Does your middle schooler love learning, but hate to read?

Sessions start June 11

This is a picture our classroom pet butterfly, Gandalpha. (Her name was Gandalph until we realized she was a girl). She needed a name because she kept living past her three-week expected life span, and Gandalph was the oldest person we could think of. As you can see, she was the most tattered, beat up thing. But she thrived with us rooting for her and feeding her fresh fruit every day, living to the ripe old age of 8 weeks, or what we decided was about 230 in people years. 

Most middle schoolers were in Kindergarten, 1st, 2nd, or 3rd grade when the COVID lockdowns began, which are crucial years for learning everything you need to read. As a result, many middle schoolers reading wings were tattered, beat up, and otherwise damaged without the relationships and activities they needed to help them transfer their knowledge of everyday words into the letters on the page. 

Just like Gandalpha, 95% of middle schoolers can learn to let reading take them places they didn’t know they could go.

​I’ve been teaching in some fashion for the past 20+ years, and while reading research is cutting edge these days, one thing hasn’t changed over that time. To get better at reading, the best thing to do… is read. But if you’re not reading stories that inspire or move you, you likely won’t pick up a book to keep trying. 

Two pathways to get those wings working! 

Full Summer Session
(7 one-hour in-person sessions + plus check in letters until Aug 22)

We’ll schedule 7 hour-long sessions at a local library that work within your family’s summer plans, and then, each week, I’ll also write a short letter in the old-fashioned mail to your middle schooler. In the letter will be a juicy question about the books we’re reading, as well as a stamped postcard so they can send me a reply back. 

These 7 weeks are designed to help identify which letter-sound combinations your middle school still struggles with and help master them to begin reading texts written at their grade-level. English has over 600,000 words 🤯 from at least 4 different languages🤯🤯. It takes a while to get all of those sounds right, because some sounds are French, some are Latin, some are Greek and some have always been English. Yikes! which are which 🤪! 

As we work to master those missing letter-sound combinations, we’ll do engaging word play activities in our in-person sessions, as well as select a handful of books written at just the right level, to read together over the summer. 

If your middle-schooler has yet to read a chapter book, we’ll make sure it happens and celebrate it by summer’s end 🙌🏼. 

Choose Your Own Adventure 
(3 one-hour in-person sessions + plus check in letters until Aug 22)

​Think of this pathway as a 1:1 book club to help your middle schooler ignite their reading spark. Perhaps your middle-schooler is already a good-ish reader, but hates it? with a passion? or prefers media over text? On my Girl Scout honor, I promise we’ll find at least one book they can’t put down and want to bring along in the car. 

We’ll schedule 3 one hour in-person sessions to:

• explore books by diving into the local library and its search tools.
• chat about authors and genres who might light their spark
• read together to help identify books written at their just-right level

Then, each week throughout the summer I’ll also write a short letter in the old-fashioned mail to your middle schooler. In the letter will be a juicy question about the book we’re currently reading, as well as a stamped postcard so they can send me a reply back.

The 5 things students & parents tend to want to know about MizO…

Why MizO? When I was in Girl Scouts, one of my favorite songs was On My Honor. The first line of the song is, “People don’t need to know my name…”  The song was about how when you do the right thing, don’t worry about taking credit for it. I think about that a lot, how it’s important to not get too stuck up, especially when you are a teacher. So I go by MizO instead. You’ll find out my name once we work together, but this way, the most important thing about me isn’t my name. I’ve attached my resume below though, so you can see my name there. 

Are you married? Do you have pets? My husband and I live in Bemidji. We have two cats. Samwise is here on my shoulders. He’s 18. He’s a great mouser and a cuddly lovebug. Our other cat is Brandywine. She is 2. She has seven toes on one paw!!!, and six on the other!!!! Needless to say, she can be quite the handfuls 😹. 

Did you go to college? I actually love school so much I went to college 3 times. I have a BA in Liberal Arts from Sarah Lawrence College. (It’s OK if you don’t know where that is, nobody around here tends to know. It’s a small college without many sports, like Carleton or Macalester, where people go to write about big questions.) When I decided I needed to be a teacher when I grew up, I got my Master’s in Curriculum & Instruction from the Union Institute & University. I chose that school because I could study one of my big questions, which still is “Why do so many smart kids have a hard time in school?” I also have my Education Specialist degree from MSU – Mankato in Educational Leadership. Most of what I learn now, I learn from studying students in our classroom as they show me what they need to thrive each day. I’ve also been recently certified to teach reading using the LETRs phonics-based approach.

Are you mean or nice? You’ll have to judge for yourself, but our classroom pets are an ant farm and butterflies, if that helps you judge. We also have snacks everyday, like oatmeal, peanut butter, and pistachios if you’re hungry. I have notes and pictures students have drawn for me posted in our classroom, too. 

What’s with your hair?​ Some students think my hair is in braids, but it’s not. It’s called dreadlocks. About 20 years ago, I wanted to grow my hair long, but it wouldn’t grow. It just stayed all frizzy and dry. So I figured I could always keep it frizzy and dry if I made dreadlocks! My hair seems to be happier this way. I did it myself and can do other people’s too. 

There are enough barriers to becoming a reader & writer… money shouldn’t be one. 

I wish I could do this work for free, but that’s not meant to be. So I try and do the next best thing, which is offer a sliding scale for families, depending on their means. 

The Full Summer Session includes 7 in-person sessions, and about 3 hours of communicating via letters and postcards throughout the summer. So if you’re trying to devise how much I’m charging your income bracket per hour, divide by 10. 

The Choose Your Own Adventure path, which functions more like a 1:1 book club, is 3 in-person sessions and about 3 hours of communicating through letters and postcards throughout the summer. So if you’re trying to devise how much I’m charging your income bracket per hour, divide by 6. 

We’ll agree to be honest together. I won’t ask what income bracket you’re in. You’ll simply indicate it when we officially set up billing for summer tutoring.