Confidence First,
Then Comprehension
Discover
Empowerment Yields Learning
We believe the most significant barrier for students success is that they do not feel they can succeed. Student Empowerment Group is created to provide tools for professionals working with students who need encouragement as well as skills.
Student Empowerment Group provides instruction tools that are designed to empower as well as teach. A key element of the instruction is building self-awareness. Students need to realize their powers: the power to learn, the power to change, and the power to make a difference.
Get Started
Rediscover the Magic of Reading
By teaching students to be alert to their mental images, they connect with ideas in the text rather than the minutiae of syllables and words. By 6th grade the runes of the letters have lost the magic that was so captivating when younger. Now the magic is in ideas and images. Reading can transport readers to times and places that are literally out of this world. The Read Through It Strategy is designed to empower students to capture these images that are within their minds.
Get StartedStudenting
MEETING STUDENTS WHERE THEY ARE
Stages of Studenting was created as a system for acknowledging success in school engagement even with conventional measures of success are not available. Traditional systems for measuring success are locked into the time-lines and structures of gradebooks. For students distracted by life challenges, connecting to these structures interferes with managing their non-school challenges.
By using a system of acknowledgement that meets students where they are, teachers become more creative in expectations and rewards for their students.
Get Started
"Teachers often credit students for their work, but when the structure is teacher-created, students can often feel disconnected from the outcome. For struggling learners, this approach strips away any sense of ownership or empowerment, reducing the task to mere compliance rather than any meaningful achievement."
Karen
the catalyst for the Read Through It Strategy
Karen read “little” as “small”, an obvious reading error. But I wondered, “Is this truly an error?” Karen was 16 years old and clearly understood the concept of smallness.
Two questions arose for me:
1. What was happening in Karen's mind that she understood the concept even when she failed to pronounce the correct work?
2. How can I teach this kind of comprehension?
I realized students have a second source of information for interpreting the texts they are reading, that being the images that are being created in their minds as they read. These images are valuable sources of information for comprehension, so I needed to figure out a way for students to readily access these images. The Read Through It Strategy emerged from this new perspective.
Karen's Story
Stages of Studenting
Jake
the catalyst for stages of studenting
Everything stopped for Jake after his father was killed in an altercation with police. It was weeks before we saw a completed assignment and months before he returned to his previous level of academic activity.
Stages of Studenting was created to give Jake and his family hope. By using Stages of Studenting, teachers had a framework for monitoring his progress in school even without the regularity of tasks recorded in gradebooks. Jake could maintain his connections with all of the support services and relationships that had been arranged and created through school. He could focus on his grief recovery while also keeping his identity as a high school student.
Jake's StoryWade
founder of student empowerment group
Working with abuse victims for nearly 40 years, Wade came to realize that empowerment is a key element of growth. When people feel like they have some say in the direction of their growth, they are more willing to work on their learning. When he retired, Wade created the Student Empowerment Group as a medium for supporting teachers with strategies for empowering students.
At this time there are two strategies available:
The Read Through It Strategy (RTIS) and
Stages of Studenting (SoS)
The Read Through It Strategy was created to empower students with an awareness of their own brain activity while they read. This awareness provides access to a second source of information for comprehending text, a source inherent within their own minds. See Karen’s story for more on the creation of RTIS.
Stages of Studenting was created to provide a framework for monitoring and communicating about success in school when assignments are not being produced regularly. Students have many distractions in their lives, and teachers have few tools for accommodating these distractions. See Jake’s story for more on the creation of SoS.
Wade's Story
Featured Tools for Teachers
The mission is to meet students “where they are” as the saying goes. We acknowledge students as dynamic individuals who must be key players in their learning. We believe in the power of self-awareness to bringing change. Instructional tools therefore must include elements that directly awaken students to their inner powers of decision making.
Dare to Read
Dare to Read is specifically designed for the Do-It-Yourselfer although the book could also be used as a textbook for a reading improvement class.
Learn More
Read Through it Strategy
Learn how to implement this incredibly effective reading program with little disruption to your current reading programs.
Learn More
Stages of Studenting
Stages of Studenting was created as a system for acknowledging students succeeding in school engagement activities.
Learn More
Latest News and Articles
Trusted by Educators
Trailblazer
Wade was a trailblazer in his creation of a reading technique that helped students below grade level achieve goal after goal set by he and the student. He developed confidence through fluency with students who had resigned themselves to struggling and remaining below grade level for the rest of their lives. This then created an overall increase in the student’s self-confidence which was recognized by every teacher. It was very exciting to watch.
Empowers Struggling Readers and Changes Their Lives Forever
I finished your book and am beyond impressed. You must have been one hell of a teacher. I wish I had read this when my daughter struggled with reading— none of her teachers used the simple techniques you describe. Her struggles shaped her confidence and education into middle age. Your book resonates with intelligence, care, and a deep concern for students. You’ve no doubt changed many lives for the better.
This Works.
The author developed this method for improving reading as part of the process of trying to improve his own reading. As a teacher, he has had great success with this method. If you are motivated to improve your reading, this book will work and if you're a teacher, you can use this book to help students. This book will also help your self-esteem as a reader as the author is very relatable and encouraging.
