Is Your Gifted Child Underachieving in School? Boredom or Self Esteem Issues Could be the Cause……

Tutoring can help gifted students as much as those who are struggling. Gifted students may underachieve due to boredom or lack of interest in the subjects being taught in the classroom. The right tutor can be the answer to your gifted child's problems.

It is a misconception that tutoring is only for students who are failing academic subjects. Tutoring can also improve motivation, study skills, and behavior.  Parents often think that tutoring is for students who are falling behind in subjects such as math and reading, but it can actually help gifted students who lack motivation. Underachievement often involves students having a negative perception of their own abilities.

Tutoring can help build a child's academic self-esteem if you find the right tutor who can make a connection with your child and provide the positive reinforcement and encouragement to build a student's self-esteem.

If you believe that your child’s lack of motivation does not involve self esteem issues tutoring can also help challenge students by allowing them to go ahead of their peers or do lesson extensions of what their peers are learning. 

Please visit http://www.beachcitiestutoring.com for more information on tutoring services for your gifted child or teen.

College Application Essays!

Beach Cities Tutoring is now offering individualized assistance for College Application Essays. I have posted a new page with great resources for writing your college application essay including tips, formatting, and samples on our webpage at http://www.beachcitiestutoring.com/ located under educational resources tab. Please feel free to check them out:)!

Educational Resources

I am compiling a list of educational resources including reading worksheets, math worksheets, graphic organizers, and educational parent resources on my website. Many of you have asked me for my suggestions so I hope that you will find them useful☺. Please visit http://www.beachcitiestutoring.com/ and go to the “Resources” tab.

Educational Games/Activities!

Educational games are a great way to make learning fun and allow your children to use technology in a useful way! I have added a page of great educational games on my website. Hope you enjoy:)!
Here are just a few, but please visit our website at http://www.beachcitiestutoring.com/ to view more great educational activity/game sites.

http://www.brainpop.com/
http://www.pbskids.org/
http://www.funbrain.com/

Sustained Silent Reading and Fluency

 Is sustained silent reading effective for kids, their reading fluency, and their grade levels?  

             In my opinion, sustained silent reading can be effective to improve fluency depending on the grade level and comfort level of the reader. For students in the primary grade level, I think SSR can be effective as practice when used alongside other programs, in which students read aloud and are timed (i.e. Read Naturally), but it is not necessarily effective alone as young students often are not decoding every word accurately and are not able to monitor their own fluency. They are also not necessarily mature enough to select material at their appropriate reading level that could help build their fluency. I think they do need to read silently as this is an important skill that they will need for their future academic career but as far as improving fluency, I am not convinced this is effective alone.

            For middle and high school students, I think SSR can be more effective at improving their fluency, again based on how advanced a reader they are. Often when students are supposed to be silent reading, they may be just staring at the page or depending on how low a reader they are they may not be able to decode all the words. I think silent reading gives students the opportunity to be able to choose reading material that interests them and improve their reading skills through the act of practice, but in my opinion it is hard to conclude if a correlation exists between SSR and increased reading fluency.

Please visit http://www.beachcitiestutoring.com for more informational blogs and tutoring information.

Why is it important to integrate literature across all subject areas to make it more meaningful to students?

               I have had students who ask me "Why are we reading this?" They feel as if literature does not relate to their real lives and therefore are less motivated to pay attention and to give their full effort. I think it is our job as teacher to try to connect literature to students' lives. I also like the idea of allowing students to have some choice in the literature that we read. I may give two or three choices about a specific theme and then have literature circles so students can discuss their reading using guided discussion questions. I believe thematic units also help us to incorporate and connect culturally diverse literature because students can see that across cultures, people face similar challenges and experiences. I agree that thematic units can be a lot of work for the teacher, but on a positive note they can increase teacher collaboration among teachers of different subject matters. In conclusion, I think if we make literature more meaningful to students, they are more likely to become lifelong readers and encourage reading in their future children.


Please visit http://www.beachcitiestutoring.com for more informational blogs and tutoring information.

Differentiating Instruction

            According to Tomlinson, “Teachers are expected to stimulate thought, show examples and counterexamples, ask probing questions, set up authentic applications, play devil’s advocate, check for understanding, and require explanation and justification.  In a differentiated classroom, teachers use multiple approaches and support systems in these important roles to ensure understanding of a full range of learners “(Tomlinson, p. 109). Therefore, differentiation is beneficial to students because it allows them to access and understand the material, and it is beneficial to teachers because it allows them to reach all learners and vary their instruction. Differentiation helps teachers grow as professionals because they are always have to learn new modes of instruction as well as to modify their lessons to meet the needs of different types of learners.
            As a special education teacher, I have always had to differentiate instruction and I know that even in a general education classroom students learn in different ways (ie visual, auditory, kinesthetic) and at different paces. In an English classroom, I differentiate instruction by using a variety of whole class, small group, and independent activities. When creating small groups, I consider the different types of learners so that each member has different strengths and weaknesses and can therefore help each other.
            In addition, I provide graphic organizers during reading, writing, and lecture activities to support visual learners. I always read aloud directions even if they are written on the board to support auditory learners. I use a variety of independent and read aloud in class to support different types of learners.
           When creating assignments, I try to give students a choice in how to prove that they understood a topic. For example, for a literature project I may allow students to choose whether they deliver a speech, write a creative play, write an essay, or create a diorama that manifests their understanding of the story. This allows different types of learners to show their understanding of the materials in a way that is enjoyable to them. Finally, I respect student differences and try to incorporate literature from many different cultures to expose my students to a variety of cultures from around the world.

Please visit http://www.beachcitiestutoring.com for more informational blogs and tutoring information.

Tomlinson, C. A., & McTighe, J. (2006). Moving Forward to Integrate UBD and DI. Integrating Differentiated Instruction & Understanding by Design: Connecting Content and Kids.