Dreams Unlocked

Tutoring

I love to work with the kids that are not experiencing the success one would expect in school.

I believe with all my heart that every child can learn, and I have not been proven wrong. My philosophy is that if the child is giving me 100% effort, and not succeeding, it is on me to find a better way to teach them. I love puzzles, and so many kids are puzzles, aren’t they? I love to find the key to unlocking learning for the child in front of me and watch them begin to gain confidence and realize how smart they are.

Hi, I'm Kris Williams

Educational Therapist

Private Reading and Math Tutor

based in Boston, MA

Meeting with students online allows me to see them wherever they are.

East Coast, West Coast, spending the summer at the lake...we can always find a way to connect.

Some students are no longer giving it 100%. They have hit their head against the brick wall of failure so many times they have concluded they cannot do what is being asked of them, so they are just doing what they can to get by. I love working with those kids most of all. I figure out where their understanding fell apart, start there at their level of competence, and make sure we move increment by increment, taking on concepts one bite at a time, so they continue to experience success. As they learn to trust me and believe that I believe in them, they begin to believe in themselves, and we can make amazing progress. I tailor each session to the student I am with, adjusting for their learning style, temperament and academic needs.

Many of my students have been pulled out of school, at least for a year or two, so they can build foundational skills, regain their confidence and have time to develop other interests, be it sports, music, entrepreneurship, theater, art...whatever they love! Most of them have gone to more than one public and/or private school and have been given up on or blamed for their failure to learn, and what they need most of all is time to heal and learn the skills that will set them up for success, whether they return to the classroom, or continue to learn independently. I can help you think through how this might work for your family, if you are interested in exploring this option.

When I was a first grade teacher, a common question to ask students was what they wanted to be when they grew up. First Graders have such big dreams! What I have found in the students I work with is so many of them have locked those big dreams away in a secret place. They are still there, but students have lost faith that they can achieve them. My mission is to give students the tools they need to succeed in school, regain confidence and unlock those beautiful dreams!

If you'd like more information, click the "contact me" button and send a short message with your child's age and what your concerns are. I try to return messages within 24 hours.

Contact Me

Multiplication Facts

with the 9-Lines

Developing “automaticity” with multiplication and division facts (being able to access these facts quickly from memory) is the most valuable math tool students acquire in the elementary grades. It is a vital skill for success with fractions, ratios, proportions, factoring polynomials…and pretty much all higher math operations. The problem is, for many students, this automaticity is elusive, even with daily, grueling flash card drills and timed tests.

I use a powerful method developed by David Berg of the Making Math Real Institute called “9 Lines Fact Acquisition and Application Strategy” or, just “9 Lines” for short. This method teaches a child to build visual files of facts and be able to flip through those files mentally to find not only what the answer to a given multiplication or division fact is, but what the greatest common denominator or least common multiple is between two numbers and how many times 632 can be divided by 78…all mentally…no fingers…no charts…no lists of multiples in the margin of their math paper! You can read more about it in the "More Thoughts" tab.

Reading

For teaching reading, I use an Orton-Gillingham methodology, heavily supplemented by morphology and etymology. I have four OG based reading programs on my bookshelves, and find different kids respond to different programs, or even combinations of programs. I also find that introducing morphology early on allows kids to understand the way our language works and gain confidence from being able to tackle “big words” and figure them out. I carefully craft my intervention to fit the child in front of me, always tweaking and refining what I do based on the child’s needs. What I do is the opposite of a boxed program! My 40 years of experience working with lots of kids and lots of curriculums have given me a large tool box to draw on, and I continue to take classes to refine and improve my skills to design just the right intervention for a given child at a given moment.

There is no way around the need for lots of practice to develop fluency and accuracy in reading and writing. I use a lot of games to help kids practice targeted skills. If I discover that a child needs extra practice with the ‘th’ digraph, for example, I design a game with vocabulary I know will be appropriate for that child to practice that digraph the next time we are together. It seems no matter how many games I have in my files, I find myself creating new ones weekly to target specific skills for specific kids. A child that would groan when presented with a page of phrases to read will read those same phrases for 20 minutes in a game and be disappointed when it is time to go.

Not Good at Math

So many people believe they are not “good at” math. Yet, if presented in an effective manner, almost everyone can understand and be successful with math. I use a structured, multi-sensory approach that is broken down into small increments of understanding that are easily understood.

The small “bites” of understanding are layered one upon another, with color-coding and strategically crafted language support until the student can grasp the concept and understand what each step in a mathematical procedure is accomplishing. Students develop a mental picture of what the mathematical operation means. In the end, all color coding and language support fades away, and students are able to perform math operations by accessing their mental picture and working problems in black and white traditional formats with understanding, rather than by plugging in memorized procedures.

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