DEVELOPING METHODS FOR OUTREACH ACROSS AMERICA

(A PILOT PROJECT)

In the past, Reading Window technology was available only for residents of Louisa County, Virginia — because we hadn’t developed a way, short of having the student and his/her family members meet with one of our tutors here at the school, of transmitting the complexity and nuances of the Reading Window techniques and the knowledge of how to meld them together for the most efficient way of helping someone come to enjoy reading and become comfortable and confident with it.

However, in a pilot project, Piper Martin, school founder and principal, has worked with three families located outside Virginia. In each case a parent (a mother, as it happened) has been the primary tutor for the child, with Piper coaching the parent through frequent phone and email correspondence and with materials flying back and forth via some combination of fax, UPS, and the postal service.

This long-distance coaching method isn’t yet ready for wide use, but through the pilot project we’re uncovering its difficulties and working them out.

JOINING US IN THE PILOT PROJECT

If you’d like to give your child the Reading Window advantage by tutoring him/her yourself while receiving almost-daily phone and email coaching from Piper, please see the end of this page for special tuition plans that limit your risk.

COMMITMENT TO DAILY SESSIONS

Before you start, you should know that regular sessions, at least five days per week, are very important to the success of the program. Reading Window experience predicts that any time we skip a lesson, we’ll have to spend most of the next session catching up! It’s much more time-effective (and much more enjoyable for the child as well) when regular lessons allow us to build each day’s progress on the previous day’s learning. This leads us rapidly up to and beyond the “Aha!” insight — the experience in which your child suddenly sees just how enjoyable and powerful the skill of reading is and how entirely competent s/he is at learning and using the skill.

For these reasons, your commitment to almost-daily sessions is a requirement.

INTRODUCTION TO YOUR ROLE AS TUTOR

Part of what you’ll be learning for your role as Reading Window tutor for your child is the habit of giving constant pleasant feedback during the sessions. A child learns more quickly and remembers longer when the child is happy. And part of the reason why Reading Window technology works so well is that it gives your child success always and failure never.

In order to set this constant encouraging feedback in motion beginning with the first few minutes of the first lesson, we make a game out of following instructions. When the child tries to do what the tutor asks (what you ask!), and whether or not the child succeeds in actually accomplishing the task, s/he receives a word or two of praise and, according to the rules of the game, a small prize.

Accordingly, each time you tell or ask your child to do something, if the child does it, you’ll respond by immediately saying, “Good,” or “Thank you,” or “Mm hmm,” or “Yes!” or “That’s right,” or “That’s fine.”

For example, if you ask your child to walk with you over to a window,” and your child walks with you over to the window, you’ll give feedback such as, “That’s good,” or “Thank you,” or just “Mm hmm,” or “Here we go!”

If you ask your child to open the book to the first page, and s/he does, you’ll say, “Mm hmm!” or “Good.” Sometimes you’ll give a few extra words of feedback, such as, “That’s right — you’re doing exactly what I asked you to do!”

On the other hand, if you ask your child to open to the first page and s/he opens to the middle of the book, you’ll say, in a very pleasant tone of voice, “Would you open to the first page, please?” Don’t just do it yourself — don’t open the book to the first page yourself. And the Reading Window way of responding never involves saying “No” or “That’s not right” regarding the child’s performance in a tutoring session.

The habit of listening to instructions and trying to follow the instructions is vital to rapid success — both in your Reading Window tutoring at home and for your child’s future success at school. So a lot of Piper’s coaching during the first few lessons will concern pleasant techniques to get your child to really try to follow your directions, right from Day One of your Reading Window work. You will master the Constant-Pleasant-Feedback Technique and also the Try-to-Do-It Game.

TUITION PLANS FOR THE LONG-DISTANCE PROGRAM

If you’d like to join in the experiment, we are offering a special tuition plan to limit your risk. A full refund is guaranteed if you participate with at least eight sessions in the first two weeks and then choose to stop after the eighth lesson.

Full tuition is $600 for 30 lessons in six or seven weeks. Even at this low rate compared to other tutoring services, Reading Window School is thus offering a no-risk trial worth at least $160.

Phone Piper (540-872-1999) if you have a special need for a partial scholarship, especially if your child is experiencing problems in 1st or 2nd grade.

I look forward to participating with you in this project that, besides helping your own child, will help many other children in the future.

October’s Reading Puzzle

Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at an Elingsh uinervtsy it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht frist and lsat ltteers are at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae we do not raed ervey lteter by itslef but the wrod as a wlohe.

[If this is hard for you to read, phone the Reading Window at 540-872-1999 or 540-872-1998 for tips and/or solution]

Of course, as always, our non-profit Reading Window School
appreciates – and is dependent on – our generous donors.
Special thanks for these recent contributions:

BAMA (Dave Matthews Band)

Bank of America

Charlottesville Area Community Foundation (CACF)

Optimist Club of the Blue Ridge

Rappahannock Electric Cooperative

Twin Oaks Community Inc.

Washington Power & Light Inc.

Please consider helping us provide scholarships to reach more children in need of our special methodology. Send your check to:
Reading Window School, Attn: Piper Martin, 138 Twin Oaks Road, Louisa Va 23093 or use your credit card by clicking on the button below.