Do you know what tears, snowflakes, fingerprints and brains have in common?
There are no two alike. Each are unique, just like you and me.
If you guessed that every tutoring session will be different for each child you were right!
There are no two alike. Each are unique, just like you and me.
If you guessed that every tutoring session will be different for each child you were right!
|
Before signing up with me, I will review any testing you provide. I will also need to assess the student myself. Those results will tell me where the gaps are and where I need to start teaching. Once I know that, I will make an individualized lesson plan for each tutoring session based on the student's progress.
The Simple View of Reading | Reading Rockets
Teachers are just now being given training in this area, this OLD and PROVEN METHOD for teaching reading! The above link shares more in depth but basically, reading has two components: word recognition, which is called decoding, and language comprehension. It is widely accepted that most struggling readers have difficulty with the most basic level of decoding, matching a sound to a letter and blending them to make a word ... otherwise known as phonics. If the basic skills are weak, then reading is laborious and frustrating. Sound familiar? Why we as teachers ever put this method on the back burner of teaching reading is beyond me. Thankfully it is BACK!
|
What does a typical Orton- Gillingham lesson look like?
* Remember every lesson is unique to the students needs, so this is just a sample, an outline of the basic components of an OG lesson.
PROGRAM ELEMENTS
Visual/Auditory intensive practice
This part of the lesson is a brief introduction (3-5 min) to warm up the memory via multi-sensory drills on letter cards. The student is shown a letter card and they give the letter's name, the sound(s) it makes, and a key word identifying the word associated with that letter. We use fine and gross motor skills with air tracing and tactile surfaces to trace the letter to put it in long term memory. The purpose of this time is to review and to bring the student up to an automatic recall of letter-sounds-word relationship. Automaticity is key to reading fluently. We do not move on until the student knows these sounds by heart and with speed and accuracy. We continue to review each sound every time, adding new ones once the old ones are mastered. Furthermore, we do not leave a card once it is mastered. It remains in the letter card drill stack, allowing the student to go faster and develop more confidence as cards are added to the stack.
Blending practice
This section of the lesson uses the mastered letters and sounds and the currently-learning letters and sounds all together to blend into a word. Those with short-vowel weakness will be blending CVC words like "jet" but also nonsense words like "pim". Nonsense words really identify the gaps in skills because a vast majority of the very bright, yet struggling students, have excellent orthographic memories and have been sliding by with memorizing A LOT of real words (short and long ones). It's when they get past 2nd grade, and multisyllabic words are used more in reading, that the deficits appear more noticeable. We use the same letter cards as in the visual drill, and our goal is to blend consonants and vowels into real and nonsense words and read them with... you guessed it...speed and accuracy. The students like this section as the lessons progress because they are reading words really fast and their self esteem is improving!
Syllable types, spelling patterns, morphology oh my!
It is during the blending drill, or right after, that I can address several weak areas at one time. You'd be surprised how many adults don't know syllables, simple spelling patterns, or how our English language works. Usually students find this section of the lesson extremely interesting. We look up the origin of words and how history has changed them over the years (Etymology). Students are fascinated with what they find, and it helps to build connections for them. Words that have eluded their grasp, that have previously been labelled "sight words" or "red words" or "exceptions" now have meaning to their spellings. For example, why does the word two have the letter w in it, or why have has a letter e at the end.
"There are about 40-44 speech sounds (phonemes) and 70 letter combinations (graphemes).
20 phonemes spelled predictably more than 90% of the time and 10 phonemes spelled predictably more than 80% of the time.
Vowels are the most difficult part of reading as they are less predictable.
HOWEVER, nearly 96% are spelled predictably when you also factor in the position, surrounding letters and origin of the word."
(Source: Michelle Hosp webinar, Corelearn.org)
Along with the heal - health example on my home page, there is also the spelling of heel and it's association with the word feet. Another history lesson on spellings can be found here: "MONKS AND THE LAZY O" which explains why the word love has an "o" and not a "u". Others have different views on why words are spelled the way they are, and it can be related to the history of the word (the root or base). Ex the word move comes from the Latin base mot, which means move.
"There are about 40-44 speech sounds (phonemes) and 70 letter combinations (graphemes).
20 phonemes spelled predictably more than 90% of the time and 10 phonemes spelled predictably more than 80% of the time.
Vowels are the most difficult part of reading as they are less predictable.
HOWEVER, nearly 96% are spelled predictably when you also factor in the position, surrounding letters and origin of the word."
(Source: Michelle Hosp webinar, Corelearn.org)
Along with the heal - health example on my home page, there is also the spelling of heel and it's association with the word feet. Another history lesson on spellings can be found here: "MONKS AND THE LAZY O" which explains why the word love has an "o" and not a "u". Others have different views on why words are spelled the way they are, and it can be related to the history of the word (the root or base). Ex the word move comes from the Latin base mot, which means move.
Reading words, phrases and sentences
Using the previously taught sounds, the students will read real and nonsense words. Emphasis is on accuracy, fluency, prosody, and comprehension. (Notice here there is not an emphasis on speed). I usually include words there to build vocabulary, too. Even these simple words throw students off when reading if they don't know what they are. Examples are the words "cog", "vat", "yak", "peg", "pox", and "hag". This is an excellent time to have vocabulary discussions. We then move on to independent reading of already prepared phrases and sentences, based on their last tutoring session and the progress made there. (I keep detailed notes during each lesson and use these to prepare future lesson plans. Preparing lesson plans may take up to an hour per child after their lesson is done). If the student makes an error on any part, it is caught immediately. They are taught many ways to review the sound again and use multi-sensory techniques to review and re read the item with accuracy. I do NOT tell the student what the correct sound or word is. That is counterproductive to retraining the brain to learn the weak skills. Their brain must make the connections itself and having accurate and fluent practice makes one a good reader. PRACTICE DOES NOT MAKE PERFECT...PERFECT PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT.
Spelling using the SOS technique
For each lesson I will have already prepared a list of words for the student to write. This is where the student uses previously learned phonemes to spell words. SOS is Simultaneous Oral Spelling, and it is a proven method to help Dyslexics spell words. It uses the visual, auditory and kinesthetic modalities to help readers who are still struggling with phonics. Once the children get the steps down they can fly through this part of the lesson. I will say a word, and they will repeat the word back to me (so I know they heard me correctly and so they can say it and hear themselves saying it). The student will then segment the word into sounds using a manipulative for a multi-sensory approach. The student then states the name of each letter as they touch it. Lastly, they write the word saying the name of each letter as it is written. We call that "tell your hand what letter to write".
As mentioned earlier, if a mistake is made, immediate feedback is given. The student must restate the correct letter-sound correlation and write it again. I also make sure that they know that an error is not their fault. Their brain has just not been taught the way it requires, and it needs time to adjust. The students really appreciate and respond to knowing the facts and science behind their reading difficulties.
As mentioned earlier, if a mistake is made, immediate feedback is given. The student must restate the correct letter-sound correlation and write it again. I also make sure that they know that an error is not their fault. Their brain has just not been taught the way it requires, and it needs time to adjust. The students really appreciate and respond to knowing the facts and science behind their reading difficulties.
Dictated phrases/sentences
This section comes right after the spelling of words, where we build on and make phrases and sentences with the words they have learned. In an OG lesson, everything builds on the previous skills and everything is also reviewed each lesson. This is different than a regular classroom lesson, where teachers don't have the time to stay on a skill until EVERYONE has mastered it. I will make sure that we revisit the skill until it is mastered. When the students are writing and reading the words accurately, we will skip the SOS part of this section.
Text reading
This, of course, is the most important part of the lesson to parents and teachers, but usually not to the student. For the student, reading might have become a dreaded task, but with all of the prep work during the lesson, they will be relieved to hear themselves reading. I use decodable texts, which are pieces of stories that are on their level. The focus is on accuracy, fluency and breaking the ingrained habit of GUESSING at words. The text will be handpicked for your child's level and almost, if not all, of the words are decodable for them at their level. They get to see the fruit of their hard work for the past hour as they use the strategies and decoding skills they have learned. We might spend several lessons on a certain text for different reasons like fluency building, prosody, comprehension and word attack. This is why I send texts home to be read together.
Can you imagine learning something that has eluded you for a long time and not being able to share the JOY you feel with someone?
Can you imagine learning something that has eluded you for a long time and not being able to share the JOY you feel with someone?
Still have questions?
Please e-mail me with any questions you have or check my FAQ page. I have a contact page here and would be happy to send you more information that might answer some questions prior to a phone call or an in-person meeting. I want to make the most of our time should you decide to take that step in getting help, and investing in your child's future. Please consider this an investment in your child's future. Teachers at school, nor any regular tutor, will get your child up to speed faster than a OG teacher will. I am here to help. Successful academic intervention can change the trajectory of a child's life. This is my passion.
