Lesson Plans

Many tutors were able to turn in their lesson plans with last month’s hours. Many did not, and some of you are new tutors to the program. At training on Saturday, I found that our link to browse and upload your lesson plan as part of your tutoring report had mysteriously disappeared. Lest you worry, the tutor report form (http://project-read.com/report.html) now includes a place where you can upload your lesson plan and it will go directly to the Project Read staff. I would like to give a few lesson planning tips:

Lesson planning is clearly a critical aspect of tutoring. Without careful preparation and flow from one lesson to the next your student will not progress as rapidly as they may be capable. How do you put together an effective lesson plan? Planning is dynamic. It involves preparing the lesson, doing the lesson with the learner, and evaluating the results. It is not a linear process; rather, it is a series of connected loops, as one lesson leads into another, building on previous material and preparing for lessons to come.

Plan the lesson.

In preparing each lesson plan, consider these questions: What are the learning objectives? What will the learner accomplish? What materials will you use? What activities and teaching techniques will you use? How can you integrate listening, speaking, reading, and writing in the lesson? How much time will you spend on each activity? How will you and the learner answer the question, “Was it a good lesson?”

Do the lesson.

Evaluate the lesson.

Assess the effectiveness of the lesson by talking with your student, asking your student to record thoughts in a journal or dialog journal, making notes in your tutor log, and/or writing ideas for the next lesson.

If you need additional ideas or tips or sample lesson plans, please refer to your Tutor Training Manual or ask the Project Read staff for a sample lesson plan.

Happy tutoring!

Resources Available

I had a question in Tutor Training about the resources available in the Project Read Office. The commnent was made that most tutors do not have time to come in and spend a lot of time sifting through the (literally) thosands of materials available to tutors. Don't worry! We understand, and we have tried to do a lot of the work for you.

Each month in our newsletter, The Candlestick, we spotlight a different material resource that is available to our tutors. Some are online resources, but the majority of the spotlights are about books or manuals available in our office. You can click here to go to the Material Spotlights page of our web site and view all the spotlights since 2003. Unfortunately, we do not yet have a topical list available, but you can click on the year and it will then bring up a list of the spotlights for each month (including the title of the resource). If you click on that link, it will take you to a brief description of the resource.

We hope this helps! If you find a resource you are interested in using, please just ask a Project Read staff member and we will be happy to direct you to the resource on our shelf. Happy tutoring!

Spelling

We had a great question from a tutor on a recent tutoring report, so I thought I'd post it here with my response:

Question: I'm not sure how to help [my student] improve his spelling. Word-by-word he learns quickly, but he is really memorizing the way the word looks as a picture. So when he tries to spell it some time after we last reviewed it, it's shaped right but spelled oddly. How do I help him associate meaning of letters within the word rather than the word as a picture?

Great question!

Answer: I found some great tips on the web site Spelling It Right - Learn How to Spelling Confidently. Here are a few ideas:

To improve and develop their spelling, you need to:

• develop an interest in words
• feel safe about trying new words (not just words you're sure about)
• learn about
  the way words are built up using syllables
  basic spelling patterns of English
  memorizing strategies
  the meanings of words
  prefixes and suffixes
• write for their own enjoyment without the fear that they will be criticized
• read for pleasure

Tutors can help their students by:

• encouraging them to look closely at words and talking to them about words
• encouraging them to try new words
• playing word games with them, such as:
• hangman Click here for some interactive hangman games
• Boggle
• Scrabble
• encouraging effective memorizing strategies
• encouraging good reading/writing posture
  sitting up - eyes 12 to 18 inches away from the work
  forearms making a triangle with the torso insist upon it (friendly nagging if necessary!)
• encouraging spare time reading
• pointing out interesting newspaper items
• respecting "good mistakes" - those which use letter patterns which do make the right sound, even though they are not right for that particular word. So, for "purpose":
  "purpus" would be a good guess - like "focus"
  "prupose" would be a less good guess
• ensuring a dictionary is on hand for homework

One of my personal favorite ways to teach spelling is using the LOOK - THINK - COVER - WRITE - CHECK method (I used this with my son and it worked wonders).

LOOK carefully at the new word. How can youbreak it into smaller bits? Do any of the smallerbits remind you of the patterns of letters fromother words?

THINK about the parts of the words which mightcause problems - double letters for instance, or avowel that isn't pronounced as you would expect.

COVER the word and close your eyes. Try to see itin your mind's eye.

WRITE the word down without looking back.

CHECK to see if you're right. If not, look carefully at where you went wrong and try again.More

Hot Tips
Whenever you have to copy a new word from theblackboard, from a book, or from the dictionary, alwaystry to write the whole word in one go. Don't keep looking back after every few letters.

Try finger-writing: while you're THINKing about the word, pretend to write it with your finger, on your desk or on your hand or even "paint" it on the wall in front of you.

3rd Annual Spelling Bee a Smashing Success

Once again, the 3rd annual Project Read Spelling Bee thrilled audience and team members alike. Almost double in size from last year, 21 teams of 3 competed to be named Spelling Bee champions. In addition to the title of "Project Read Spelling Bee Champion," teams competed in the "Best Team Name" and "Best Team Costume" competition, with names ranging from "Word Stock" to "The Nelson Nerds" to "The Spellors" to the "Bee-Leavers" and teams dressed as ninjas, hippies, gangsters, etc. What an event! Provo City Library Director Gene Nelson was once again in attendance as the bumblebee mascot. Provo City Community Relations and Public Information Officer Helen Anderson also came dressed and ready to perform her role as a judge. Pronouncer Lee Bartlett gave participants each word, and MC Dana Robinson kept things light. And of course, we raised some much-needed funds for Project Read. Congratulations to our champions, the Mnemonic Mamas!

Of course, we couldn't have done it without the help of our sponsors:

Silver Level:
LexisNexis

Bronze Level:
FexEx Office
Hale Center Theater Orem
Novell
NuSkin
Provo City Library at Academy Square

Additional Sponsors:
Carrabba's Italian Grill
Daily Herald
Goodwood Barbecue Company
Les Olson Company
Magleby's
Mullett-Hoover, Inc.

Team Sponsors:
Sue Bartlett
Janette Beckham
Shauna K. Brown
Bryan Bennett
BYU Linguistics Department
East Shore High School
Empire Pension Consultants
Genesis PURE
LexisNexis
Gene Nelson
Provo City Library
Provo School District
Reading Horizons
Jeri Swalberg
United Way of Utah County

We couldn't do it without the support of faithful board members (Renata Swanson & Karen Brown):

Board member Valerie Roberts also helped out:

Judges Helen Anderson (Provo City), Tad Walch (Deseret Morning News) and Wendy Baker (BYU Linguistics Department) kept everyone in line:

Pronouncer Lee Bartlett was responsible for the word list, chosen from the Scripps Consolidated Word List:

MC Dana Robinson preparing for the event:

Participants sign in at the registration table:

Hannah won the 3rd round of the "audience spell along":

Competitors brought supporters to cheer them on:

The Spelling Buzzy Bees

Accessories in Crime

Bee-Leavers (audience-choice award for Best Team Name)

Bookworms

The Nelson Nerds (4th place & audience choice award for Best Team Costume)

Concessions were available for purchase throughout the event (thanks to board member Cory Bench & his daughter Abby for their help):

The Mnemonic Mamas (Spelling Bee Champions)

Otorinolaringologos

When you don't know how to spell the word, get creative!

The Dumblebees

The Prodigious Linguistic Connoisseurs

Word Stock (Best Team Name & Costume)

Kung Fu Cannons

The Spellors

Bee-Witched

Word to Your Mother

LIVE UNTIED (Give. Advocate. Volunteer. We always appreciate the support of United Way)

The Mighty Mayors (all 5 candidates for Provo City Mayor competed on two teams--The Mighty Mayors & The Miraculous Mayors)

The Merriam-Webster Group (2nd place)

The Miraculous Mayors

Dream Team Deleyne (2008 champions)

Thanks everyone for making this a great event! See you next year . . .