I am currently setting up my summer tutoring program and have been following with interest the comments on the Rewards Curriculum. What population do you find it working the best with? Does the teacher’s manual provide good information for further expansion of the workbook etc.?
Thanks for your input!
Colleen
I have posted a lot about Rewards, so I don’t want to repeat myself too much.
In my opinion, it is best used with students reading on a beginning 4th grade level or better, as this is a good indication that basic decoding skills are in place. As Janis has pointed out, it’s possible for a student with excellent visual memory skills to be reading at this level and *not* have basic decoding skills — rare, but it could happen. You could pre-test for Rewards using the assessments in “Reading Reflex” or some other program. Alternatively, you could just start Rewards and see how the student does. I think any student who lacks basic decoding skills would have great difficulty getting through the first two lessons. All of my students have been able to handle the lessons without great difficulty, including a special needs student with low IQ and severe integration problems (although I have modified the program for her and am taking it much more slowly, with additional review).
Some parents I know have used Rewards successfully with a child as young as 9yo. Some have modified it for this age (breaking lessons into two parts, doubling up on oral exercises, etc.), and some have not. The biggest drawback to using it with younger students is that the vocabulary becomes extremely challenging very quickly.
There have been some recent posts about Rewards on the K-8 curriculum board at http://www.welltrainedmind.com . Also, some of the teachers on the ReadNOW group at Yahoo have used Rewards and could comment on it.
Personally, I think it is an excellent addition to any tutor’s bag of programs — especially for students starting 6th grade or higher. It is the best program I have found for that age group. One of its advantages is that it moves fast enough to produce significant results quickly, which tends to motivate the student to do the work.
The workbook is keyed exclusively to the teacher’s guide. There are really no suggestions for expansion of the program, but this hardly seems necessary in light of what the program accomplishes.
Nancy