promote literacy

the TASS test standards, which has it’s pros and cons. Personally I am against this type of education because it is all by rote without much creativity thrown in the mix. Many people know what they have learned but freeze up on tests (myself included) so I truly do not believe it is any indication of literacy. But it is how the school systems in Texas get federal funding.

My son says they have a system that if the children fall behind and are labeled slow learners they put them in special classes and somehow are absolved of being poor teachers and still get the federal funding. He is very conservative in his beliefs so I tend to believe he has looked into this.

My granddaughter had fallen behind in her reading skills so my son and daughter-in-law took the bull by the horns read with her every day to get her to her grade level in reading comprehension. She passed the Tass test reading section with flying colors. Her teacher was amazed.

While they were concentrating on her reading skills her math skills dropped from a 93 to a 75…not sure why but they decided she should go to summer school for the month of June for math tutoring. Her teacher told them that wasn’t necessary. It wouldn’t do any good because her test scores were low. So they went to the principal of the school to get it approved.

He said he wished more parents took an interest in their children’s progress. My granddaughter has done well with her math class and is back up to her grade level.

My question is why are teachers allowed to label a child slow so they don’t have to take responsibility for illiteracy? Aren’t they being paid to encourage and teach our children?

Today is the first time in about a month that I will be tutoring. The student I’m working with is having some behavior issues and I’m a little afraid he is giving up on himself. I am willing to try as long as he is, but I know that if he gives up, there is little that I can do.

I am going to try to make today’s lesson fun. He’s very into mechanical things – so I bought this mechanical set for children (you can build cars, make simple machines, etc). I am going to start off with that, and then end the lesson working on reading. Hopefully, this will work.

The student I’m tutoring is in danger of getting expelled from his school. I am very upset about this because I have been trying so hard and I was hoping he would be ok there for the rest of the year.

I am going to try my best to see that he stays, but I know that it is going to be hard. He has been acting out a lot lately – getting into fights, talking back. But I still have hope.

The student I am tutoring is doing well, and I am very happy at his progress. But he is still having some trouble mixing up certain letter. Example: p, d, and b. I’ve tried having him “air write” the letters, write the letters in rice, and associate the letters with different objects to get him to remember. I hope that this hurdle can be overcome soon.

I am going to try to get him enrolled in private school next year. The middle school he would be going to is known for how violent it is and would not be good for him. But in order to do that, he would have to ready for mainstreaming, which at this point is a long way off. I am hopeful, but nervous at the same time, because I don’t know if he will be ready.

the story of Dr. Ben Carson on TNT. It was insprational to say the least. Good television is rare. This was one of the best things I have seen in a very long time.

As a child he had learning disabilities and a mother who believed in him but who herself was illiterate (unable to read). What we tend to forget is that the ability to read is something we learn while our innate intelligence is a gift we are given at birth. Learning to read enables us to learn what others already know but also unleashes our own imaginations to discover new frontiers.

His mother knew this. She turned off the TV and challenged her sons to go to the library, read 2 books a week and write book reports for her.

This hit close to home for me yesterday. My son called and in our conversation he told me my grand-daughter was having trouble with reading comprehension. He has taken the bull by the horns and is reading with her every evening instead of watching TV.

We can solve our literacy problems one child at a time if each of us make a commitment just like Ben Carson’s mother and my son by opening up books and turning off the TV.

This is going to be the second week of tutoring. I am pleasantly surprised at the progress that is being made. He is already sounding out words like “rat, mad, nat” – words he had no idea what they said before. It just goes to show the progress a child can make when they receive the necessary instruction.

I am not as confident in my instruction as I would like to be. This is the first time I am using a reading program, and tutoring someone with dyslexia, but at end of every lesson I feel more encouraged because I see that it is making a difference.

I went to a meeting for the student I am going to tutor. It was the teacher, the mom, a rep. from the county, and myself. I went over his IEP with the teacher and discussed services that need to be added. After looking over the paperwork, and asking a lot of questions, I got a pretty good idea why he still can’t read. He is dyslexic, but they have him diagosed as something else – so he is not receiving services that a person with dyslexia should receive. Sometimes the school will do this intentionally to avoid paying for extra services.

I know that realistically I can’t speak for the mother. She needs a lawyer. I hope to get her in touch with someone who can deal with the legal side of it, so I can focus solely on the tutoring. It is sad to me that something that could have been solved a long time ago, has been made to drag out for as long as it has. Dyslexia is something that can be accomodated. If someone has dyslexia, they can learn to read, but they need the resources.

For anyone that is looking to promote literacy – you will find this problem. Most schools will take the easy road and ignore their dyslexic students rather than get them the help they need. It is a sad fact.

The boy who I am going to start tutoring is having a bit of trouble at school with children picking on him. The school has also done very little to address his dyslexia as he is in 6th grade and still can’t read. His mother is at her wits end. I am all too familiar with the way some schools operate – so I’m hoping that I can help her. I have a feeling this is going to be complicated.

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I started training on the reading program today. I really like how its all laid out – all I have to do is go along with the steps in the DVDs and then I’ll be ready to administer the program. Which is not to say that I’ll be perfect at it, I know I’ll still learn a lot as I go along, but at least I have something to follow.