literacy tutoring resources
Education Resource Organizations Directory- U.S. Department of Education
http://www.ed.gov/Programs/EROD/index.html
"The Directory is intended to help you identify and contact organizations that provide information and assistance on a broad range of education-related topics."
Esme Raji Codell (author and certified readiologist)
http://planetesme.com
Hints for Reading Out Loud (http://planetesme.com/hints.html)
- Love the book yourself before you read it to the children.
Read it all through yourself before introducing it. Don't share a book you think is boring, because the kids can tell. There are too many wonderful books available, select one you both will enjoy.
- Choose a book that lends itself to reading out loud.
Unless you are dramatically gifted, books with lots of dialogue are tricky. Also, books with lots of introspection are sometimes more fun to read alone. Save these for one-on-one recommendations.
- Be versatile in your approach.
You read to them. Or, they read to you, in turns. Or, you read to them, but they all read along with their own copies. Or you read a page, they read a page. Or...what else?
- Make read aloud time special.
Gather around. Turn off the lights, turn on a cozy lamp. Flop on pillows. Be comfortable, but intimate. Read aloud time is classroom family time.
- Read with expression.
Listen to yourself on a tape recorder. Can your presentation be improved with dramatic pauses? Louder or softer speech? Funny voices? Don't be shy. They won't remember that you sounded silly. They'll remember an interesting book.
- Don't over evaluate.
The more you formally test and check, the more you kill the affective gain. Assess comprehension throughout with questioning and authentic assessments (journaling, art projects, etc.)
- Read aloud every day.
You and your students both deserve it. Consider it your intellectual vitamin. Read from a novel, the newspaper, a poem, a diary, a play...
- Leave them asking for more.
Leave them groaning at a cliffhanger. Laughing at a joke. Crying along. Then say, "more tomorrow." And then...deliver!
Illinois Literacy Home Page
http://literacy.kent.edu/illinois/index.htm
Comprehensive resource on literacy, with information for literacy tutoring and training, family literacy, student literacy, adult literacy, and literacy program administration.
The International Reading Association
http://www.reading.org/
“The International Reading Association is dedicated to promoting high levels of literacy for all by improving the quality of reading instruction, disseminating research and information about reading, and encouraging the lifetime reading habit. Our members include classroom teachers, reading specialists, consultants, administrators, supervisors, university faculty, researchers, psychologists, librarians, media specialists, and parents. With members and affiliates in 99 countries, our network extends to more than 350,000 people worldwide.”
LiteracyNet
http://www.literacynet.net/
“Western/Pacific Literacy Network is a leading web-based resource for the literacy community. The primary goal of Western/Pacific Literacy Network is to provide an on-line interactive structure for communication, educational materials, and sharing of information about adult literacy among eighteen western states and Pacific islands and island groups.”
National Center for Family Literacy
http://www.famlit.org/
NCFL’s goals are to:
- Create understanding about low literacy and about how family is the transformative structure to improve literacy for adults and children;
- Develop, evaluate, and replicate programs and interventions poised to break the cycle of low literacy for families with the greatest barriers to success;
- Create innovative solutions to learning English and achieving literacy proficiency for the nation’s immigrant population;
- Support the teachers, practitioners, and community providers who deliver literacy services by developing and supplying tools to make their work more effective;
- Provide families with tools and information necessary to build literacy into their home and daily life; and
- Assist communities and service organizations in designing and developing strategic programs to provide literacy services at the local level to large numbers of families.
Search Institute(not technically a literacy program, but helps provide a strong foundation for children)
http://www.search-institute.org/
Search Institute is an independent nonprofit organization whose mission is to provide leadership, knowledge, and resources to promote healthy children, youth, and communities. To accomplish this mission, the institute generates and communicates new knowledge, and brings together community, state, and national leaders.
40 Developmental Assets:
Early Childhood http://www.search-institute.org/research/40AssetsEC.pdf
Middle Childhood http://www.search-institute.org/assets/40AssetsMC.pdf
Steps to Literacy
http://www.stepstoliteracy.com
Supplier in elementary educational materials.