1:1 Private Reading Lessons and Writing Lessons: Fluency and/or Enrichment

This ongoing class offers individually tailored one on one reading and writing instruction. I’ll start our first session with a reading interest inventory in order to learn about your specific student. I’ll also have them perform a couple of reading and writing exercises to learn where their skills level is at (and report this back to you). I love providing lengthly class write-ups after every lesson. Communicating promptly and clearly with clients is a top priority of mine.

There are several different directions we can go based on your student’s needs. (Along with general ELA teaching experience, I have professional experience as both a special education reading teacher and talented and gifted reading teacher.) 

Some students need direct guided instruction in the area of fluency. Our time together can be spent immersed in a step-by-step curriculum. Other students, however, may need assistance finding books that pique their interest. I also love to help students find books that address certain social and emotional needs (the topic of my master's thesis). 

In addition, some students may read the majority of their books outside of class but come to me for book projects and comprehension exercises that include writing. Other students may need help sorting through all of the awesome resources online related to reading and writing. I’m happy to facilitate sessions around exposing students to IXL, free audiobooks in the public domain, and numerous other fun tools available online. 

I have over 60 lessons designed covering everything from writing five paragraph essays to inferencing, and I will post this menu in the classroom after our first session. With all of these options, my top priority is to find out what interests young readers and increase their skill base, all while having fun. To help students feel at ease, short talking breaks and friendly activities are sprinkled throughout our intense 25-30 minute sessions. Trained and certified in both special education and talented/gifted education, I know growth in reading and writing can be stressful for students of all abilities. Most of all, I hope families feel like they have a supportive and enthusiastic literary coach alongside them on their student's educational journey.

Students and parents often request lessons on specific books. I am very open to this! I have a lot of experience supporting students with the books below. While meeting the needs of my various clients, I'm always adding to this list!

The Giver by Lois Lowry
The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Flatland by Edwin Abbott Abbott
Alice and Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt 
Charlotte's Web by E. B. White 
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery
Emily Dickinson (various works)
Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne
Grimm's Fairy Tales by Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm
Aesop's Fables
Black Beauty by Anna Sewell
Hans Christian Andersen (various works)
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne
Night by Elie Wiesel
1984 by George Orwell
Animal Farm by George Orwell
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Holes by Louis Sachar
Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls
The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells
Short Stories By Edgar Allen Poe
Shakespeare (various works)
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
A Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
War Horse by Michael Morpurgo
Letter to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke
A Long Walk to Water: Based on a True Story by Linda Sue Park 
The Castles of Athlin and Dunbayne by Ann Radcliffe
Dante’s Inferno by Dante Alighieri
Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
Treasure Island by RLS
A Brief History of Nearly Everything By Bill Bryson

Students interested in creativity, psychology, and business:
The Gifted Kids Workbook by Heather Boorman (ages 8-12)
The Gifted Kids/Teens Survival Guide by by Judy Galbraith and Jim Delisle 
How I Built This by Guy Raz
Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise by Anders Anderson and Robert Pool
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (various books)
Howard Gardner (various books)
Originals by Adam Grant
Grit by Angela Duckworth
Blink by Malcolm Gladwell
Mindset by Carol Dweck
Range by David Epstein
The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron
Girls Think of Everything: Stories of Ingenious Inventions by Women
by Catherine Thimmesh, Melissa Sweet
Think Like a Freak by Stephen J. Dubner and Steven Levitt

Younger Students:
Magic Tree House Series
This Who Is (Who Was) Series
Laura Ingalls Wilder

Writing Topics:
Retelling/summarizing
Stronger sentences
Paragraph construction
Five paragraph essays
Narrative essays
Opinionated essays
Research papers

Targeted Curriculum:
-Read Naturally (inspiring biographies/quirky facts about science and animals)
-The Critical Thinking Co.
-Education.com

***Please contact me if you have a specific schedule request. I'll see what I can do.

Feel free to try out one session to see if I am a good fit for your student. Scheduling concerns? I can accommodate a variety of M-Th 8:30am-2:30pmCT schedules consistently with request and communication. I have several students interested in lessons two+ times per week. My personal policy is to charge for missed lessons with less than 24 hour notice. Rescheduling is difficult with my often busy schedule. Also, please note, I observe popular holidays in the US (Thanksgiving/Winter Break/July 4th/etc.). I communicate scheduling issues on my end with plenty of notice. Communication is the key to helping your student. We'll be in touch quite a bit.

Thank you for taking time to read my class description!