About Startup Reading

Young Students Engage with Digital Lessons

We started to record reading lessons being delivered to small groups of 4-8 students. The original reasoning was: “Students are likely to feel they are part of a group in a class, to hear other students responding to the prompts from the teacher”.  We considered the ideal number of students for creating a digital reading lesson.

We tested a variety of formats, a lesson with 8 students, 6 students, 3 students, 1 student, and finally with 0 (no) students, just the teacher delivering the lesson to the camera.

Virtually 100% of the students preferred the teacher in a tutoring style, with no other students in the lesson.

I asked: Why don’t you want other students in the lesson?  Doesn’t it make you feel like you are part of a group?” The response was almost uniform, the other students in the lesson were: too fast, too slow, and definitely too annoying.  

A Reading Coach is a Resource to Work with Individual Students

As a student completes their assigned digital lesson, a reading coach will spend time with the individual student on the following activities:

• Review the student’s completion of notations in the workbook as directed in the lesson.
• Review the student’s understanding of the content and reading skill in the lesson
• Review the student’s comfort in reading the content in the accompanying exercises.

The reading coach then acknowledges the student’s effort and expresses confidence that the student is making progress in learning to read.  A reading coach will develop a mentor relationship with the student and this individual relationship is a key aspect in successfully implementing the literacy foundation.  of the program.  We recommend a reading coach can work with 4 to 7 students over a 45-minute to one-hour reading lesson, spending 4-7 minutes with each student.

Follows the teacher’s direction during the lesson by making notations in their workbook

The Role of the Supervising Teacher

The Supervising Teacher conducts the initial placement in the program. The placement determines areas of strength to build on and areas of need to address. Each child receives a targeted, individualized starting point, a student workbook, access to the workbook digital lesson library, and an individual reading lesson plan.

The placement is also an opportunity for the Supervising Teacher to introduce a customized strategy that sets the child up to experience success. This program introduces the student to a positive, engaging learning experience that boosts the student’s confidence and enthusiasm for reading.

This Supervising Teacher oversees the student’s experience throughout the program and meets with the reading coach to evaluate progress.