Modern Academics focuses on building subject competency and study skills common to students with learning challenges.


Teaching effective, individualized learning strategies is at the cornerstone of Modern Academics's approach. Additionally, ably teaching students how to monitor their own academic progress allows them to gain confidence and capably self-regulate their own learning. Depending on individual needs, students may be referred to other professionals (e.g., pediatric neurologists, psychotherapists, etc.) familiar with other aspects related to learning.

Sample Targeted Interventions

Organizational and
Time Management
Strategies

  • Prioritizing daily and weekly tasks

  • Monitoring use of an integrated academic / personal planner

  • Determining optimal study time and location

Study Skills

  • Note-taking strategies

  • Memory techniques for storing and recalling information

  • Active listening techniques

  • Test preparation skills

Motivational Strategies

  • Setting and reinforcing goals

  • Discussing intrinsic vs extrinsic factors

  • Supporting self-advocacy behaviors

  • Discussing obstacles to motivation (e.g. excessive device use, starting homework too late in the evening, etc.)

Metacognitive
Strategies

  • Instructing students on how to self-regulate emotions during test-taking

  • Utilizing self-monitoring skills to achieve goals

  • Incorporating self-testing methods to assess understanding and subject mastery

Reading

  • Improving close reading and comprehension skills

  • Building vocabulary

  • Annotating for different types of text

  • Instructing on different reading techniques (e.g. skimming, mapping, summarizing, etc.)

Math

  • Remediating math difficulties by using objects and real-life examples

  • Concretizing word problems using visual methods of representation

  • Teaching methods to improve mental math and numeracy

  • Incorporating apps and games to encourage active learning and reinforcement

  • Teaching parents how to reinforce math skills outside of school (e.g. estimating cost of a restaurant bill, pointing out mileage signs to help develop an intuitive spatial sense, assisting with recipes to help develop deep understanding of measurements and fraction calculations)

Writing

  • Educating students on the unique multiple cognitive demands of writing

  • Demonstrating how to break the stages of writing into manageable chunks

  • Detailing effective methods for thesis formulation

  • Improving research skills

  • Modeling the planning, organizational, reasoning, drafting, and editing/revising aspects of writing

  • Guiding the student with clear, focused questions and feedback at each stage of the writing process

 

TRUSTED BY PARENTS

"We have been lucky enough to have Christian Donahue tutor our child for the past two years. Not only is he an amazing teacher but he has been a great advocate in helping my child navigate the high school/pre-college years.  Christian is incredibly bright and explains concepts in a clear, concise way.  He has been instrumental in keeping my child organized. It is clear how much Christian loves what he does and how much he cares about the students he teaches."    - J.R.