image013Reading is a complex process, and so it must be systematically taught in the areas of: Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, Sight Words, High Frequency and Sight Words, Vocabulary, Syntax, Fluency, Reading Comprehension including Metacognitive Strategies, as well as Written Expression and TDA (text dependent analysis). Phonemic Awareness becomes Phonics when a letter or letter pattern is assigned to the sounds heard in a word. Sight words are words that cannot be sounded out phonetically, and therefore must be memorized. High Frequency Words are words that are seen very often in text. These words should be read by sight, as well, in order to help achieve fluency. Syntax is how the author chooses to organize the information in a type of text. Understanding these patterns of organization as well as understanding the meaning of vocabulary words are both necessary for reading comprehension. Fluency, the ability to read easily, smoothly, and with expression, is also needed for reading comprehension. In order to comprehend what is read, reading must be an active process. We talk to the text utilizing Metacognitive Strategies;  in other words, we critically interact with it by: making predictions and inferring based on current and background knowledge, making connections, asking questions, visualizing, monitoring and repairing understanding throughout the text, sequencing events, synthesizing, and summarizing the text in one’s own words. Students will be required to explain their thinking when discussing these comprehension strategies and applying the concepts learned to other situations. When considering the student’s area of struggle within this reading process, the tutor will assess the student to determine the likely root cause of the problem and begin at that point with remediation. Information gathered from parents, teachers, performance on school work, and standardized test scores will also be used in planning remediation. Various methods of multisensory instruction and leveled readers based on the child’s Lexile Level will be implemented by the tutor. The tutor will monitor the progress of each student in order to effectively plan lessons based on the ongoing collection of data. The same process of assessment-based remediation will be used for other areas of the Language Arts: The Writing Process, various kinds of writing, such as: Information, Opinion/Persuasive, and Narrative (Fictional and Personal), Text Dependent Analysis (TDA) response to text via a prompt, English/Grammar, and Spelling. Tutoring is very beneficial to the student in the areas of these critical reading and writing skills. as well as in the skills required to take the follow-up comprehension tests required by the PA Common Core Standards and today’s high stakes tests.