Humboldt
Literacy
Project
Tutor Orientation
Frequently Asked Questions
Where will we study?
How often will we study?
Where will we get our study materials?
Do you have any questions about:
Job Description?
Confidentiality?
Rights?
Mandated reporting?
What is literacy?
The ability to bring
meaning to the words in
a text in order to get
meaning from or to understand the text,
using READING, WRITING, SPEAKING and HEARING.
What’s an HLP learner like?
Who is a typical learner?
Illiterate adults come in all ages, races, social, financial, political and and medical backgrounds
Complications:
Interrupted Education
Shame
Traumatic Brain Injury
Learning Differences
Unsupportive Environment or Person
Difficulty articulating goals
Predators
Health/Emotional/Family/Work/Financial Issues - Just like you!
Frequently, conditions are identified during the initial assessment...
Keep in mind…….
Cultural Sensitivity
Tardiness, cancellations, and no-shows
(no, the Universe is not telling you to walk away!)
Appropriate relations
Don’t call it homework!
Encouragement when things are going well, and when they’re not…
Keeping material fresh
What makes an effective tutor?
Effective tutors are:
What is expected of me?
Roles and Goals: This form allows us to to track progress, establish clear goals, maintain motivation and focus, and develop lesson plans. Turn in the R&G sheet twice a year. https://drive.google.com/file/d/18AJpE2Nvjeyq-q2N3-qDTcheTH9YKiB4/view?usp=sharing
Monthly Tutor Report: Phone, email, or preferably use our online form to tell us how many hours were spent tutoring and preparing lessons. https://forms.gle/5atphAs97Cpi55zE9
Think long term and incremental progress!
Be impeccably respectful, ethical and legal.
Keep communication open with HLP and your learner!
Have fun!
Healthy Boundaries!
Personal!
Practical!
Financial!
Romantic!
Professional!
Temporal!
Food!
Social
Locational!
Power balance!
Health
Political!
To consider:
How will I keep my Learner feeling confident when things are hard?
How will I help my Learner stay focused when things are distracting?
How will I stay confident when my Learner isn’t making progress as I wish?
How To Read
In three painstaking steps
Fog By Carl Sandburg
The fog comes
on little cat feet.
It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.
Hold On, I’m Coming
by Sam and Dave
written by Isaac Hayes and David Porter, 1966
Don't you ever be sad
Lean on me when times are bad
When the day comes and you're down
In a river of trouble and about to drown
Just hold on, I'm comin'
Hold on, I'm comin'
Get creative when teaching to the individual! Improvise! What works?
Try a multisensory approach!
Games
Labels
Craft projects
Q&A
Music
Movement
Context Clues
Recognizing many words in a sentence by s________ allows the learner to discern the meaning of the entire s________ and read w________ that they would normally not be able to read.
The Cloze Procedure (pg. 50): helps the learner practice using context to fill in missing words in a sentence or paragraph.
You can make a Cloze exercise by selecting a passage that is at or below the learner’s current reading level.
How do I teach an adult to read?
Get to know your learner!
Roles & Goals and Learner Self Assessment Sheets
Learning Styles
What is YOUR learning style?
At the end of each lesson...
TOOLS!
Join our Facebook group!
Follow our Facebook page!
Bookmark HLP’s special page for tutors!
Our resource library is full of educational books and materials!
Call us and let us select some curriculum for you!
Let us know when you find a cool app, book, website or educational game, we may want to share it with your fellow tutors!
Watch your email for announcements of tutor roundtables and other opportunities!
Now what happens?
We’re gonna call you.
You’ll met your learner.
Talk about when and where to meet.
Talk about goals…
...a little later on.
Recap Questions
How much homework will I assign my Learner? Preferably none!
How much money is okay to accept from my Learner? Zero!
What do I do if my Learner is a no-show? Call us.
How do I report my work with my learner? See monthly report and semiannual Roles and Goals.
What do I do if I feel like we’re “stuck”? Call us.
What do I do if something seems “wrong”? Call us.
What do I do if something great happens? Call us!
Steps for LES
Phonics
Phonics is the letter-sound relationship. A way of teaching reading that helps learners see and hear the connection between letters and the sounds they represent.
Lesson Planning
“Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I will learn.”
-Ben Franklin
Teach to the individual! Helping adults improve their literacy skills should be learner-centered. That means providing practical, planned instruction using materials that are meaningful to them.
Challenger and Voyager workbooks offer good starting points.
Word Patterns
Recognizing word patterns enables the learner to make a connection between letter clusters and the sounds they represent. (List of patterned words on pgs. 179-190)
Ex. CVC pattern:
get cap
set map
let sap
met tap
Rhyming
The goal is to recognize the entire cluster:
-ing
-ight
-aunch
or,
man in manage and sat in satisfy
Learner strategies for decoding words using word patterns:
Sight Words
English: the Ultimate Joy Ride Through Our Language
Types of sight words to teach: (helpful lists on pgs.191-194)
Tutor Tips: introduce 6-8 new words per lesson; construct personal word lists; keep file box of “known words”; word searches found online or in books, or created by you and your learner