Middle School and High School
End the cycle of failure for your teen.
Teens value their social status above anything else and they will protect that status at any cost. The teenage struggling reader is at risk in many ways. They have not been successful in school for 6+ years and have in most cases, internalized the message that they are stupid. To counteract this message, they need to experience success in school quickly and start experiencing academic success. Private Tutoring is the best way a student can improve their academic performance without risking their social status. Every student has strengths, and in my instruction, I capitalize on my student’s existing strengths to address their weaknesses in the following areas.
Phonics and Decoding
If a student is still struggling to decode words in middle and high school, they are not understanding what they read. They need quick and clear instruction to make up for lost learning.
Fluency
This is a major focus for teen readers. If they are reading too slow and missing words they will not be able to understand their text.
Vocabulary
This may seem redundant, but teenage struggling readers have an underdeveloped vocabulary because they don’t read. Students can learn valuable vocabulary from videos, however the average teen is not watching educational videos on Youtube.
Comprehension
The goal of all reading is to understand and gain knowledge from print. If a student reads too slowly, they will struggle to understand what they read. Simply, their brain is working too hard decoding the letters to understand the meaning of the text.
Writing
Writing is a complex combination of skills and U.S. students demonstrate a dismal ability to write proficiently. The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reported in 2011 that 24% 7th-12 graders have proficient writing skills. (Source: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 2011 Writing Assessment.