12 Tutoring and Teaching Hurdles and How to Turn Them Into Wins

Often, the time we get with students is limited, so we look for the most efficient use of every second we get.

When we know challenges exist, avoiding some of the common hurdles in tutoring and teaching gets easier. Today, let’s go through some of those and, most importantly, how to leap right over them.

Strategies to Keep Learning on Track and Students Engaged

1. Understanding versus memorization

Challenge: Relying too heavily on the memorization of rules without fostering a deep understanding of how to apply those rules can limit the ability to decode new words independently.

How to Win: Incorporate activities that require students to practice applying rules in context, such as reading passages and games that promote problem-solving with new words. Nonsense words also help with this issue.

2. Phonemic Awareness Before Phonics Instruction

Challenge: Jumping into phonics instruction without ensuring students have a solid foundation in phonemic awareness (the ability to hear and manipulate sounds in words) can hinder progress.

How to Win: Start with activities that build phonemic awareness, such as segmenting, blending, and manipulating sounds, before moving on to more advanced concepts in the scope and sequence.

3. Teaching Too Fast or Too Slow

Challenge: Moving too quickly can overwhelm students and leave gaps in understanding, but going too slowly can lead to boredom and disengagement.

How to Win: Use regular assessments and observations to gauge progress and adjust the pace accordingly. Creating small groups to work together in a classroom or individualized instruction can help meet different learning speeds.

 4. Multisensory

Challenge: Not using the three-pronged approach of visual, auditory, and kinesthetic teaching can limit students.

How to Win: Integrate multisensory activities, such as writing words in sand, using letter tiles, or tracing letters in the air while saying the sound aloud, to engage multiple senses and reinforce learning. Incorporate dictation regularly as part of each lesson to be sure students hear what they see and write what they hear.

I like these tactile sandpaper letters for tracing.

Sandpaper Letters, Lowercase only: https://amzn.to/3APKAnq
Sandpaper Letters, Uppercase & Lowercase: https://amzn.to/3BXZ5XN

 5. Connect Lessons to Real Reading and Writing

Challenge: Isolating phonics practice from actual reading and writing activities can make it harder for students to transfer their skills.

How to Win: Embed practice within meaningful reading and writing activities. For instance, after teaching a syllable division pattern or a spelling rule, like FLOSS, have students read a story, sentences, or phrases, and/or write sentences and phrases using words with that pattern. Be sure to include dictation.

 6. Differentiating Instruction

Challenge: Using a one-size-fits-all approach can lead to some students being left behind, while others may not be challenged enough.

How to Win: Group students based on their skills and tailor instruction to meet their specific needs. Use a variety of activities and resources to cater to different learning styles.

 7. Worksheets Versus Engagement

Challenge: While worksheets can be a helpful practice tool, relying solely on them can make lessons monotonous and less effective.

How to Win: Balance worksheet use with hands-on activities, games, and interactive reading exercises that make phonics engaging and dynamic.

 8. Revisiting Previous Concepts

Challenge: Teaching a concept once and moving on without revisiting it can lead to students forgetting or misapplying what they have learned.

How to Win: Regularly review past lessons. Orton Gillingham is meant to be cumulative, each lesson building upon the next. Incorporate previously learned concepts into new lessons to reinforce and strengthen retention.

 9. Blending Practice

Challenge: Some may focus heavily on individual sounds without emphasizing how to blend them smoothly into whole words.

How to Win: Include blending exercises where students practice combining sounds to form words. There are plenty of fun ways to get students from letter sounds to blending these sounds, but it can be challenging at first.

Watch on YouTube: My Student Can Isolate Sounds but Struggles to Blend CVC Words

 10. Direct Instruction for Advanced Concepts

Challenge: Assuming students will naturally pick up more complex concepts, such as diphthongs or multisyllabic words, can leave them unprepared for advanced reading.

How to Win: Provide explicit instruction for advanced concepts, syllable types, and syllable division patterns, and give students ample practice through reading multisyllabic words and complex text. Later in the scope and sequence, there may be a time when it feels slow-going for students to grasp and retain the information.

 11. Using Vocabulary and Comprehension

Challenge: Focusing solely on decoding without incorporating vocabulary and comprehension can lead to students being able to read words but not understand them.

How to Win: Include vocabulary-building activities and ask questions about the meaning of words and sentences as a part of a lesson. Encourage students to use new words in context during discussion or writing exercises.

 12. The Importance of Spelling

Challenge: Teaching rules and concepts only for reading without connecting them to spelling can hinder students’ ability to encode (spell) words.

How to Win: Incorporate spelling practice into lessons so students learn to apply their knowledge in both reading and writing. Use dictation exercises and spelling games that align with the concepts taught.

We all experience challenges now and again when tutoring and teaching students. Knowing some hurdles we encounter can help get the best use of our time with students. We already know Orton Gillingham is the best way to teach the English language, so everyone wins!

Ready-made resources for lessons

Read & Spell Foundations | Consonants and Short Vowels (Structured lessons, no special training required)
Fast Track Bundle | Scope & Sequence Workbooks 1 &2 + Drill Cards

TpT: Teachers Pay Teachers Shop