Archives for Blog

Many of you may have heard the big rocks word picture–a way of illustrating the ” put first things first ” mindset–and in our video blog today, we shared our own nerdy teacher version of that. In a world where busyness reigns, time management tips are something that most of us want. Although this “big rocks” picture may seem simple, it is can also be a very life-changing concept if we let it. Life is full of constant choices, as we are inundated with countless options of how to spend our time each day. If we respond to the myriad
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Too many times have I been in that place where I feel like I can’t add even one more thing into my already-crammed busy life. Having been there, I understand the reflex response of rejecting anything that looks like it might be a time taker. However, I want to take just a minute to share with you why I think Reading Tricks might be more manageable than you think. In short, Reading Tricks is not a typical training program. You aren’t required to put in in a minimum number of hours memorizing materials and learning an entire method or curriculum
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In our video blog this week, we talk about how fear can be such a controlling factor in life. It’s something that, for a long time, stopped one of our Reading Tricks teachers from helping struggling readers. She shares her story of never even considering the possibility of teaching because of fear that she didn’t know how or couldn’t do it well. Her story is not an uncommon one. Fear causes people to overlook or avoid possibilities and can stop them from sharing gifts they may have with others who may need them. We want to help break through some of
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What’s your passion? Your heartbeat? That thing that gives you purpose and is worth fighting for? Our passion at Reading Tricks is to help struggling readers and non-readers learn how to read–and we do that by teaching you how to teach them! This week we want to share our passion with you, and we’re hoping that you can take a few minutes to share it with others. If every person shares it with even just one person, think of how quickly it could spread. We long to exude contagious passion–to grow a community of people willing to fight for those
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Building trust with our kids and students is important but takes some intentionality. One way we can do this is by giving genuine compliments. Kids are able to tell when we are giving false praise or empty compliments just to make them feel better. So rather than using empty words and teaching them not to trust what we say, let’s find things we can genuinely praise them for–building trust that our words have meaning! We can compliment our students on natural abilities, strong character, personality, hard work, good choices, fun ideas, and countless other areas. Be observant and creative, and
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Building self-esteem in our kids can be accomplished in a variety of ways, but one of our Reading Tricks teachers shares a simple way of intentionally doing so by purposefully letting our kids overhear our conversations. Rather than talking about our kids’ struggles and learning differences in a way that makes them feel insecure, let’s have conversations they can overhear where we are talking about their strengths and gifts. We could mention their abilities in sports, music, or art; or we could even make specific comments about growth in areas they struggle with, i.e., hard work or improvement in their
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If you are a parent or teacher who has experienced that sinking feeling of recognizing you have a child who learns differently than your other kids, you understand our Reading Tricks’ founder’s experience of discovering her son’s learning differences and the journey that ensued (shared in our video blog today). Dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, and language processing disorder are just a few of the language-based learning differences you may be experiencing–with or without knowing it. Recognizing the differences your child has is an important place to start. However, after becoming aware, knowing what next steps to take can be extremely overwhelming.
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Building trust with our students and kids is something that takes time and great intentionality. In our video blog this week, our Reading Tricks founder shares a hard but life-changing tip she’s learned on how to build this trust. She talks about how her students are extremely sensitive to feeling like they are being laughed at, whether or not they actually are. This could be caused by the actual experience of being laughed at by others; or it could just be because of the insecurities that come from their learning differences. Either way, it is extremely important that we as
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Last week’s video blog continued our conversation about low self-esteem, addressing the possibility that we may be unintentionally contributing to it. When we talk about our students’ or kids’ weaknesses and learning differences in front of them, it can be much more damaging than we realize. Obviously these conversations aren’t intended to hurt them, but once our kids have heard our words, they can’t “unhear” them. They may begin to believe that they are different or stupid, or that something is wrong with them. Our words have the power to seriously affect our kids’ self-esteem—for better or for worse. In response
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In our video blog yesterday, we talked about focusing on the positive with our students. Whether we think of ourselves as positive people or not, it can be challenging to identify and celebrate our students’ strengths—especially when they have some substantial learning differences and struggles. However, taking the time to do just that is incredibly important. In order to make this happen, we must be intentional about looking for strengths, making sure to think outside the box. One student may be gifted in kindness, having unusual empathy for those around; while another may be an excellent communicator and story-teller. Actual
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