Frequently Asked Questions
+ What makes you stand out from other tutors?
In addition to my specialized education in teaching reading, I have taught reading using a number of different curriculums. As a result, I have been able to identify which curriculums are strong in which areas, which curriculums and activities create the most literacy growth in the shortest amount of time, which literacy activities engage and excite students, and which literacy activities bore students. I use this knowledge to tailor my instruction to the exact needs of your student and build his or her skills and confidence. I hold high expectations in a compassionate and supportive way that empowers the students to strive to work hard and improve their skills. I make a point to personally connect with the students by giving them a couple of minutes to share about their lives and by incorporating their interests into the learning activities.
+ How does private tutoring work?
After I have completed a brief, initial assessment with your student in our first session, I will identify the areas of reading (or writing or math) that need to be strengthened. I communicate with the parent about these findings and come up with an individualized plan to address those areas. I conduct progress monitoring checks and assessments as needed. Through occasional emails and in-person check-ins, I keep the parents informed about their student’s progress. At times, I will make suggestions for home practice. The length and frequency of the sessions is determined based on the individual needs and availability of the student. Sessions are paid for up front in a package for the tutoring season.
+ What do you do to maintain the student’s engagement during sessions?
I take a slightly different approach with each student as every student is different. Most students do well with one-on-one tutoring, even if they struggle to learn in whole class or small group settings. I can adapt my lessons for students who have shorter attention spans or need to be active and/or physically move while learning. Each session includes a variety of activities, and each activity doesn’t last longer than five or ten minutes. We take movement breaks if needed. I use stickers and charts to track students’ progress as they meet sight word, phonics, and reading goals.
+ How do you work with students who are resistant to learning because of their lack of skills and/or confidence?
I am able to connect with students who are resistant to learning because I always begin where the student is at. My assessment tells me the current skills of the student. Using this information, I provide content that is a little bit beyond their current skills and build upon what the students already know. The students feel capable of doing what I am asking them to do, even if it is a little challenging, and they trust that I will not push them into a place where they feel that they can’t do the given task.
With that being said, the process of improvement and remediation can sometimes be rocky, and students will respond by not following directions, not giving their best effort, or having a poor attitude. In these situations, I affirm their feelings, calmly redirect the students, and slow down to an activity that is manageable with their current feelings. If this happens more than once, I work with the parents to come up with an individualized behavior and incentive plan to hook the student into learning. Then I can quickly build their skills and confidence and move on to more advanced skills.
+ What are your rates?
Online Tutoring:
30 minutes $45
45 minutes $65
In-Person Tutoring:
45 minutes $70
60 minutes $85
Reading Assessments:
Basic Online (30 minutes): Free
In-Depth Online or In-Person (45 minutes): $125
-Includes Written Report of Results, Home Practice Suggestions, and Good-Fit Book Recommendations
+ How long are tutoring sessions?
I look at a few factors when determining the session length: online or in-person, summertime or after school time, the number of weekly sessions, the child’s age, and the child’s attention span. For longer in-person sessions, Pre-K to First Grade students will have a short mid-session break.
My general recommendation is:
In-person Pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten: 30-45 minutes 1st and 2nd Grades: 30-60 minutes 3rd Grade and up: 45-60 minutes
Online Pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten: 20-30 minutes 1st and 2nd Grades: 30-45 minutes 3rd Grade and up: 45 minutes
+ Where does in-person tutoring take place?
In-person tutoring will take place in your home unless you prefer to do it at a public library instead.
+ How does online tutoring work?
Using a computer or laptop is ideal, but using a Chromebook or a tablet/iPad can also work. I will provide you with a Zoom meeting link. Your student logs on and is placed in a virtual waiting room. I admit the student to my meeting when I am ready to begin our session. For my instruction, I use a combination of online tools, such as Google Docs and Slides, PDF files, videos and music, online games and other online learning tools. Zoom has a whiteboard tool (which I use to model and teach), an annotation tool (so students can color-code and mark numbers and text), and a remote control feature (which allows me to give students control of the mouse to annotate and do interactive activities). For tutoring writing, younger students use their own whiteboards for spelling, word work, and sentences, and they use paper for writing multiple sentences or paragraphs. Older students type in Google Docs. ReadingIQ and Epic! have large digital libraries from which I find eBooks for my lessons.
+ Should I do online tutoring or in-person tutoring?
Please contact me. We can discuss what the best fit would be for your student.
+ Do you offer group tutoring?
Yes. Please contact me. If the individual needs of your student matches the needs of another student, I will do tutoring in groups of 2 or 3 students for a reduced rate.
+ Do you tutor during the summer?
Yes. Students need consistent practice over the summer in order to maintain the skills that they learned during the school year. I have a flexible schedule and will work around your summer camp and vacation needs. They will slide backwards without it.
+ What forms of payment do you accept?
I accept payment through PayPal, VenMo, check, or cash. I will send you an invoice to request payment.
+ Do you offer a discount for referrals?
Yes. Referrals and word of mouth are the main ways that I find clients. I will give you half off of a tutoring session if your referral schedules and completes a tutoring session.
+ Can I contact your references?
Yes. Please contact me, and I will send you a list references.
+ How long will my student need reading tutoring?
To see significant growth, most students will need at least six months of tutoring to reach grade level. This is influenced by a number of factors: learning speed, length and frequency of tutoring sessions, home practice, and dyslexia or other learning disabilities. Students who have more frequent tutoring sessions will make faster progress over a shorter period of time.
Especially in the early elementary years (kindergarten through second grade), students are very different in their reading development. Some students learn to read quickly while others require more practice and more repetition of learning sounds and words. Needing this extra practice and repetition does not necessarily mean the student has dyslexia or a learning disability.
Depending on the length of tutoring session that you choose, I will provide home practice suggestions, which will support what we are doing in our tutoring sessions and will affect the pace of growth.
Dyslexia and other learning disabilities range from mild to severe, so this will also affect a student’s progress.
Once students have reached grade level in reading, their parents often will ask me to tutor them in writing because many students eventually find writing more difficult than reading. They also may request that I switch my instruction to math if that is an area the student is struggling in.
+ What are the signs for dyslexia?
Signs of Dyslexia Common signs: Preschool
• May talk later than most children • May have difficulty pronouncing words, i.e., busgetti for spaghetti, mawn lower for lawn mower • May be slow to add new vocabulary words • May be unable to recall the right word • May have difficulty with rhyming • May have trouble learning the alphabet, numbers, days of the week, colors, shapes, how to spell and write his or her name • May have trouble interacting with peers • May be unable to follow multi-step directions or routines • Fine motor skills may develop more slowly than in other children • May have difficulty telling and/or retelling a story in the correct sequence
Common signs: Kindergarten through fourth grade
• Has difficulty decoding single words (reading single words in isolation) • May be slow to learn the connection between letters and sounds • May confuse small words – at/to, said/and, does/goes • Makes consistent reading and spelling errors including: o Letter reversals – d for b as in, dog for bog o Word reversals – tip for pit o Inversions – m and w, u and n o Transpositions – felt and left o Substitutions – house and home • May transpose number sequences and confuse arithmetic signs (+ - x / =) • May have trouble remembering facts • May be slow to learn new skills; relies heavily on memorizing without understanding • May be impulsive and prone to accidents • May have difficulty planning • Often uses an awkward pencil grip (fist, thumb hooked over fingers, etc.) • May have trouble learning to tell time • May have poor fine motor coordination
Difficulty with reading
• Difficulty learning to read • Difficulty identifying or generating rhyming words or counting syllables in words (Phonological Awareness) • Difficulty with hearing and manipulating sounds in words (Phonemic Awareness) • Difficulty distinguishing different sounds in words (Auditory Discrimination) • Difficulty in learning the sounds of letters • Difficulty remembering names and/or the order of letters when reading • Reverses letters or the order of letters when reading • Misreads or omits common little words • "Stumbles" through longer words • Poor reading comprehension during oral or silent reading
Difficulty with written language
• Difficulty putting ideas on paper • Many spelling mistakes • May do well on weekly spelling tests, but there are many spelling mistakes in daily work • Difficulty in proofreading
Difficulty with oral language
• Late in learning to talk • Difficulty pronouncing words • Difficulty acquiring vocabulary or using age appropriate grammar • Difficulty following directions • Confusion with before/after, right/left, and so on • Difficulty learning the alphabet, nursery rhymes, or songs • Difficulty understanding concepts and relationships
From http://www.readingrockets.org/article/dyslexia-beyond-myth
+ Do you communicate with my child’s teachers, other tutors, or other support persons?
Yes. I can communicate with and share information with the other people involved in the child’s education. It often takes a team to support a student and create the best learning experience and environment possible.
+ Do you offer a discount for referrals?
Yes. I will give you half off of a tutoring session if your referral schedules and completes a tutoring session.
+ Can I contact your references?
Yes. Please contact me, and I will send you a list of references.