Carlsbad Library :: Literacy Pairs Share Their Breakthroughs

Literacy Breakthroughs: Carlsbad Library Learning Center Literacy Pairs

Learning Connections: January/February 2019 by Carrie Scott

Even with the most effective tutoring pairs, plateaus can happen. Sometimes, you may find you’re in a rut, struggling with a new learning theory or needing a different approach.

Here are three Carlsbad Library Learning Center literacy pairs who shared their recent breakthroughs and leaps forward! We hope that their stories will inspire you to try new techniques, tools and ideas.

Andrea G. and Anastasio S — Writer to Writer

Anastasio had never typed a letter before. He'd written some paragraphs, but never a complete letter, and certainly not to an author! Last year, he entered the Writer to Writer Challenge, a contest for adult learners to read a book and write a letter to the author about how the book impacted their life. Anastasio chose the book "Road Trip" by Gary Paulson. He said he liked the book, because he enjoyed how the characters became friends on the trip. His tutor Andrea helped him by asking a lot of questions! Who were your favorite characters? Why do you like them? What questions would you have for the author? When asked what he would tell a fellow learner about writing a letter, he said, "It's not that hard. Just express yourself!"

Stephanie S. and Adriana M. — Phono-Graphix

Tutor Stephanie had been working with her learner on Phono-Graphix for about six weeks. Because her learner had been in the program before, she flew through the initial lessons and even the advanced code sound lessons, because the words were familiar to her. Stephanie wondered whether she was getting any benefit from the exercises. However, they had just started reading a novel that had many complex words. Several times, the learner came across an unfamiliar word, and she would pronounce it correctly (or correct her initial mispronunciation) and explain why a vowel sound was the correct one. They are both encouraged that she could pronounce a word correctly and, more importantly, understand why!

Rylee C. and Souad B. — Read Live

This pair had been meeting for about 6 months, and even though they were making progress, the learner was eager to learn faster. That's when we introduced them to Read Live, a computer program where the learner reads along with a story, while learning new vocabulary. According to Souad, "I'm learning a lot with reading and spelling. The sounding out of the words is very good and so is the repetition." The program is timed, and tutor Rylee noticed that Souad wants to finish the paragraph before the time is up. Rylee remarked,

"The timer keeps her wanting to read. She likes the challenge!"  READ MORE >>