Tutor Team & Process

Our tutors are literacy experts with extensive backgrounds in remedial education and are all trained in the methodologies of Orton-Gillingham and Structured Literacy. Tutoring lessons are fun and engaging with Novel’s multi-sensory approach to teaching. It allows tutors to tailor each lesson to the needs and learning styles of each student.

How Novel selects tutors

The Novel team consists of experienced educators with professional teaching backgrounds who are passionate about working with students with unique learning profiles. Novel tutors undergo a thorough background and screening process before they are accepted to the team.

How Novel trains tutors

Tutors are trained in Novel’s Literacy Specialist Course, a comprehensive Orton-Gillingham-based program that conveys the multi-sensory teaching strategies and lesson structure of Novel’s Literacy Curriculum. After their core training, each tutor goes through an extensive practicum which offers close guidance from seasoned Novel leaders.

How Novel ensures quality

Novel consistently monitors lesson quality and learning progress through frequent supervision check-ins with our tutors and regular re-evaluations of a student’s skill levels. Parents receive weekly progress reports, and tutors explore various teaching strategies to help students who may struggle with a specific concept.

Novel Curriculum

Our tutors are trained on Novel’s proprietary Literacy Curriculum. Based on the principles of Structured Literacy, our Curriculum extends over a learning trajectory of 2 to 3 years and includes separate tracks for students in primary school, elementary school, and high-school. Our in-depth curriculum ensures a student’s success in their literacy journey.

Primary Curriculum

Novel’s Primary Curriculum caters to the needs of students from JK to grade 2. There are 7 levels in this program. The curriculum covers all foundational skills in phonics and phonological awareness, spelling, reading and writing. The lessons contain content that is easily digestible for younger students. When they successfully complete the 7 levels, they will be ready to graduate to our General Curriculum and dive into more advanced literacy concepts.

General Curriculum

Our 15-level General Curriculum is targeted at students from grade 3 and up. It contains all fundamental Orton-Gillingham-based concepts that are important for success in reading, writing and spelling. The curriculum begins with the basic literacy concepts and progresses to more advanced objectives. Each lesson builds on what is previously taught and previous concepts are revisited throughout.

Writing Strategies Curriculum

The Writing Strategies curriculum focuses on all the important elements of becoming a successful writer. Writing skills are taught in the Orton-Gillingham way - basic to complex, multisensory and direct, and explicit instruction. From word forms to report and essay writing, students gain access to all the fundamental skills for proficiency in writing.