Utilizing Volunteers to Advance Literacy: The Basics

1. Utilizing Volunteersto Advance Literacy:The Basics Presented by: Sherry Comerchero, CCC-SLP Speech-Language Pathologist 2004 Literacy Champion

2. Why Do This? • Four out of 10 children in kindergarten through grade 3 are at-risk in literacy • Forty percent of 4th graders in the United States scored below the basic level on the 1994 National Assessment of Educational Progress • The majority of at-risk children respond to tutoring and other interventions

3. The Unique Benefits of Utilizing Literacy Volunteers • Literacy volunteers provide individualized attention to help address identified problems and gaps in a students language and literacy development • They are a supplemental resource for teachers with large class sizes of students with varied literacy levels • Students working with literacy volunteers might otherwise fall “between the cracks”, as they read below grade level but do not have “glaring” literacy deficiencies

4. Starting off... • Examine where the need exists – a school (public or private), after school program, library program, etc. by asking others (e.g. principals, teachers, learning, reading specialists, community leaders, etc.) • Research funding sources through local community organizations, school PTO’s, personal donations, local businesses and charitable foundations • Schedule a meeting with the program/school administrator to discuss your interest and plan to utilize literacy volunteers to help students who are reading below grade level but not receiving professional reading support

5. Recruit Volunteers • Announce literacy volunteer opportunities through local newspapers and in newsletters of social outreach organizations • Sign-up parents at beginning-of-school-year open houses, PTO events and through teachers-parent meetings • Speak at religious services regarding “epidemic of illiteracy” • Word of mouth through friends, neighbors, business associates, family • High school students interested in community service • Create an “ad” for volunteers to post at libraries, city hall and on any community bulletin boards • Recruit seniors at activity centers and retirement communities

6. Provide Volunteers with Training New Volunteers: • Five basic literacy components (phonological awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency and comprehension) as well as writing and oral language • Description of a typical session: 30-45 minutes once a week throughout the school year • School/program procedures – CORI, sign in, reading locations, notification of absence • Access to literacy materials when reading with student

7. Returning Volunteer Training • Retain volunteers and support their efforts with beginning of the year training sessions on topics of relevance, such as: • Literacy Needs of English Language Learners • Fluent Voices • Comprehension Strategies • Working with our Youngest Readers • Effective Prompting Strategies • Strategies for Success: What Good Readers Do

8. Before Working with Students… • Schedule an on-site visit to introduce the volunteer(s) to the school/program staff and site • Arrange a teacher-volunteer breakfast (keep it simple) to help volunteers learn about their assigned student’s literacy needs • Establish a start date, volunteer-student meeting day/time and method of maintaining ongoing communication (e.g. note in mailbox after sessions, e-mail, exchange phone numbers)

9. Now You Are Moving Along! KEEP IN TOUCH WITH VOLUNTEERS • Via e-mail, a periodic phone call, a brief newsletter, and/or a mid-year networking meeting to share experiences and discuss challenges and possible solutions to issues that may be impacting volunteer effectiveness • Plan an end-of-year social gathering to acknowledge volunteer efforts for the current school year • Devise some type of feedback survey for teachers and volunteers to complete at the end of the school year

10. Don’t Reinvent the Wheel • Contact leaders of existing volunteer literacy groups in your area, obtain free U.S. government pamphlets/books on literacy supports for parents and tutors, check out the numerous on-line free literacy sources, go to library book sales for very inexpensive books • Create a program that is unique to your needs – whether utilizing a few or many volunteers; there are no rules – do what works for you and your students

11. By the way… • Don’t assume that “upscale towns” do not have the need for utilizing literacy volunteers – their current funding may be more restrictive than school districts in low income areas; English language learners may be more prevalent as well (e.g. Asian languages) • Personal connections work well in starting-up a program – having a “teacher friend” is a wonderful “in” to a school or classroom

12. In this age of texting, twitting, iPods, and iPhones …… Isn’t it time to get back to basics? … READING!

13. Some Valuable Resources • On the Road to Reading – A Guide for Community Partners– Archived Information/America Reads Challenge, Derry Koralek and Ray Collins, A Joint Project of the Corporation for National Service, the U.S. Dept. of Education and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, E-mail: rcollins@acf.dhhs.gov • Put Reading First – The Research Building Blocks for Teaching Children to Read – Kindergarten Through Grade 3.National Institute for Literacy website at www.nifl.gov • We Both Read– series of shared level reading books. Treasure Bay, San Anselmo, CA • You Read to Me, I’ll Read to You – Very Short Stories to Read Together by Mary Ann Hoberman, www.lb-kids.com • Readers Theater, My Personal Dictionary, “Packaged” after school programs – PathfindersandTrailblazers(for elementary grades), Reading Explorers(for middle school grades). Benchmark Education, www.benchmarkeducation.com • The READ WRITE NOW! Partners Tutoring Program, Training DVD and free books at the end of the year through their grant with Verizon. Hadassah, communityoutreach@hadassah.org • First Books– a program that provides free and “almost free” books for students from low income families • Readingwith TLCLively Letters– Poem, Activity Book and CD • Learning Links Literature-Based Reading – excellent study guides related to various levels and types of literacy materials. www.learninglinks.com

14. Sherry Comerchero Tel: 978-975-0006 sherrycomerchero@yahoo.com