Some students need an idea shown another way, or time to finish a thought before the class moves on. I adjust the teaching to the student in front of me.
You might have an IEP, a 504 plan, a diagnosis like dyslexia or ADHD, or just a sense that school isn't working for your kid. Any of those is enough to start.
Starting With What You Know
I ask about the student's strengths, current schoolwork, and the situations where learning becomes difficult. Information from the student, family, and school helps me understand what to try first.
If you send the IEP or 504 plan before the first session, I read it first. We'll go over which goals and accommodations matter for tutoring, and how the sessions fit with what the school already does.
Adapting the Teaching
The adjustment might be a picture or a model instead of words, a long problem split into steps, or answering out loud instead of in writing.
A crowded worksheet is a good example. Some students lose their place every time they look up. For them I cover everything except one problem, and we talk it through before they write it down.
If an adjustment helps, we keep it. If it doesn't, we try another. Meanwhile the homework still gets done, and a student who can't get an answer onto paper says it out loud first, so I can tell what they actually know.
Working With Families and Schools
With your permission, I can coordinate with a classroom teacher or case manager about relevant goals, assignments, and approaches. You decide what information I share.
Tutoring works alongside what the school provides.
Student
Their understanding, interests, and experience of the work.
Family
What you've noticed, and what already works at home.
School
Relevant assignments, goals, and shared information.
Existing plan
Its accommodations, carried into our sessions.
Tutor
Teaching adjusted to the student and the agreed goals.
Students Learning English
I also work with students developing their English. We can look at the vocabulary and language of an assignment alongside the subject itself, using examples, visual materials, and opportunities to explain ideas.
A student learning English may need the language, the subject, or both, and that's a separate question from any learning difference.
My Teaching Background
I'm Keith Reed, a California-credentialed teacher with a degree in neuroscience and over six years of experience across classroom, small-group, intervention, and tutoring settings. I taught fourth- and fifth-grade math and science at a public charter school, worked with students learning English, and served with City Year.
Common Questions
Related program: Academic Tutoring