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- Create a supportive,
safe situation for tutoring—making mistakes
is ok and you are there to help.
- Build positive
relationships with your students. Support students’
efforts through positive reinforcement. If the
student is incorrect, respond supportively:
“No that’s not quite right, but a
good try.” Or “Not quite right, but
you’re on the right track.”
- Help students
to think independently. Give them strategies
for figuring things out on their own. Encourage
self-help by responding with “How do you
think we could find an answer to this?”
- Encourage
and reward risk-taking. Learning how to make
well-considered guesses is an important skill
for young students—encourage good guessing.
- Communicate
and maintain high expectations. Let your student
know that you expect success!
- Keep explanations
simple and to the point.
- Minimize distraction.
Locate a relatively quiet workspace. Remove
other materials so students can focus on your
work with them.
- Begin with
success! Start your tutoring at a point where
your student knows what he or she is doing.
More challenging work can come later.
- Be relaxed
and don’t worry about making mistakes.
All tutors occasionally will do something wrong.
And when you don’t know the answer to a
question, say so. Ask others in your tutoring
program for help.
--From Every Child A Reader,
America Reads
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- Talking with children
A strong foundation in spoken language helps
children read and write. Share conversation
about what she likes to eat, play or her favorite
pet.
- Reading to children
Reading to children is one of the best ways
to build reading skills. Be sure to invite your
student to join in with you when s/he is ready.
- Reading with children
You and your child read the book at the same
time. Look at the text together while you point
to the words being read. Soon your student will
be reading on his/her own.
- Helping children read independently
Practice makes perfect—this holds true
for reading too. You contribute in a big way
by listening and helping students as they read
aloud to you.
- Writing for children
We often learn by watching someone do what we
want to learn. Many of us master writing by
watching a writer at work. Try to “think
out loud” as you write to make the process
accessible.
- Writing with children
This gives your students the chance to do some
of the writing while you fill in the rest. You
can do the hard parts and your student can do
the easier parts of the writing. Be sure to
read what you have written, together or individually!
- Helping children write independently
Help your student pick up a few new skills each
time you write together (capitalization, spelling
of common words, where to put a period in a
sentence).
- Understanding phonics, letters and words
Help students understand how sounds and letters
relate to each other. Help them learn that words
are made of sounds (beginning, end, and middle).
Also help them distinguish between letters,
words and sentences.
- Making books
The books your student will make need not be
complicated—perhaps only one line of print
per page—but your students will become
authors of books they can read again and again!
- Connecting your work with children’s
homes
Your closing activity is a great way to show
parents what you are working on together.
As the year proceeds, you can send home other
reading and writing material too.
--from Help America Read by Gay
Su Pinnell and Irene Fountas
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Praise is a great motivator
for your students. It lets a student know that she
is making progress and can be successful in the
classroom.
- Be specific.
It is important to tell her why she is being
praised.
- General or
vague praise is less helpful. For example, “I
like the way you noticed the beginning sound”
is better than, “That’s right.”
- Praise a student
when she tries to self-correct, but is still
wrong. You might say, “I really liked the
way you tried to sound that out” or “You
almost have it.”
- When a student
is partly correct, praise her for the correct
part. For example, you could say, “You
figured out the last part of the word very quickly.”
Examples of Effective Praise:
“I liked the way you worked out that word.”
“I can see that you are putting in the sounds
you know.”
“Good, you noticed that and fixed it.”
“I liked the way you tried to help yourself.”
“You did a good job of using the word wall
to find a word.”
“I can tell that you are really thinking
about what you are
reading.”
“You are paying attention to the pictures
to help you with your reading.”
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- Provide successful
reading and writing experiences, avoid student
frustration.
- Spend a few
minutes looking over a text with your student.
Talk about it before, during and after reading—it
increases understanding.
- Encourage
finger pointing.
- Don’t
correct every error you hear.
- Avoid asking
your student to sound out a word in the middle
of reading. Give them a few seconds to figure
it out, then tell them the word and let them
move on and stay focused on the content.
- Provide opportunities
for readers to practice and apply the skills
they have learned.
- Integrate
skill instruction with reading and writing.
- Reinforce
concepts and skills learned in previous lessons.
- Connect students’
experiences with their reading and writing.
- Encourage
independence by helping a student learn strategies
for reading.
- As your student
reads, ask him/her, “Does it look right?
Does it sound right? Does it make sense?”
Reading means understanding a text, not just
decoding it.
- Practice patience—fluency
comes from reading, re-reading and reading yet
again.
- Make reading
FUN. Share the pleasure of reading. Tell your
students what you like to read.
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