Learning Why to Disrupt Teaching Norms
As a tutor and educator, I need to use strategies that disrupt habits of not thinking and getting by. This book study of Peter Liljedahl’s book, Building Thinking Classrooms in Mathematics, explores the research and proven strategies that will increase students’ engagement, thinking, and learning.
Using Challenges to Get Students Thinking
Using challenges or puzzles at the beginning of a lesson will help engage students in the lesson and learning process. Challenges like this not only engage students in the learning process, but they also provide a quick informative assessment that can help you determine what students need.
Vocabulary Activity for Comprehension
Tutoring for reading comprehension needs to include vocabulary. This activity is a great way to help students interact with the vocabulary, make meaningful connections and transfer that knowledge and understanding to their reading.
Reading Comprehension Game: Scrambled Sentences
Scrambled Sentences is a great way to review a book or chapter that students have read. It’s also a great way to review basic writing mechanics.
Building Addition and Subtraction Skills
When tutoring a student who struggles with regrouping and multi-digit addition, the tutor needs to consider the skills the student didn’t solidify in a previous grade. This blog post briefly reviews how addition and subtraction skills build from kindergarten through sixth grade and where possible problems may arise.
Reading Games for Tutoring
Reading Intervention Games for Tutoring. Poison Star is a great game to review old and new skills. Students get to practice their segmenting, decoding, blending and reading skills with this game and build fluency with practice.
Tutoring Interventions for Reading: Multisyllabic Words
Reading interventions for multisyllabic words involves systematic instruction and practice. This plan for tutoring breaks down how I would approach this situation.
Reading Tutoring Activities That Work
Tutoring activities for reading interventions are critical. They need to review new skills, integrate old skills, provide opportunities to practice, challenge students and be engaging. This activity does that. By chunking words into beginning sounds (consonant, blends, digraphs) and ending sounds (vowel with a blend or digraph) on cards that students can manipulate, students can practice their reading skills and complete challenges that have students access their phonological awareness. This activity is a great tool for reading interventions and tutoring.
Tutoring and Math: Vertical Alignment and Sequencing Numbers
Properly sequencing and plotting numbers on a number line is dependent upon foundational skills learned in earlier grades. Students who are unable to compare fractions to sequence and plot them accurately will need interventions on understanding what a fraction is and how it expresses its value.
Let’s talk about reading
Phonological awareness is a foundational skill for reading. Building that skill and using it in the decoding process provides a foundation for building reading skills.