Times of Refreshing
By Sophia Wambach | October 2, 2017
Returning tutors learning from Rebecca Buckley, Director of SbR
On a bright Wednesday morning in September, close to fifty reading tutors filled our Children Rising office almost to bursting. The event? Our yearly Returning Tutor Refresher Training.
Some attendees were returning tutors who joined us just last year or who are coming back after a hiatus. Others were long-time tutors who have faithfully come back year after year, but still welcome the chance to refresh and refine their methods for the sake of their students. Every struggling reader is different and so even seasoned tutors benefit from a refresher course and learning from other tutors.
This will be the fifth year that I’ve done the tutoring. I just enjoy it so much because the kids are so happy for the attention. They love to come and they love to make progress. It’s just a feel-good day all the way around. For me too ‘cause I feel like I’m helping and really accomplishing something with them. – Carole Johnson, Reading Tutor
Tutor Andy Anderson and Clinic Coordinator Gwen Stephens
One thing that tutors appreciated at this refresher training was a color-coded visual organization of the Emerging Readers’ Learning Sequence. Each of five colors represents a learning level. Teaching tools are labeled by correspondingly colored dots. This helps tutors to know which materials to use and what books to move onto once their student has mastered a level in a specific area, such as sight words or phonics.
Because volunteers are Children Rising’s most valuable resource, we prioritize training, guidance, and ongoing support for our volunteers. In Succeeding by Reading, that means new tutor trainings, returning tutor trainings, an abundance of carefully selected learning materials, and clinic coordinators who provide onsite guidance and supervision. Our hope is to cultivate volunteers so that we can serve more students every year and have a deep impact on each individual child.