2/6 Meeting the tutee

As the title implies we met one of the two students that we will be tutoring. I was nervous to meet my tutee because I did not know if they would want to work with me, or at what level they would be at. I introduced myself and to my surprise the girl I would be tutoring seemed to be nice! I started my lesson be introducing myself and doing a student inventory. In the inventory I found out that she likes math but she does not think that she can do the math this year. This got my hopes down because she obviously did not believe in her ability to do the math we were helping with. When asking about her family I found out that her mom is my age, and that she had her older brother when she was 13, and her when she was 15. She also does not know her father and lives with her moms new boyfriend. I asked if her mom helps her with school and she said that she is not home and that she works during the day and goes clubbing at night. I feel that she is not set up for success but it only motivates me to try harder and do more. The final question on my student inventory was to find out if there was anything special I needed to know about her. I was expecting a response about hobbies or music, or maybe even a story about something she has done. Instead she writes "when teachers make me angry the only way to calm me down is to call me mother to come get me". This intimidated me but I made sure to laugh it off with her when we read back the answers.
When it comes to planning our next meeting I came across some difficulties. She does not like electronics and I was planning on using my laptop or tablet to assist the lessons. I am hoping that she will be fine with it but if not I will do what I need to do to adapt my lesson to her learning needs. Another difficulty is that she does not know a lot of the basics. She had a hard time during my practice problem subtracting and adding multiple digit numbers. I am thinking I might have to add in some simple math skills for her to do as a warm up and assist her in using those skills in the lesson.
I am learning that even though I grew up in a low socioeconomic community north of New York City I am now far detached from that lifestyle. I want to be cool, I want to relate but I do not feel like it will be easy to do. I also know that if I am myself and maintain a good attitude and make the future seem working for my tutee will follow my lead. Hopefully I can find a way to bridge the differences and keep the material relevant and fun while still being a positive role model.
I look forward to meeting my new tutee next week, hopefully we will have a good start and be able to jump right into learning! I hope I get to have many good tutoring sessions with her!