Mara's Online Reading Tutoring

Hi!  My name is Mara.  I teach reading and spelling online to students with dyslexia (or suspected dyslexia) using the Barton Reading and Spelling System.  Barton is an Orton-Gillingham influenced system that is a “multi-sensory, direct, explicit, structured and sequential program designed for intense intervention.” (https://bartonreading.com/the-barton-system-is/#orton)  I have over a year of experience using Barton.

 

I would describe my tutoring style as gentle, patient, relational, and fun.  I like to get to know the students I tutor.  I like to do this through get to know you activities, games, quizzes, or questions when first meeting each other and through natural conversations that come up throughout our time tutoring.  I want to encourage students’ strengths and find ways to incorporate things they are good at and enjoy into our tutoring sessions.  Every person learns differently and is motivated in different ways.  So, it’s exciting when I can find something that connects with a particular student.  I want my students to leave tutoring sessions feeling encouraged rather than discouraged.

 

One of the ways I make my tutoring sessions fun and personalized is through using Koala Go as my video chat platform.  In addition to video chat, it also includes a whiteboard, a shared browser, and a playground similar to Minecraft.  The students I work with really seem to love it, and it makes virtual tutoring more engaging because of the ability to teach in a 3D world or whiteboard and play online reading games to reinforce concepts in the shared browser.  It also has a built in rewards system because I can give my students gems that they can use to buy things for their virtual world.