookeepers
2. Who does 'them" refer to? The elephants
THE AUTHOR & ME:
1. What is a car wash? Where you wash your cars.
2. How is a car wash different from washing your car at home?
a. You don't have to get out of the car.
b. You don't have to wash it yourself.
3. Why did the zookeepers use a car wash?
a. Because the elephants are too big for the zookeepers to do it?
b. Because the car wash is big enough for them.
BEYOND THE TEXT:
1. Are the elephants alone? Probably not. The zookeepers are walking through with them, guiding them.
2. What is happening to the zookeepers as they are walking through? They're getting soaked.
People at the zoo in Portland, Oregon, have a new way to wash elephants. Formerly, they washed the large animals with brushes. It takes only a minute or two.
IN THE BOOK:
1. What takes a minute or two? Washing them in the car wash.
2. What Is it? Washing them in the car wash.
THINK & SEARCH:
1. What does 'it' stand for? Going through the car wash.
THE AUTHOR & ME:
1. Is a minute or two a long time or a short time? (This student said, "a long time." I took the occasion to teach her that degree of length requires a context.
2. How long does a car wash take? 4 minutes
3. How long do you think it took the zookeepers to wash the elephants without the carwash? An hour
4. Do you think it takes less time to wash the elephants in the car wash? Less
People at the zoo in Portland, Oregon, have a new way to wash elephants. Formerly, they washed the large animals with brushes. It takes only a minute or two. "The animals seem to enjoy it," says the zoo manager.
IN THE BOOK:
1. Who says the animals seem to enjoy it? The zoo manager.
2. What is he a manager of? The zoo
3. Who seems to enjoy it? The animals
4. What do the animals seem to enjoy? To be washed in the car wash.
AUTHOR & ME:
1. How do the animals feel about being washed in the car wash? They feel relaxed.
1. Describe what happens to the elephants in the car wash? How do they get washed?
They are soaked with water and soap. There are these scrubby things they scrub the car with.
The wipers, which are red and blue hanging things made of smooth cloth. They cut it into strips. They turn around like this. The car gets dry because they have these blow things, kind of like straws.
2. How do you think the elephants get through the car wash? They walk or they get lifted.
Here is the comprehension exercise provided by the author for this passage.
-Elephants were cleaned in the car wash because:
a) there weren't many cars
b) it was faster
c) the animals got cleaner
Yvette texted me about a particular mouth wash she and Josh were ordering. Her father-in-law's dentist or heart doctor recommended it. Stellalife is supposed to promote dental health daily, particularly after dental work. This is a current concern of mine because of my broken tooth, particularly since I couldn't have dental work for at least two more weeks. The theory is any infections in the mouth can lodge in the new joint. After three months, I need to take an antibiotic before each dental treatment. My tooth couldn't have been in good shape if it broke off. Were there bacteria in the remaining tooth that could infect the hip? How do I know if I have an infection? My first response to Yvette's information about this mouthwash was, "Eh!' Once the tooth broke, I decided I needed maximum protection. I ordered it.
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