“Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself.” — John Dewey
Tutor and student to illustrate a section of text about skilled reading tutors.

Skilled Reading Tutors

Reading provides the keys to the kingdom of knowledge. Skilled readers are likelier to excel in college and meet their professional goals. However, sustained reading has become challenging for many high school students who spend less time with printed books. They struggle and arrive at college unprepared for the heavy reading load.

Developing the focus, stamina, and strategies necessary to engage with text is critical to success. It’s not easy in a world of limitless distractions, but it is worth it because reading leads to intellectual discovery, cultural awareness, and professional distinction. 

At Tutor Visions, our reading tutors work with a range of middle school, high school, and college students, from those in AP and IB classes to students with learning differences. We focus our training on three essential reading areas: reading comprehension, vocabulary development, and critical thinking–each crucial to becoming a skilled and confident reader. 

Our Reading Tutoring Process

We meet you where you are, giving you strategies and reading skills to promote sustained attention, comprehension, and critical insight throughout the school year.

How it works

Assessment

We ask you to read an appropriately leveled text and answer questions to assess your comprehension, skills, and vocabulary range. Then, we build a plan tailored to your reading profile.

Background Knowledge

We help you activate your background knowledge to draw connections between the text, prior reading, and your experience, fostering imagination and understanding. 

Break Down Complexity

You learn to dissect complex sentences and paragraphs to extract meaning. You identify main ideas and supporting details, make inferences, and summarize content to yield insight.

Vocabulary Development

We show you how to absorb new vocabulary using context clues, a dictionary, and root words. You keep a vocabulary journal and use new words in sentences to encourage mastery. 

Read-Alouds and Analysis Modeling

Our tutors model critical thinking by performing a “Read-Aloud.” They read the text aloud, pausing to analyze it, and then guide you through the same analytic process.

Interdisciplinary Literacy

We encourage you to read from different fields to see how writers construct knowledge, convey meaning, and organize information using text, graphics, charts, and tables.

Many students find reading tutoring works best when combined with writing tutoring because active reading supports good writing. Every writer was an attentive reader first. Skilled readers absorb the stylistic techniques of professionals and become society’s future wordsmiths.

The Strategies of a Skilled Reader

Our program emphasizes evidence-based techniques for managing heavy reading loads, including:

  • Previewing texts to identify essential sections–absorbing information by annotating and paraphrasing, promoting retention and understanding.
  • Breaking material into manageable “chunks,” identifying key passages, then freewriting about them to develop insights.
  • Connecting new material to prior reading, personal experience, and real-world applications–reflecting on the content, recognizing patterns and tensions in the text, and reviewing key points.

Preparing for College-Level Reading

College brings a heavier reading load and complicated text that requires interpretation. Our tutoring program helps students prepare by building stamina and comprehension strategies, equipping them to:

  • Manage weekly reading assignments. 
  • Approach dense academic material with confidence. 
  • Use writing as a tool to take in readings and develop ideas.
David Wolf, Reading Tutor

Qualifications

Our lead tutor and owner of Tutor Visions, David Wolf, Ph.D., has over twenty years of university and high school teaching experience and degrees from Brown University and the City University of New York (CUNY). He was a Writing Instructor in the Honors College at Portland State, where he mentored seniors writing their honors thesis. He has published academic research in peer-reviewed journals and served as a moderator for award-winning student literary magazines.

David has made reading the basis of his professional career. He consumes everything from academic treatises to online discussion boards in his spare time and still believes that the works of Henry James are worth a look.

Success Stories

Reading tutoring is invaluable for anyone who wishes excel in high school and college, or meet their professional goals. But don’t take our word for it; consider these kind words from our clients.

Let's talk

Contact us to learn more or arrange a one on one session in Portland.