Strategy Beats Time
If your child is a rising reader, the right strategy will make all the difference.
My Reading Tutor Origin Story
I started my journey as a reading tutor over ten years ago. Back then, I taught reading the same way every other teacher and tutor did - by having my students read as many books as possible hoping one day they would just “get it.” I thought that with enough repetition, my students would gain more independence as readers and be able to identify plot, characterization, and theme on their own.
However, the actual process was predictably disappointing. My students struggled to improve their reading no matter how much time and effort they gave. I could tell that they viewed reading as a confusing process. Each text took place somewhere different, included different characters, and had a different story. I knew my students were smart. Many of them excelled in mathematics, science, and many other challenging subjects. Nonetheless, their weak reading skills held them back from achieving their academic goals. Seeing my students struggle, I thought to myself,
“Is there a strategy I can teach my students that will work on any text they read?”
After reflecting on all I had learned as a teacher at elite private schools and as an independent tutor, I decided put together a strategy for my students to use to accelerate their reading. I wanted to develop a strategy all my students could use, whether they were a more math-focused student who needed a way to make the reading process more logical or a reluctant reader who needed reading to be less chaotic.
The Strategic Reading Method
Through a long and arduous process, I developed a new method when teaching reading comprehension to my students. I call it the Strategic Reading Method because it gives students clear, actionable steps to take with every book they read. This method is simple enough for students to understand, but still helps them comprehend any text - yes, literally ANY text - no matter how simple or complicated it is.
As I began experimenting with the Strategic Reading Method, I noticed that all my students began to immediately benefit. Students as young as third grade and as old as high school upperclassmen were seeing drastic improvements in their reading comprehension and grades using my Strategic Reading Method.
One student of mine began his ninth grade year trying his best to keep up with the rest of his students in his honors English class. His parents reached out to me and set him up with once per week Strategic Reading classes with me. By the time he entered his 10th grade year, he reported back to me that he was now at the head of his English class. His teacher relied on him to answer the toughest comprehension questions when the other students were stumped. He felt like he already knew what the teacher was going to ask before she even started speaking.
Another student of mine, an upperclassmen with a flawless math and science resume, but who nonetheless was held back by the reading section of the SAT from the score he needed to enter his dream university, contacted me for help. He had already attended multiple SAT boot camps, sacrificing his entire summer and winter breaks, expecting his score to rise. However, he saw only negligible improvements in his reading score, no matter how much time and effort he spent.
After meeting with him the first time, I knew I had to take him out of the “drill and kill” mentality he learned from the boot camps, where he would take multiple practice tests after another thinking that would improve his score. Using the Strategic Reading method, he began to anticipate the questions that would show up on the test and accurately identify the best evidence to support his answer. The next time he retook the SAT, his reading score went from average to elite, opening the doors for him to be admitted to his dream school.
Strategic Study with Mr. David
After seeing the impact that the Strategic Reading Method had on my students, I began to reevaluate how I thought about my independent tutoring practice. So many of my previous students had reaped the benefits at higher grades. Their success stories made me think about how younger students could benefit from implementing the Strategic Reading Method early. By getting students started on Strategic Reading at earlier grades, they could be positioned for future excellence in Advanced Placement (AP) courses and entrance exams like the ACT and SAT while still building fundamental skills. Furthermore, the students would be prepared with real life-long reading and critical thinking skills, and not just “drill and kill” habits that they learn at SAT boot camps and cram sessions.
From these realizations, I put together Strategic Study to offer students from grades 3-8 online group courses so they can receive the benefit of learning the Strategic Reading Method early in their development.
The Right Strategy Can Change Everything
To learn about my class offerings and schedule, head over to my Classes page. Make sure to sign up to my newsletter below to receive a free Strategic Reading worksheet that you can use with your child today.
If you have any questions, or would like me to provide a free demo class to your organization, please use my Contact page to reach out to me.
