Stop tearing your hair out over nightly reading homework!

Reading is an incredibly important life skill. One most people will rely on every single day of their lives. And navigating 12 or 13 years of school can be a nightmare for students if their reading skills are limited.

Indeed, what we know about education progression is “Up until the end of third grade, most children are learning to read. Beginning in fourth grade, however, they are reading to learn, using their skills to gain more information in subjects such as math and science, to solve problems, to think critically about what they are learning, and to act upon and share that knowledge in the world around them” (Learning To Read: Early Warning! Why Reading by the End of Third Grade Matters, 2010, p10). For those who are not reading at a 4th grade level, much of the content they engage with across all subjects at school becomes difficult to understand, creating a significant barrier to learning that can follow them throughout life and have implications for likelihood to graduate and future earnings.

All is not lost though, if you are faced with a reluctant reader. There are plenty of strategies out there to start engaging and energizing anyone and these, in conjunction with a little time and patience, can make big changes.

There are lots of obvious things that come up in various challenges designed to get kids reading. There are suggestions related to WHERE you read:

  • Make a blanket fort and read inside by torchlight
  • Read while you travel somewhere
  • Read lying on your trampoline

There are options for finding new types of books:

  • Fead a scary story
  • Read a book in a series
  • Read a book set in a different country
  • Read a book you borrow from a friend

Then there are the massive array of genres to explore (fiction – horror, romance, mystery, comedy, etc OR non-fiction – history, biographies, ) and text types (picture books, novels, series, comics, graphic novels, manuals, brochures, blogs, social media, etc). 

Sometimes, however, the challenge with this is that ultimately, it is all still sitting down to quietly read a text. And often, particularly for reluctant readers, that’s the problem. The where or what of it is less useful to mix up than the HOW. 

Given teachers, particularly in elementary school, often assign “read 4 times a week for 20-30 minutes a day” as regular homework for their students, it is parents who find themselves in the tough spot of trying to enforce expectations and battling a miserable child. Particularly for parents who aren’t avid readers themselves, this can be truly challenging. 

Finding a variety of HOWs to support alongside the homework instruction can be life changing for families. Alternatives that don’t require the sedentary quiet often associated with reading activities. 

There are more options out there than you would likely imagine and filtering through them for some of your weekly reading can really open doors to fun, interactivity and engagement in reading, significantly reducing the home battle familiar to so many parents. 

What exactly am I talking about here? Well, let me give you some examples:

  • My daughter really struggled with reading and every suggestion that we participate in this activity ended in battles and frustration. What made the difference – tapping into what she loved. Audrey loves music and wants to be a singer. She loves to sing along to the radio and even makes up some of her own songs every now and then. So we grabbed a karaoke machine, downloaded a few of her favorite songs and got to learning some lyrics. As the words scrolled across the screen we tried to read them and keep up with the artist, and laughed a lot as we failed. For favorite songs, we looked up the lyrics online, printed them out and practiced them without the music so we would do a better job of keeping up. Frankly, Audrey had no idea she was reading and embraced every karaoke opportunity presented to her.
  • As a big animal lover, my son loves visiting zoos of any kind. For this reason, we maintain a yearly family membership for the Denver Zoo, just half an hour drive from our home. Thanks to the membership, we can go whenever we like for as long as we want and there are endless reading experiences throughout. Each exhibit has placards describing the animal, where it lives, what it eats and many other interesting facts. While he wasn’t always excited to read them, the desire to know more about each animal almost always won out.
  • We had packs of sight word flash cards in our cars, bedrooms and my handbag during the sight word phase of the first couple years of school. They were never anyone’s favorite thing to work with, until we discovered the joy of laying them all out on the floor in front of us and making silly sentences. It helped reinforce not only sight word knowledge but also correct sentence structure. My recommendation for this – have a stash of blank notecards and a marker available when you give this a go. Often verbal language is far advanced of our reading so your child will likely want to include words that a) are not sight words and b) they aren’t sure how to spell. You can work through sounding things out or just write it on a card and add it to complete a sentence or story. I’ll be honest, “fart” was one of the first words we needed to do this for. 

Believe that change is possible for your child’s reading career with the right approach! Whether you are a parent looking for alternatives, a tutor supporting emerging readers or a teacher assigning reading but wanting to support your parents, head to my shop to buy Meaningful Reading Activities: 15 Reading Activities that aren’t just reading! Give them a try, share them with families at your school, personalize them for your child and get moving with making change!

Unlocking the Power of Monologues: A Versatile Tool for Student Development

As educators, our mission extends beyond simply imparting knowledge; we strive to equip our students with essential life skills. One powerful yet often overlooked tool in achieving this goal is the monologue. Often associated with the theatrical arts, monologues can be harnessed in the classroom to enhance students’ reading, speaking, and performance skills in a multitude of ways.

So… what exactly is a monologue?

A monologue is a speech or a lengthy utterance by one person during a conversation, performance, or presentation. It is a form of dramatic or theatrical expression where an individual addresses an audience, whether real or implied, by speaking aloud. Monologues can be found in various forms of literature, including plays, films, and literature, and they are often used to convey a character’s thoughts, emotions, or experiences.

Using monologue scripts in the classroom can be a simply way to engage students across a variety of skill sets that are important for their academic success. Here are just a few of the benefits of using monologues with your students.

1. Developing Public Speaking Skills:

Engaging with monologues provides a platform for honing public speaking skills, an invaluable asset for any future endeavor. Through repeated practice, students learn to modulate their voice, control pacing, and emphasize key points. In order to perform their monologue, students have to read the text multiple times to start to learn it. As teachers, we can help support them to identify the function of punctuation in speech (for example, a period [or full stop] means take a full breath), try on different personalities or roles when performing (it is amazing how some students can act as a character but struggle when presenting as themselves) and speak in a clear and understandable way.

Unlike an entire play script, monologues are generally quite short and therefore accessible to most students, even those reluctant readers in the class, because they can just be handed a single piece of paper rather than an entire book which may be overwhelming.

Assigning contemporary monologues or excerpts from famous speeches allows students to connect with diverse voices, fostering a broad perspective on effective communication.

2. Fostering Empathy and Emotional Intelligence:

Monologues, especially those portraying a range of emotions, can be a conduit for developing empathy and emotional intelligence. By embodying the emotions of a character, students gain a deeper understanding of human experiences, promoting a more empathetic worldview. For instance, a monologue from a character facing adversity can prompt discussions about resilience, compassion, and the human condition. Reading monologues for or with your class and discussing the variety of thinking and feeling words characters use, and encouraging student to cast themselves into the shoes of the character in question, can support key student skills and help them to feel seen and heard through different literature. Posing questions following a reading, such as “Who has ever had a similar experience?” or “How would you feel in this situation?” can help student both connect with the text to better understand it and develop empathy with others.

3. Building Confidence and Performance Artistry:

Monologue performances, whether in the classroom or in front of a larger audience, contribute significantly to building students’ self-confidence. Embracing the challenge of embodying a character and delivering lines with conviction instills a sense of accomplishment. Furthermore, this type of performance artistry prepares students for future presentations, interviews, or any situation where effective communication is paramount. It is almost impossible to get through life without having to present in front of others – whether in a classroom, business meeting or client interaction, being able to project confidence and present in a whole body way (considering stance, posture, gesture, facial expression, etc) can be a make or break in many instances. The earlier students can start practicing these skills and seeing them presented by other, the stronger their confidence and skills grow.

4. Enhancing Reader Fluency Through Repeated Reading:

Monologues serve as an excellent vehicle for implementing the repeated reading strategy, a proven method to enhance reader fluency. By assigning students a monologue to practice and perform multiple times, educators can observe a noticeable improvement in their fluency, expression, and overall reading proficiency. This strategy allows students to familiarize themselves with the text, internalize the nuances of language, and gain confidence in their oral delivery. Over time, this repetitive engagement with the material not only strengthens their reading skills but also instills a sense of mastery and accomplishment, reinforcing the idea that persistent effort leads to tangible progress. The repeated reading strategy, when applied to monologues, becomes a dynamic tool in cultivating not only confident speakers but also proficient and fluent readers.

I’ll be honest – using monologues for the repeated reading strategy is my favorite. I have seen it literally transform readers in a matter of weeks and there are so many ways you can play with the text to keep them leveling up – whether you mark the commas and periods so they remember to pause, highlight dramatic words they should emphasize, do speed drills to see how fast they can read the text error free or encourage them to memorize portions there are endless benefits to enjoy.

In conclusion, the humble monologue is a versatile tool that can be seamlessly integrated into the curriculum to enhance students’ reading, speaking, and performance abilities. By incorporating monologues into our teaching approach, we not only enrich their academic experience but also equip them with crucial life skills that extend far beyond the classroom.

If you’re looking for some classroom appropriate monologues to start supporting your students in the above ways, please check out Monologues for Students in my TPT store. This collection of 15 original, student centred monologues has something for everyone in easy to access, single page, 200-300 word texts.

Getting Explicit about Executive Functioning Skills in the Classroom

I can’t tell you how long I taught before I heard the term Executive Functioning Skills, let alone actually understood WHAT they were and WHY I should be taking time to ensure I was teaching them in an explicit, deliberate and structured way to the students sitting in front of me each and every day in the classroom. Let’s just say that over half of my teaching career EF was not a focus for me in my practice. And that is not something I can go back and change, but as I’ve come to terms with the importance of these skills and the plain fact that they are NOT innate (that’s right, you aren’t actually a “born planner” no matter what you might have been told) the more I feel compelled to make a fuss about Executive Functioning, both in general but also as a responsibility for teachers in the classroom.

Why am I starting my blog like this? Because I want to be clear that this is not an attack on teachers for failing to do something. That’s not what I’m about. And frankly, it would make me a massive hypocrite. What I want to do is help other teachers, new and beginning teachers and veteran teachers alike, and by extension the students in their classrooms every day, to identify the importance of Executive Function Skills and support their incorporation into every day classroom activities and practice. Because the impact on our students if we can make this change is significant. Keep reading and see if you agree!

If you are a teacher, here are some questions to get you thinking about whether or not you are providing students in your classroom the opportunity to gain and develop Executive Function Skills:

  • Do you support your students to create goals for your subject/class/course each month/term/semester that they loop back to regularly and then reflect on at the end of the designated period? [PLANNING]
  • When you hand out a homework task or assignment with a designated due date, what conversation follows with respect to when students might start work, chunk the task, complete various phases, etc? [TIME MANAGEMENT]
  • Have you ever verbalised your lesson timing with your students when you are working on tasks? I’m talking like “Ok, we are going to spend about 20 minutes now on writing and in that time we should all get approximately 10 lines completed” as a starting marker and then “Seems like I underestimated how long this task might take, let’s all have another 5 minutes to try to hit that 10 lines” as a model of thinking about how long things might take? [TIME MANAGEMENT]
  • If a student is struggling to get started on a task, how do you talk through different strategies or solutions to overcome this? [TASK INITIATION]
  • At the beginning of a lesson, what do you expect of your students as a sign of their readiness? Consider things like materials they should have out and ready to go, laptop open, paper or Word/Google document dated with a title. [ORGANISATION]
  • At the end of a lesson, how are students directed to act with respect to resources (eg handouts) and work completed (eg notes taken)? Do they have time to neatly put handouts into their binder? Are they supported to save their notes with a meaningful title in an appropriate folder on their device? [ORGANISATION]
  • When you assign homework, how do you expect the students to remember the directions and complete it on time in the correct way? I have to admit here – I am guilty of yelling “Make sure you read Chapter 6 before Friday” after my students as they file out the door at the end of the lesson and then wondering why they didn’t achieve the goal on Friday. [PLANNING]
  • Are you conscious of providing cues to your students for things they really need to tune in for during lessons, such as “I am going to run through the homework for tonight now” or “This content we are about to discuss will be important for your midterm” to provide opportunities for students to check back in? [ATTENTION]
  • How often do you demonstrate more than one approach to a problem or activity so that students can try out different options and see what ‘fits’ for them? [FLEXIBILITY]
  • What processes do you undertake when returning graded work to students for them to engage with their results, your feedback and their associated learning of the content? [METACOGNITION]
  • Do you discuss problem solving techniques with students when you present them with various tasks? For example – when you give homework, do you outline strategies they might try if they struggle to complete the homework, like asking a parent, watching a YouTube How To video, going back through their notes, calling a friend, skipping that problem and coming back to it rather than staying stuck on it? [PERSEVERANCE]

Ultimately, this list could be absolutely endless, but my goal here is to give you some ideas of how Executive Functioning skills might be explicitly taught and modelled in your classroom. Most importantly, my hope is that you can see this is NOT about adding extra workload to you in the form of separate mini-lessons or anything like that if you don’t want to. This is not about saying “Ok, class, pens down, we are now going to talk about Perseverance…”. Rather, it’s about seeing opportunities to model, discuss and practice these skills as part of activities you already do day in and day out as a teacher.

The real beauty then comes when you see the true benefits start to reveal themselves – rather than these activities taking time from your classroom (which, let’s face it, is at a premium at the best of times) you’ll notice yourself getting time back. If all your students know what needs to be on their desk at the start of the lesson, and you’ve taken 2 minutes to do that check and resolve any issues, suddenly those kids digging into their bags or running to their locker or yelling across the room asking for materials becomes a thing of the past. If everyone embraces the process of writing their homework in their planner (my school used to provide a school planner for every student at the beginning of the year, so this made things a bit easier… assuming the kids brought it, of course) and plotting out how long it will take and when they are going to work on it, you don’t have to spend part of the lesson disciplining those who didn’t do the work, altering your lesson plan so that some kids can do the work or losing your lunch break for them to catch up. Because it is done. Consider that for a minute. Consider each of those points above, how a lack of those skills in your students robs you of class time and how developing and strengthening them can gift that time back to you. Does it make it worth it?

Now, consider those students. Those students who will go on to college, work, living alone, paying bills… adulting! How much easier are each of those things for your students if they start out with strong Executive Functioning Skills? How much better if their life?

So, there you have it… a starting point for getting EF happening in your school. If you need or want more support, professional development, handouts or anything please feel free to reach out any time. I am always happy to work with teachers, schools, departments, businesses and families around strengthening executive functioning to improve outcomes and lives.

Working towards calm exam taking

Taking exams can be overwhelming and stressful for everyone at times, but for some people just the thought of it can be enough to have them convinced they cannot succeed. There are many things that can lead to or worsen exam stress and for this reason, there is not one simple “cure all” to help sufferers.

However, here is a list of a few things that individuals CAN do, if they want to try to get themselves into the best position possible for success. What is important to note, for ALL of these suggestions, is that they are not a matter of flicking a switch and all is better. Exam stress, in general, is not created by a lack of sleep or hunger (that is more related to exam performance than stress management) and therefore won’t be cured by going to bed early the night before or eating a healthy breakfast (although obviously these things are highly recommended!). If you want to manage your exam stress you need to consider the elements that create or bring on that stress and build skills that help reduce or eliminate that stress! The goal of the list below is to make this clear and help provide some processes you can incorporate into your daily life.

Mindfulness and breathing.

  • Every single day take 5-10 minutes to practice mindfulness techniques. There are many of these so be patient while you find the one that works best for you.Some to consider: Candle breathing; Muscle tensing; Notice 5 things – senses; Repeat a mantra; Body scan; etc
    • There are MANY more types of mindfulness – these are listed because they are ones you can practice in public. That is, you can engage with muscle tensing or mantra repetition (quietly) as you sit in an exam room without bothering a single other person in the space. Indeed, often without anyone having any idea you are even doing it.While dancing or tapping are also effective calming strategies, they are less useful in this particular situation.
    It is incredibly important that this becomes a daily behaviour – trying breathing exercises for the first time as you sit in a room about to start an exam will likely fail and could worsen the situation. By becoming somewhat expert in your favourite techniques you should find that they can help centre you in moments of stress.

    • Build up your capacity for selective attention.

    • Selective attention generally refers to an individual’s ability to direct their attention to a particular source of information, or activity, while ignoring others which are occurring at the same time. For example, listening to the teach in class with complete focus and blocking out the laughter and noise of another class outside on the playground.
    • For people who are weak with this particular skill, taking exams can be not only incredibly stressful but also ridiculously difficult. Every single sound they hear drags their attention away from the answer they are trying to craft and steals some of their response time along with potentially distressing them so much they are unable to maintain their engagement.
    • Thankfully, this is one skill that can be developed and strengthened through deliberate practice. You are making active decisions to direct all of your focus to the relevant information, data or stimulus while ignoring the non-relevant content. This is a wilful, not accidental or automatic, act. Therefore, we can practice it and get better at it.
    • Consider creating some of these situations to develop your selective attention:

    • Work on a puzzle of some kind (sudoku, crossword, etc) that is complicated while someone near you is telling jokes.
    • Read and summarise a textbook chapter while the television is on in the same room.
    • Set a metronome going while you read a book aloud – try to read each word or syllable on the beat, off the beat, or while completely ignoring the beat.
    • Try to memorise a list, series of flashcards or tray of items while people next to you are conducting a conversation.

  • Make sure for each you decide on how you will “assess” yourself, or work out your improvement or success. It could be timing how long you can last without laughing or reacting at the non-relevant stimulus; how many words you can write on a page while the distraction is occurring; how many items you can remember from a list, and so on.

    • Create and connect with your goals.

    • Whenever you know an exam is upcoming, take the time to consider your goals associated with that subject in general and the exam in specific.
    • In your initial stages of improving your stress, these goals may be related to your capacity to manage your stress as much as they are your desired grades or successes academically. This is entirely valid, and indeed, quite important!
      • For example – I will use my breathing strategies when I enter the classroom and first sit down so that I can have a clear and calm mind when the exam commences.
    • Remember when you are establishing your goal that it needs to have a few key features.
      • Of course you need to say what result you wish to achieve, but also consider how realistic it is in context (ie – if you have received no better than a C in an exam before, now is not the time to demand an A of yourself)
      • Decide what steps you are going to take to achieve it your goal. Will you study for 20 minutes 3 times a week? Will you post study cards all around your house? Will you ask a parent/carer to quiz you at random times? Will you request a practice question from your teacher and go through that? We don’t achieve our goals just by stating them – we achieve them by all of the things we put in place along the way.
      • Consider using the SMART Goal strategy when you establish the goals – that is, make sure you goal is Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time Bound.

    Know everything you can about the exam prior to sitting it.

    • One of the most common causes of stress and anxiety, in an exam or any situation really, is a lack of knowledge and understanding about the situation. If we don’t know what to expect, how to behave or the keys to success, wondering about the answers can lead to worrying about them and Hey Presto! we are stressed.
    • Consider the various things you might want or need to know about an upcoming exam:
      • Is there a practice test or revision sheet that I can use to help me prepare?
      • Where (exactly) will the test take place? Is it in my usual classroom, the school hall or an external location?
      • How many other students/test takers will be there?
      • How many teachers/supervisors will be there?
      • What equipment MUST I HAVE with me on the day to be successful? This is super important as there is nothing worse than running around 5 minutes before a test begging people to lend you a calculator!
      • What items are prohibited in the test venue?
      • How long will the test go for?
      • Can I leave the room to get a drink or go to the bathroom if I need?
      • Is the test taken pen and paper or online?
    • Once you have your list of questions, take action to find out the answers. You may accomplish this by:
      • Speaking with your classroom teacher or subject coordinator after class or during a lunch break.
      • Emailing your classroom teacher or subject coordinator (I am personally a big fan of this because if they respond in kind you have a clear record of the answers and don’t have to worry that you missed something)
      • Checking with the Guidance Counsellor, House Dean or Year Coordinator – this is particularly relevant for testing like NAPLAN (Australia) or SATs (America) that has a standardized process for the most part or is externally invigilated.
      • Communicate with peers if you have missed any lessons to find out what instructions were given that lesson.
    • Be sure to take note of the responses in your diary so that you can easily refer back to them and get yourself prepared for the big day.

    I hope that trying a few of these suggestions will help you manage your exam stress and lead to improved success on exam day for you!

    Remember, the key is to consider these various suggestions well in advance and practicing or developing each skill so that come exam day, it is so well ingrained that you’ll be able to automatically engage with the action you need to.

    Good luck with whatever tests or exams lay ahead!

    Why should we care about low language literacy levels?

    Blog 1/3: What is language literacy and how does it impact us?

    This is the first in a series of three blogs discussing the importance of literacy levels. This first blog covers what I mean by literacy and how low levels of literacy might impact individuals. The second considers strategies and supports that can be used within the household and with the support of various family members and friends. The final discusses the role and duties of people like me, who provide reading intervention to children, adolescents and adults who want or need higher level or professional support to gain literacy proficiency. I hope you all enjoy taking this journey with me.

    At its most basic, the term literacy refers to the ability to read and write, generally within a particular language. Moving a little beyond this simplistic conception, consideration of literacy levels can also consider not just one’s ability to engage with their language in written form (either by writing or reading a text) but also one’s confidence and willingness to do so. Engagement can be across elements such as identification, understanding, interpretation, creation and communication of printed and written texts in different contexts.

    With this understanding established, consider this series of statistics:

    “According to the International Literacy Association, there are 781 million people in the world who are either illiterate (cannot read a single word) or functionally illiterate (with a basic or below basic ability to read). Some 126 million of them are young people. That accounts for 12 percent of the world’s population.” [1]

    As is established in the above quote, literacy, or illiteracy, is not just a matter of being or not being, but rather a spectrum or scale, with many people located at various points along that scale. And 781 milling people globally are located on the lower end of the scale, living without the capacity to effectively engage with or create written texts. And this problem impacts children, adolescents and adults, often starting as early as elementary school and rarely rectifying throughout their educational journey.

    Indeed, statistics from the National Centre for Educational Statistics (NCES) in the US indicate that almost two-thirds of students in 4th grade read below their grade level with high school graduates reading below year level at the same rate. That’s right – around 60% of students complete their high school education reading and writing at a level below that which is expected of their age and education level. Further, “According to the U.S. Department of Education, 54% of U.S. adults 16-74 years old – about 130 million people – lack proficiency in literacy, reading below the equivalent of a sixth-grade level.”[2]

    An individual uses or needs their literacy skills in a variety of ways almost every day. More and more our favourite television programs and movies include characters sending text messages on their devices with the contents shown on screen rather than read to the audience. Daily we are flooded with emails – my own kindergarten student already has her own school issued email address which teachers, the school and the district direct various content to. Our bills, for everything from credit cards to electricity to our mobile phone outline numerous items for which we’ve been charged and literacy skills provide us the only way to know whether these charges are accurate. Ingredient lists and usage instructions on our favourite foods and relied upon medications tend to be word driven rather than reliant upon symbols. Even our car and bicycle manuals and train and bus schedules require of us acceptable literacy levels to navigate our way around. Every single day these are things we engage in and are almost unavoidable as we conduct our lives.

    And the consequences and impact of low literacy are more than just a matter of small frustration and annoyance at missing potentially essential information. Research demonstrates that, at an individual level, low literacy can lead to:

    • Greater unemployment and/or less opportunities for promotion and career advancement. Those with low levels of literacy have an underemployment rate of about 26% compared to 4% among those with high level literacy. Consequentially, those with lower literacy tend to have lower quality jobs, under employment and lower incomes. Research into this demonstrates that the difference between those with the lowest literacy levels and proficiency in income is $23,979pa.
    • Poorer health outcomes and lower life expectancy. This can be through an increase of workplace accidents, longer recovery time and misuse of medications. Further, limits to engagement with preventative services and delays in receiving diagnosis exist for those with low literacy even when controlling for other characteristics such as poverty.
    • Intergenerational transmission of low literacy. Those with low literacy rarely have extensive collections of books and deprioritise reading to or with their children, for a variety of reasons. Given reading to one’s children is one of the most powerful indicators of strong literacy levels, it can be difficult to escape from this cycle.
    • Greater chance of involvement in crime and incarceration. US Department of Justice data indicates that 75% of inmates are low literate or failed to complete high school. Further research indicates that 3/5 prisoners cannot read. Of great significance is research that suggests the likelihood of repeat offence, or recidivism, decreases by 7-43% following education and reading programs to improve literacy of people in prison.

    The economic benefits of taking genuine and meaningful steps to improve literacy levels are incredibly significant. “Low levels of adult literacy could be costing the U.S. as much $2.2 trillion a year.” Yup, that’s trillion… with a T! Imagine the kind of difference that can be achieved if we are able to start redirecting funds from prisons, healthcare and unemployment services. Dare to dream!

    Check back soon for Blog 2 in this series, which looks at strategies to implement for supporting children at home.

    1 https://www.libraryjournal.com/?detailStory=How-Serious-Is-Americas-Literacy-Problem

    2 https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaeltnietzel/2020/09/09/low-literacy-levels-among-us-adults-could-be-costing-the-economy-22-trillion-a-year/?sh=7ac309f24c90

    3 https://www.literacypittsburgh.org/the-challenge/

    4 https://www.dartmouthlearning.net/pdf/Literacy-Employment.pdf

    5 https://www.proliteracy.org/Adult-Literacy-Facts

    Welcome to Carolyn Prince – Teacher and Tutor

    My husband tells me that the first blog on a person’s website should be an introduction and bit of a story about oneself. So, here it is.

    Playing tourist at Arches National Park during our summer vacation – Carolyn, Xavier and Audrey, June 2021.

    I decided in 3rd grade, in Mrs Kovac’s class, that I wanted to be a teacher. She was everything amazing in a teacher: we all knew the boundaries and rules, but they were implemented with kindness and fairness; learning was fun and vibrant and interactive; differentiation was evident but never in any way that made us feel different and every individual was embraced and valued.

    During high school I realised that I possessed a strong love of English and enjoyed making meaning of texts, creating texts and frankly everything to do with language and how we can manipulate it to make meanings and share our thoughts, feelings, ideas and visions. Since high school provided the opportunity to specialise in this, I tool that path – as soon as I completed 12th grade I entered university and understood a double degree in Arts and Education.

    It wasn’t until a later teaching post in a lower socio-economic area that I first really encountered situations with students English language skills below that expected of their age. Significantly lower. Third grade reading skills while sitting in my eighth grade classroom. I was, at the time, ill equipped to help the student and I felt downright horrible about it. Thus commenced my education around teaching reading, spelling, vocabulary and writing, to those still developing these fundamental skills. I openly admit, I probably took longer to become good at teaching these skills that my students did to learn them, but I am incredibly glad to have them.

    Not only have I had the opportunity to tutor and teach students, in classes, small groups and one on one situations and see their confidence and self belief grow and their love of reading and learning in general flourish, I’ve also been able to support my own children in their literacy development. When we relocated to the USA from Australia in 2020, it meant cutting my son’s kindergarten year in half and placing him into first grade significantly behind his peers. Australian schooling runs in line with the calendar year so he had only completed a single semester of kindergarten (called Prep in Queensland) and we had to make the decision whether to start him over again in kindergarten in August or push him forward to first grade. It was a terrifying decision, as I’m well aware that being behind in school can cause significant distress for students and have long term implications.

    Having seen many of the struggles of students firsthand, and watched their transformation as learners and individuals, I am incredibly proud to be starting my own business to support learners and support families in seeing this exciting growth for themselves. While, of course, all families and parents can develop these skills themselves – and I would be more than happy to support this very learning myself – as I’ve mentioned, I am aware of the battle ground overcoming such difficulties can create for families and am excited to help ease this as much as anything else.

    So, it is with equal parts terror, joy and positivity that I start this journey to support the many learners and families I hope to meet in the coming months and years.

    Reading is a passport to countless adventures.

    Mary Pope Osborne

    Best wishes, Carolyn