Well, it can take time for method or technique to start working, a week is not enough to say that it doesn't works, especially considering you are having progress anyways, keep going, be patient and think positive!
Also when doing reality checks remember that it's awareness and questioning mindset that makes one lucid, not the action itself, also try to associate reality check with emotions like "Wow, am i dreaming?", that can help too.
Also if you have time you can try WBTB or napping, WBTB is waking up, staying awake right enough to get more aware but still be able to fall asleep, like for 30 minutes or hour, time varies from person to person and you have to experiment a bit to find the right time, in that period of time think about lucid dreaming, do mantras, awareness and so on to get into the right mindset, and then go back to sleep, as for naps are golden for lucid dreaming, and both WBTB and napping usually lets start dream with higher awareness.
Some threads and tutorials to check out:
http://www.dreamviews.com/dild/13212...ods-dilds.html
http://www.dreamviews.com/induction-...id-dreams.html
http://www.dreamviews.com/wild/13181...prep-part.html (Even though part of WILD tutorial, can help with pretty much any technique/method)