Melody Ivester

Orton-Gillingham Practitioner, OG-CT, SOR Reading & Writing Interventionist

Rate: Contact For Rate Available For: Private Tutoring, Online

Forest Lake, Minnesota
Los Angeles, California
Dallas, Texas
Denver, Colorado

We've all heard the saying, "If you don't succeed the first time, try, try again." While there's value in perseverance, the idea of "just trying harder" is an incomplete solution to complex problems. Often, success requires us to approach an issue from a different angle, learn a new skill, or find additional support.

A similar belief exists in our classrooms and communities: that "learning to read is a natural process." If we approach literacy education from this perspective, many students will be left behind without the explicit skills and support they need to become literate. Students who struggle with literacy have often already tried hard for too long.

Leading experts confirm that learning to read is not a naturally occurring process. Neuroscientist Stanislas Dehaene, among others, has shown that we are not "hard-wired" to read. Because of this, foundational literacy skills must be explicitly and systematically taught to students, with ample opportunity for practice.

Advocating for students in life and literacy is at the heart of Empower Literacy Academy. We strive to build pathways so that every child may read and write. We do this by applying the best practices of the Science of Reading and the Orton-Gillingham approach.

The 1:1 Literacy Course is central to our mission. This course incorporates explicit, systematic, and cumulative instruction using multi-sensory methods, along with diagnostic error correction and analysis to drive instruction. Targeted areas of skill work include:

Phonemic awareness
Handwriting
Oral reading, at the sound, word, and text level
Sentence dictation
Spelling, including spelling rules and generalizations
Systematic introduction of new material

The 1:1 Literacy Course is available to students in Grades K-12. Please email melody@empower-literacy.com for more detailed information about tuition and fees, policies and procedures, and specific course details.

Thank you for taking the time to consider this literacy opportunity for your child. Please contact me for more information about this course or to discuss your child's literacy needs.

Sincerely,

Melody Ivester

Experience :

• 19 Years Teaching Experience
• Co-Vice President, Orton-Gillingham Minnesota (OGMN)
• Owner and Certified Orton-Gillingham Practitioner, Empower Literacy Academy
• Online ESL Teacher, 2,000+ sessions taught
• Public School Educator, Grades 4–5, Mounds View Public Schools
• Gifted Learner Advocate/Educator, Mounds View Public Schools
• Gifted Learner Curriculum Writer, Mounds View Public Schools
• Private Instrumental Music Teacher
• Teachers-Pay-Teachers Author
• Educational Community Volunteer
• Mother of 3 Diverse Learners

Education :

• B.S. Elementary Education
• University of Northwestern, St. Paul
• Orton-Gillingham, OG-CT
• Orton-Gillingham of Minnesota
• TESOL Certification
• International Open Academy

Orton-Gillingham Training Information :

• I have completed extensive training in the Orton-Gillingham approach through Orton-Gillingham of Minnesota (OGMN), where I also serve as the current co-vice president. This comprehensive program, which is accredited by the International Multisensory Structured Language Education Council (IMSLEC), focused on the Science of Reading and included a supervised practicum. My OG-CT certification signifies the completion of this rigorous training, equipping me with skills in the proven methods of direct, explicit, systematic, and cumulative instruction.