Even before meeting Mary, her teachers described her as intelligent, motivated, and hardworking. As I got to know Mary better, I discovered that all of these characteristics were true. Mary has come a long way since arriving in America. She knew almost no English at the beginning of the school year, but by the end of my observations, she was having conversations in English with other people. The majority of the time I was with Mary, we read stories and did worksheets. Mary would do her best to read every word in the book. If she got stuck on a word, I would help her. After explaining to her how to say a word or what it meant, she would repeat that word to me so she would remember it. Mary quickly understood the material we were working on. She would only have to ask one question about a word, and then she would recognize it if that same word came up. She asked questions when she didn't understand a word or a problem. I did my best to explain to her what the question or word meant, and she usually understood. When we were talking and she couldn't remember what a specific word was in English, she would describe the word and use actions. I guessed the word and she then continued our conversation. When Mary read aloud to me, her pace was slow and she sometimes struggled with certain words. However, when she read to herself, in a low voice, she read at a normal to fast pace. The area in which Mary had the most difficulty was understanding stories. She could read the stories quite easily, but when asked questions about the content, she had difficulty understanding the connection to the story. When Mary spoke words that she spelled, she struggled...... middle of paper ...... 2014, from Support4Change.com website: http://www.support4change.com/index. php?option=com_content&view=article&id=47&Itemid=108 Holland, C. (Presenter). (January 16, 2014). Adolescent development. Conference presented in GrandForks, ND. Holland, C. (Presenter). (March 4, 2014). Erikson's stages of development. Conference presented in Grand Forks, ND. Huitt, W. and Hummel, J. (2003). Piaget's theory of cognitive development. Retrieved May 3, 2014, from Interactive Educational Psychology website: http://www.edpsycinteractive.org/topics/cognition/piaget.htmlUSDA.gov. (nd). United States Department of Agriculture. Retrieved May 3, 2014 from ChooseMyPlate.gov website: http://www.choosemyplate.gov/index.html Wakefield, D. and Hudley, C. (nd). Ethnic and racial identity and adolescent well-being. TheoryIn practice, 147-154.