Talks and Presentations

Sylvia Keepers is available to give talks and interactive presentations on several topics related to tutoring kids and coaching tutors and teachers. In connection with some of these events she offers, by arrangement, free introductory tutoring in speed reading for teens. She also will be available to discuss these and take questions online through the comments sections at times (to be determined) during the week. Each of the following topics is keyed to relevant portions of SMART! A Reading Tutor’s Guide.

1. Mental Movies and More (Comprehension). [Ch. 5, 112-116]
   Help teens understand and remember what they read by seeing in the mind’s eye and using strategic summarizing, a simple but powerful duo.
2. Getting the Point (Main Idea, Seeing the Big Picture). [Ch. 6, 143-146; Ch. 8, 185-207; Ch. 18, 365-368]
   Show teens how to see the forest and the trees. Here we discuss some strategies to help kids understand the main idea, predict, summarize and follow the train of thought in a passage. (We’ll even use fortune telling cards for a fun intro. to main idea.)
3. Word Wisdom (Building Vocabulary). [Ch. 11, 252-254]
   Vocabulary fun and wisdom. You don’t have to teach every word you want your student to know–you just have to show him how to learn, set up a system, then leave time for some fun.
4. How to Double Your Reading Speed (Speed Reading with Comprehension).  [Ch. 10-11, 223-156]
   It’s true. Many students can double or triple their reading speed while maintaining good comprehension. Learn the basics in this talk, then use the book to finish up.
5. Theme and Symbolism (Tutoring Literature). [Ch. 6, 158-163]
   Everyone loves stories. Put that drive to use in this short introduction to theme and symbolism.
6. Sounds and Sense (Phonics). [Ch. 12-13, 259-283, Appendix]
   Is your student missing unfamiliar words? Even dyslexic kids really learn with this method.
7. What’s Your Learning Type? (Targeted Teaching Using Myers Briggs Types). [Ch. 17, 325-340.
   Are you a thinking type teacher with a feeling type student? Or vice versa? Accentuate your own strengths and those of your students with some basic knowledge about character types.

“Bart is up on the roof reading and he won’t come down!”

That’s what my next-door neighbor told me after I had been tutoring her son for a few months. Bart was one of my first students thirty years ago, and I knew I’d hit on something when I heard his mother “complain” about her son’s new reading habits. Bart, age twelve, and a non-reader when he started with me, had plainly gained some new reading skills—and discovered something more: he now loved to read. He wanted to pursue his new interest, and in his large family the roof was the only safe haven from chores and siblings. There have been dozens, even hundreds, of success stories since then, but this one always makes me smile. It was a moment of truth. A mischievous boy latches onto reading—and I realize this is the job for me.