With education research suggesting a variety of strategies and techniques for learning, how can you select the best suited strategies for your child? Considering the functions of brain hemispheres and your child’s preference will provide guidance in this area. 
Understanding the hemispheres and the most effective methods for presentation of information is essential in facilitating the learning process.

    The primary methods used in classrooms appeal to eft brain learners.  These
learners assimilate new information into their short term memory through concentration and structured lessons.  This brain hemisphere is responsible for interpreting auditory
information and works with details to synthesize the main idea.  Left brain learners excel on tasks involving logical/analytical processing and understand the nuisances of language with ease.  These traits naturally lend themselves to today’s classrooms in which
lessons are established in a structured format involving rigorous demands of
language.

     The question then becomes what if a child possesses the ability to learn through pictures and colors, understands and thrives when humor is integrated into the lesson and understands the whole idea before breaking it down into essential components? 
These attributes describe many right brain learners.  They learn through movement and visual stimuli.  The right brain hemisphere is responsible for long-term memory and
automatic processing.  Students  that are right brain dominate prefer options when completing a task.  They enjoy environments that are unstructured. 
 
     With a basic idea of the brain hemispheres and their role in the learning process, how can you better equip your child to excel in the classroom?  I believe a strengths
focused approach is ideal.  Praising and emphasizing your child’s strengths is essential. 
As I previously shared, for students with a right brain preference, visuals are key. Developing interesting stories and pictures to accompany challenging spelling words will assist in recall. For instance, while working with a first grader on the word city, I created buildings and streets integrating each letter of the word.  I then went on to explain that all the individuals in the city had a special power, they could fly.  The use of visuals can be extended to math facts as well.  These methods provide right brain dominate children with the “hooks” needed to improve their recall.  On the contrary, left brain dominate child learn best through activities involving the structure and practice. 
Therefore, spelling activities requiring them to write words several times using paint, markers, and/or scented colored pencils are fun ways to create memorable learning experiences.  Left brain learners would benefit from audio books and video lectures on
a specific topic or process.    

     Through careful observation and study, your child’s learning preferences emerge.  Carefully noting these preferences and considering them when supporting instruction at
home will benefit your child.  Whether your child is right or left brain dominate, making learning a memorable and engaging experience is essential in creating life-long learners. 

      Are you interested in learning more about how the brain impacts your child’s behavior at home?  Are you looking for methods to assist you in guiding your child to become a hard working and responsible adult? The Dyslexia Network of Forsyth County is holding a workshop lead by Mary Hynes Danielak, Psy.D.  This workshop offers parents a 5-step parenting program for enhancing their child's behavior in the home based on brain research.  Further information can be obtained by visiting www.dyslexiaforsyth.com.

      Many meaningful report card comments have been lost once this report has been read.  This can be attributed to students difficulty with connecting these comments to work completed daily.  While the teacher’s relationships with the student does have an impact on the likelihood that these comments will shape the child’s performance, often this is alone is not sufficient.  In these cases, a simple post-it can make all the difference!

      As I mentioned in a previous post, a student that I work with on writing recently received his report card.  We discussed the comments recorded on this report.  Using this conversation as a catalyst, we drafted a checklist of 5 areas to be edited upon his completion of a piece.  He was excited and motivated by this idea.  Through this conversation and tool, he was able to implement the daily directive given by his teacher to edit his writing.  He heard and understood the importance of this request however he struggled to implement a plan for completing editing.  As Paula Moraine states in her text, he could see the big picture, needing to edit his writing, but struggled to pinpoint specific traits to check.  Therefore, this tool provided him a method for doing so. 

      This tool is not simply limited in its use to editing writing pieces.  For example, while reading, a post-it can be created featuring a specific type of comprehension question, including main idea and details.  This post-it can be placed on each page read.  After reading a given page, the child needs to answer a main idea and details question given by the adult.  Some students struggle to recall the steps in a math problem.  A post-it featuring the steps in order can be placed at the top of a page of math homework to assist with ease of completion.  Once the child gains confidence and ease in completing the problem, the post-it can then be removed. 

      Beyond the vast array of experiences this tool can enhance, the discussion and active involvement of the student in the learning process is essential.  The better a child understands him/herself as a learner, the better equipped they will be to use this tool and others like it to assist their learning.  Empowering students to take ownership for their own learning is the key to the successful implementation of any new tool or strategy.   

     The next series of posts to be featured on Tutor Wise will focus on student motivation.  Since this term is vital in its importance and how it impacts the learner’s success, there will be various components examined throughout these posts.  While classroom educators often seek to impact a student’s motivation through classroom incentive programs, research has shown that the increase of student motivation through these types of programs is limited.  Why you might ask?  Well, motivation is something that lies within each individual.  Outside influencers including incentive programs are likely to increase short term motivation until students are no longer motivated by the incentive.   Also, students begin to believe that motivation is something you exhibit to earn something outside of yourself rather than something that lies within.  The view that motivation lies outside of yourself is actually contradictory to the purpose of offering an incentive, building motivation that lies within. 

      How can we as parents and educators influence the motivation of students?  I believe the cornerstone lies in the relationship between the student and their teacher, whether it be a parent, classroom educator, tutor, etc.  These questions come to mind as I think of a relationship likely to foster motivation within an individual.  Does the child know that you fundamentally believe they are capable of performing the task?  Do you exhibit this belief by offering flexibility in their completion of the task?  Is choice woven into the framework? 

     During a recent session, a 5th grader shared he had received his report card.  As he explained the contents of this report, it became clear he valued his Language Arts teacher’s comments far more than the grades or any other teacher’s comments.  So, I decided to inquire about his response to her comments.  He explained that he enjoyed her class the most because she allowed the students to select their own seats, ask questions as needed and select challenge work as time allowed.  It became immediately evident that he enjoyed the freedom this teacher had woven into the school day.  This example vividly illustrates the power of choice.  In allowing students control over aspects of their learning, it allows them to take ownership over their work and empowers them. 

In a previous post, I shared the powerful impact visualizing can have on improving student comprehension.  However, this technique is not limited to reading comprehension.  Preview and Review highlighted in “Helping Students Take Control of Everyday Executive Functions” by Paula Moraine also sheds light on this powerful tool.  While this text and technique are targeting students with executive function challenges, its scope is much larger. This technique can be used to help prepare students for everyday occurrences, building their self-awareness and empowerment.   For example, to begin each student session, I always provide the students with an overview of the lesson and activities that will be encountered.  This provides me with valuable insight regarding student motivation, current energy levels and confidence in approaching the tasks as often students share their thoughts and feelings regarding these activities. Initial session time is also used to review concepts previously visited and clarify any lingering questions that may have been encountered.  At the conclusion of the session, there is always a time for review and a discussion of what’s to come.  I have found this method to be invaluable.  Not only does it allow the student to connect with the material learned and ask questions, it provides them with the opportunity to share their voice.  In sharing their voice, students gain the awareness that this is their learning journey.  I am there to guide them, providing tools and techniques as needed.  However, the student learns more about themselves and their value.  The question then becomes, how can this technique be applied outside of session?  As I shared, the scope of this technique is quite broad and its application will depend on the individual needs of the student.  It could be used as a morning and evening routine to discuss upcoming chores and tasks that will need to be completed around the home.  It could also be used to prepare the child for upcoming assignments and tests.  However, I believe you will find, the individualized application of this technique will yield positive lasting results.

Are you looking to gather further insight into how the Tutor Wise LLC mission is put to practice?  Would you love additional educational activities for reinforcement and practice?  There are two new opportunities to fulfill both these requests.  First, I have an active Twitter page.  This page contains educational research articles, comments on educational ideas and even some celebratory remarks for student successes! Care to check it out?  Visit: https://twitter.com/TutorWise .  Also, Tutor Wise now has a Pinterest page.  Pinterest offers a creative and fun method for collecting educational ideas from teachers, tutors, and parents.  The pins I have collected relate to a variety of topics including technology, reading, and math.  For inspiration or to print out freebies check it out at: http://www.pinterest.com/tutorwise .      

As I have shared in a previous entry, my reason for beginning this blog is to provide parents and families with further insight regarding my educational practices.  While I have had a variety of experiences, I believe collaboration is essential and fun!  Therefore, today I am linking up with Adrianne of The Tutor House.  I have enjoyed many of her posts, and look forward to sharing these ideas with all of you!

      As an educator, I have always believed in continuing to learn and enhance my lesson presentation and strategies.  I believe by continuing to learn and grow, I am able to guide my students to become more successful learners.  Beyond this however, I believe I also set the example of the importance of learning as a life-long process.  Since I have found a particularly valuable website, offering a variety of free webinars for parents, teachers and tutors, I wanted to take the opportunity to share the site with those visiting Tutor Wise LLC!    The site featured below offers webinars on a variety of stimulating topics.  While many are geared to families of children with dyslexia, many of the topics are relevant to all families.  

International Dyslexia Association: Upper Midwest Branch

http://www.ida-umb.org   

      During an initial consultation, I always present families with a learning styles inventory.  Due to the nature of the information yielded from this tool, it proves invaluable as the sessions begin.  This inventory helps guide strategies and tools presented, methods for lesson instruction, and reinforcement.  Using this information, I have found the use of visualization to be beneficial in assisting students with a visual-spatial learning style to build comprehension.  However, it is an invaluable tool for all students.  To begin, I often present a striking image such as shark posing at an interesting angle or a valley with vibrant fall colors.  The student is then asked a very general question, “What do you notice?”  The answers yielded from this question are as diverse as the learners I guide.  This question and the responses are then used to introduce and discuss the strategy of visualization.  This strategy allows the reader to create images of the characters, setting and other contents of a book studied in their minds.  While many readers are able to complete this skill automatically, the value of this skill is often overlooked.  With a visual image created in one’s mind, or better yet drawn on paper, comprehension skills relating to main idea and details, inferences and vocabulary are all made much easier to complete.  In implementing this technique with a student who was able to read fluently, yet struggled to comprehend what he read, visualization proved to be the key to unlocking his ability to comprehend the text.  His ability to draw the images, later automatically creating these images in his mind, allowed him to understand the main idea and details in the text.  He was able to articulate vividly the important details and how these ideas related to the main idea.  The question then becomes how can this technique be used at home to assist students?  Follow these steps for easy application:

1.        Allow the child to read a self-selected yet, on-level text aloud.

2.       Select one particularly vivid or exciting sentence or paragraph to reread.

3.       Once a single reread has been conducted, encourage the child to close their eyes and reread the selection 2-3 more times. 

4.       Once the passage has been reread, with their eyes closed, encourage the child to share what images have been created in their mind.  For instance, What characters do you see?  Where are these characters?  How are these characters behaving? 

Keep in mind, this technique is applicable to both fiction and non-fiction texts.  While the images created during visualization may vary, the effect remains the same.  The child is able to “see” what is occurring in the text.

My hope is the implementation and continued use of this technique will help build your child’s understanding of the text.  Equally as important however, this technique helps to foster imagination and creativity. 

In an effort to give those interested in learning more about Tutor Wise, and how my approach differs than others, I developed this blog.  Each week a new lesson will be spotlighted.  This spotlight will allow further clarity as to how my educational philosophy and practice come together in lessons.  Whenever possible I have provided photographs to illustrate student excitement and motivation.  After all, my lessons are developed as a catalyst to bring out the best of each of the students I guide.  Thanks for your interest in learning more about my services and how they can enhance your child’s current educational program!


Week of January 13

This semester I have the wonderful opportunity to work with several Kindergarten students!  I love this age as I am able to lay the foundation for their reading and writing skills.  Beyond this, however, I am able to guide these students into understanding more about themselves and how they can use their gifts and talents to become life-long learners.  One of these Kindergarteners has been working on digraphs.  She has displayed an excellent grasp of all digraphs this far.  Therefore, I wanted to add a lesson previously implemented.  She had the basic understanding of the soft th sound, displayed in the words thumb, think, and thing.  Therefore, the hard th sound was introduced during our lesson this week.  In an effort to engage and inspire, I dressed up as Super Mrs. TH!  I explained that my magical powers included being able to say two sounds both the hard and soft sound for th.  She then had the opportunity to wear my glasses, cape and special badge.  She “flew”, and as she did so, she made both the hard and soft sound for th.  With the increased demands of the common core curriculum, I wanted to make sure to include a writing component in our lesson.  Therefore, after being introduced to the sounds, she had the opportunity to practice this is writing.  This was followed by the opportunity to read words and sentences containing the hard and soft th sound.  Her performance on each of these tasks was simply exemplary.  Next week, I will further this lesson by including a th sound sort.  This will allow me additional insight into her ability to distinguish between these two sounds.  Beyond the academics, during the lesson, I saw her display a deep sense of confidence and engagement.  At the conclusion of the lesson, she proudly shared with her mom these sounds, and the activity that helped foster her understanding.