Stormy Weather and Homework

Although the weather outside was thunder and lightning, we heated up a little bit in our sessions today. I was instructed by my mentor (EP), not to give homework. I have been doing so with one student, with negative results, for three weeks. EP explained that we get our students, in the first place, because parents are at 'wits end' with their children and reading- and they come to us exasperated. It made a lot of sense. No more homework.

Parents Priorities continued...

I need to point out- My kid's parents are great- they would do anything for their kids... Learning to read is one of the most important things a child can learn... We need to make sure this is very clear to our kids. One of the ways we can make this clear is by demonstrating through our time allocation, time to read.

Parents Priorities

I found it interesting that not a single one of my students had done any reading, or practicing over the six week break. I try to remind them that as much as they need to practice baseball or football, they need to practice reading as well... And Moms and Dads- as much time as you spend shuffling your kids around- You could be applying this same principle. How you spend your time is an obvious indication of your priorities and values-

Summer Vacation

I gave the kids six weeks off for summer. We started up again yesterday. I have been to baseball games, and have seen them- but no tutoring until yesterday. Tomorrow we will be discussing goals...

Relationship and Confidence and a 9 year old

My mentor in everything that is tutoring, and very kind friend- (whom I shall refer to as "EP" now- as well as in future blogs), mentioned the other day that "Success with your students is 80% about relationship". Well, I have a nine year old coming in today. I pray so very hard for this boy. We have drilled the short vowel sounds with several different techniques for a long time now. He is just barely making progress. His confidence level- from years of inadequacy in school is nill. He just seems afraid to make a choice of a vowel sound- he has failed so for so long...

He likes photography, so last week We spent one afternoon out on the shore of Lake Superior taking pictures of neat ice formations. We didn't do any tutoring- we just hung out. I hope he can get to a comfort level with me that he will just "blurt out" the sound he thinks is correct- rather than always going through the painful self doubt he has...

Albert Einstein was Dyslexic...

I spent an extended session with an 8 year old student of mine today. He spent several minutes explaining, with remarkable detail, about a black lab named "Shadow", the family dog. How the dog was running through a field... a farmer took two shots with a rifle... the other dog was killed- but not the dog they named "Shadow". It was a very sweet story, with smiles and other gestures. After all of our drills with the blending board etc., near the end of the session, a couple of hours later, I asked him to write, as best he could, the story he had told me earlier. The result was one sentence of 13 words, 9 were misspelled.

This is one of the challenges we face- with these little people we call our children, these little symbols we call letters... explaining in detail, what we see in our minds.

Einstein was a dyslexic man who was able to bridge this gap- this chasm with the language of letters, numbers, and mathematics...

(See Einstein Link Below)

Kids get a Week Off-

The Kids get a week off of school this week. Normally I would give them the week off of tutoring also- but the home-school kids want to come in.

I will be spending the whole afternoon with one of the boys-
We are going to begin "Touchmath". This boy so very much lacks so much confidence- I just hope and pray the "comfort level" between he and I can continue to grow... He loves photography- I will bring in my professional equipment and show him the difference between wide-angle, and telephoto.

Copied from a generic post on Google- But pretty darn close...

What is Tutoring?

Tutoring is an age-old practice. The dictionary definition describes a tutor as a person who gives individual, or in some cases small group, instruction. The purpose of tutoring is to help students help themselves, or to assist or guide them to the point at which they become an independent learner, and thus no longer need a tutor.

Content knowledge is an essential ingredient for a tutor; however, to be truly effective, a tutor must combine content knowledge with empathy , honesty and humor. Empathy requires a tutor to "read" the emotional states, attitudes and perceptions of their students. Empathy is the ability to see others from their personal frame of reference, and to communicate this understanding to the person involved. In order for tutors to establish a supportive relationship with their students, tutors must be open and honest. Students are often reluctant to talk with a stranger about their academic problems. If a tutor is perceived as genuine and having a strong desire to listen, students will be more willing to open up and discuss their problems. Humor can also play an important part in a tutoring session. Humor can reduce tension. Shared laughter is a powerful way to reinforce learning. Humor can set students at ease and increase rapport. Humor can also be used to compliment, to guide or to provide negative feedback in a positive manner.

In addition, a successful tutor demonstates a caring attitude. Caring consists of being organized for the tutoring session, being punctual, establishing a learning relationship with the student, developing unique teaching strategies, and becoming familiar with the learning process. Ultimately, tutoring is sharing yourself with another student in a way that makes a difference in both your lives.

Discipline

I have one boy who is performing extremely well. His reading is concise and flowing. His time with me is full of patience and great behavior. I just found out through his teacher that he is falling behind again. My first reaction is to question if there is a difference of discipline wherein he is under-performing at school- but not with me. It is however, time to take a few steps back, and asses. ...fill in the sound-spaces that need to be reviewed.

"Family"

I have one boy who is six years old. He is very bright, and like most little boys- reading isn't his biggest priority. We finished a little early today- after working with the Orton-Gillingham Blending Board- and the "Word Salad" application on my iPhone. I asked him "What one word would you like to learn?".

He replied with "F a m i l y",- and made my day...

Day one, 1, won.

Have just begun.