Before I even met Mary, her teachers described her as intelligent, motivated, and hard-working. As I got to know Mary better, I found all of these characteristics to be true. Mary has come a long way since she first came to America. At the beginning of the school year he knew virtually no English, but by the end of my observations, he was holding conversations in English with other people. Most of the time we spent with Mary we read stories and filled out 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 I told her how to pronounce a word or what it meant, she would repeat it to me to remember it. Mary understood the material we worked on very quickly. He would only have to ask about a word once and then he would recognize it if that same word came up again. He asked questions when he didn't understand a word or a problem. I did my best to explain the meaning of the question or word to her and she usually understood. When we were talking and she didn't remember what a specific word was in English, she would describe the word and use actions. I would guess the word and then she would continue our conversation. When Mary read aloud to me, her pace was slow and she sometimes struggled with certain words. However, when she read on her own, i.e. in a whisper, she read at a normal to fast speed. The area in which Mary had the most difficulty was understanding stories. He could read the stories quite easily, but when he had to answer questions about the content, he struggled to understand the connection to the story. When Mary spoke the words she was writing, she struggled...... middle of paper...... 2014, from the Support4Change.com website: http://www.support4change.com/index. php?option=com_content&view=article&id=47&Itemid=108 Holland, C. (Presenter). (2014, January 16). Adolescent development. Lecture presented at GrandForks, ND.Holland, C. (Presenter). (2014, March 4). Erikson's developmental stages. Lecture presented in Grand Forks, N.D. Huitt, W., & Hummel, J. (2003). Piaget's theory of cognitive development. Retrieved May 3, 2014, from Educational Psychology Interactive website: http://www.edpsycinteractive.org/topics/cognition/piaget.htmlUSDA.gov. (n.d.). United States Department of Agriculture. Retrieved May 3, 2014, from ChooseMyPlate.gov website: http://www.choosemyplate.gov/index.htmlWakefield, D., & Hudley, C. (n.d.). Racial and ethnic identity and adolescent well-being. Theory into practice, 147-154.