volunteering...

I've started a little volunteer job that I've done a couple of times in recent years: tutoring a couple of pre-schoolers. Going into an elementary school, borrowing a kid from the pre-K teacher for twenty minutes or so, to help them with their reading skills. The Literacy program has the teacher pick out the two kids she has observed as most in need of help, and a group of volunteers will meet with each individual child, five days a week for ten weeks. Reading a book every day for the week, and doing some sort of activity, coloring, connect the dots, matching words and items on a work sheet.  Return that kid, and get the second one, then do the same thing over again for a total of about an hour's time - not much really, but hopefully making a huge impact in the lives and abilities of the little people involved.

Some of the volunteers are college students, some are retired teachers, some military, people from lots of different sources, all knowing the importance of literacy, plus the value gained from devoting twenty minutes of undivided attention to one kid to boost their skills and esteem. The coordinator tests the students before they get started with the daily reading lessons, and again after the tutoring program has ended. I don't think I've ever been informed of the results from the before-and-after process, but have to believe it makes a difference in their abilities. It could possibly not be a permanent improvement, as there is likely not much in the way of reinforcement of what they have acquired - but surely it does give them a boost that carries over through the summer into their future.

The man who has been selected as 'Teacher of the Year', from all the local and state winners across the nation was in town recently, and sat down with a newspaper reporter to answer questions on his views about how the system works (or doesn't). The Q & A, last one in the article in the Ledger/Enquirer, that caught my attention in the interview:

Q: What's one way parents can immediately help their children to learn?
A: "Take time to read to them - 20, 30 minutes a night. It makes a profound difference in the way the kids learn, in the way they interact with you as parents. And you need to continue that past elementary school into  middle and high school. Maybe the parent isn't reading to their kid anymore, but the reading time still exists. Parents, by the time kids are in high school, that means you're reading a book, and they're reading at the same time. You have family reading time."
Jeff Charbonneau, 2013 National Teacher of the Year, Chemistry and physics teacher, from Zillah, WA., High School.