The Reading/Writing Learning Clinic at the Joan and Arnold Saltzman Community Services Center is dedicated to providing literacy support to children, adolescents, and adults in an environment where learners have the safety and support that allow them to take risks and gain confidence as they move toward developing mature control of literacy skills. The Reading/Writing Learning Clinic provides services to families in the communities that adjoin Hofstra University as well as in the larger metropolitan area.
What We Do
At the Reading/Writing Learning Clinic, New York state-certified teachers with specialization in literacy instruction work one-on-one or in small groups with students on a weekly basis.
Instructional sessions focus on reading and writing as meaning construction and are carefully crafted to develop a flexible set of reading and writing strategies to use while reading or composing texts. Phonics and spelling skills are addressed and taught in the context of meaningful language study. Our program is modeled on a reading/writing workshop approach that creates an environment for engagement in author study, literature circles, and strategic reading and writing instruction. Students also participate in inquiry-based projects making use of fiction and/or nonfiction texts available from our library collection of award-winning children's and adolescent literature, as well as through digital technology.
The Reading/Writing Learning Clinic offers professional reading and writing evaluations for school-aged children and adults. Our evaluations are qualitative assessments that describe the learner’s use of reading and writing strategies when transacting with and composing texts. The assessment process culminates with the development of a Biographic Literacy Profile, which provides a detailed appraisal of the learner’s reading and writing strengths. Each literacy evaluation is conducted to advocate for the learner. Reading and writing proficiency is described in terms of meaning construction, and our evaluations provide parents and teachers with straight-forward and individualized recommendations to support literacy development inside and outside of school settings.
The Reading/Writing Learning Clinic is affiliated with the Literacy Studies Program in the Department of Specialized Program in Education of the School of Education. As an intrinsic component of the Literacy Studies Program, the clinic embraces an understanding of literacy as a human right and education for social justice. It is a site for developing exemplary teaching practices, for training interns in the Literacy Studies graduate programs, and for conducting state-of-the-art literacy research. The clinic is dedicated to supporting teachers through sharing knowledge about teaching practices. It is a nationally recognized site of exploring both the nature of literacy and exemplary ways to support literacy development.
Contact the Clinic Director
Michele Marx, PhD
Reading/Writing Learning Clinic
516-463-5805
Email