ABOUT
"As a child, I struggled with reading at school - BUT when I learned to read music, everything changed..."
HELLO AND WELCOME!
I'm Marion
I've developed a new way to help children learn to read, which uses rhythm to break down the invisible barriers to learning.
As a child struggling to read, you never quite forget the sound of your teacher's voice when they tell you that you are too lazy, not concentrating, or not trying hard enough. Even more painful though, is that moment when you realise that other children really do enjoy reading, and that your teacher must be right after all.
My school offered free music lessons. and I was thrilled to be 'chosen' to play the violin. After two years, I switched from violin to cello and when I joined an orchestra, something remarkable happened! Suddenly, I could read books. I could focus with no effort. I passed the 11-Plus and 'had potential'.
How it all started...
At age 11, I made a vow that I would help all the other children, who like me had 'fallen behind', but as I followed a musical path, I forgot all about this promise.
By the age of 18, I had played in the White House, Alice Tully Hall, and Washington Cathedral on an orchestral tour, and a few weeks later, started studying cello full-time at the Royal Academy of Music, London. Although the US tour had been amazing, I did not see myself in an orchestra and started a career teaching cello and playing.
Teaching became my passion and I was accepted as a PhD student at the Institute of Education (IOE) UCL's Faculty of Education and Society, researching the effects of rhythm on children's reading behaviour. At one point, I juggled seven jobs! I was a SENCO in a private school, a researcher on National Pilots for the IoE, teaching at Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge, and also had my musical work.
In 2012 I created the Rhythm for Reading Programme. It was only when I'd worked with many schools, teachers and children that I remembered with astonishment my promise to myself, to help all the other children, who had 'fallen behind'. To my surprise, I had researched and built a system, which exactly mirrored the transformation that had helped me all those years ago.
You can get results like these after six weeks...
We’ve been working together for about ten years with Marion and the biggest thing that we notice with the children, is their change in confidence, seeing themselves as readers after just six weeks of doing the programme.
The children do really look forward to the sessions because they don’t necessarily see it as reading. They see it as something fun that they do and they don’t really realize the impact that it’s having on their reading.
They feel that they are attaining and achieving within those sessions; they are not being left behind (like they can feel in some reading sessions within class). They are very much readers and they see themselves as readers.
Some fun facts about me...
I begin the day with a black coffee in my grandmother's favourite teacup and eat dark chocolate!
I love my volunteer role as a call-taker on a National Helpline - it's the highlight of my week!
I love to visit museums and gaze at Venus figurines and cuneiform tablets!
In the early morning, I go outside to hear the birdsong. There's nothing more beautiful!
I wrote and played the cello theme in the Emmy winning movie 'The Reason I Jump'. Enjoy!
In my opinion, books are the greatest gifts for children - they will thank you after reading them!
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New insights into why some children get left behind!
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