6 Year Old Can’t Remember Letter Names

From time to time, I like to tutor some of my students. I think it is important for decision makers in education to be in the “front lines” so they can view education from the teacher’s perspective. Yesterday, I tutored a 6 year old in reading. I quickly noticed that after two months of instruction with his regular tutor, he was still unable to retain certain letter names and sounds.

mastering basics

6th Grader on a 10th Grade Math Level: The Importance Of Mastering Basic Skills

Two days ago, I had the pleasure of administering an achievement test to a 6th grader who has been enrolled at One On One Tutoring Service since she was in the 3rd grade. For privacy reasons, we will call the student Susan. When Susan came to One On One Tutoring in the summer of 2008, she was in the 3rd grade and functioning on a 2nd grade math level. We recommended that she complete 40 hours of instruction in which we targeted her learning gaps by using systematic, direct instruction in a one-to-one setting.

reading-matters

Parents, GET INVOLVED!!!

I have always been a major advocate of parent involvement in their child’s education. In my nine years in education, I have found that students with parents who are heavily invested in their education tend to have more success in school than students whose parents are less involved.

importance-of-tutoring

The importance of tutoring for school-aged children

It is extremely important that parents are aware of the importance of tutoring for school aged children. As the methods of delivering instruction change due to the advancement and incorporation of technology and as standardized testing becomes the new measure of success, one thing still remains, we still expect one teacher to effectively teach to a group of students. Unfortunately, it is almost impossible for one teacher to provide the adequate amount of attention each and every student needs. According to (Hams, 2006) childhood is a multistage process where early investments feed into later investments. Skill begets skill; learning begets learning.

academic-difficulty

Signs of Academic Difficulty

Often times, parents watch their child get pushed through grade levels without properly identifying the child’s learning gaps or seeking appropriate interventions from the child’s school or outside agencies such as One On One Tutoring Service, located in Philadelphia, PA . I have met with countless parents who had no idea what their child’s weaknesses were. The end result is that the child’s learning gaps continue to widen as he or she gets older making it more difficult, expensive, and a lot more time consuming for interventions to be successful.