Phonics Tutoring: One Accomplishment Leads to Another

Sophie and I have been working together for almost three years. She was in 4th grade at the time. The initial assignment for me was to help her with phonics. She has learned a great deal more than just phonics, she has also become a good writer.

I asked Sophie what she learned while working with me. She said her spelling improved but she also learned how to use punctuation.  She explained that she had not been using it because she did not know what it was or what it was used for.

As Sophie started using periods she started defining sentences. She started putting commas where she paused while reading sentences. Quotation marks helped her understand when characters were speaking. Her reading comprehension improved.

As the use of punctuation started to help Sophie see a flow in her own writing, her stories became more complex. We started talking about the logical order of paragraphs and the importance of varying the wording of consecutive sentences and paragraphs to make them more interesting.  Sophie chose a topic she wanted to research. We used her initial rudimentary outline for the research report to see if she had covered all topics, and to determine a strategy to summarize and end the report.

What kind of writing assignment can keep a middle school girl so engaged in her writing lessons? All I did was ask her what she wanted to research. She chose the topic: Taylor Swift. I am sure she would be excited to continue her research after hearing Taylor’s recent engagement announcement. When the students are interested in the topic they remain engaged in learning the lessons.

When you are thinking about whether tutoring might be useful, think about potential long term benefits. Customized tutoring might help in more ways than you can imagine. If you do not believe me, ask Sophie, the aspiring writer.

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