Looking Forward to Year Two

Blog post written by Nicole Belding, Iowa Reading Corps AmeriCorps Member serving at Washington Elementary.

Today is the last day of school. Reflecting back to the beginning of the school year, I remember sitting in the Reading Corps Training Institute last September and feeling nervous about mastering a set of tutoring interventions. Fast forward nine months, and I cannot express how much I have learned and all the experience that I have been afforded as an Iowa Reading Corps AmeriCorps member. With end-of-year field trips and assessments, the past month has provided some hurdles for ensuring that students were able to meet with me each day to receive their Reading Corps tutoring.

Now that I have worked my way through the "bubble kids" at my school who are just below grade level in reading, I'm now able to tutor the students who are a little farther below grade level. It is taking a little longer for these students to reach grade level and exit from the program, but we know that this is normal. After deciding to serve a second term of service with Reading Corps, I'll be able to just pick back up in the fall with these students and get them off and running with tutoring. I find myself repeating this statement over and over again, but I cannot express how much this position means to me. I have thanked our principal at Washington as often as possible for giving me this opportunity and I am very excited to be back here again next year.

"I am Breathing!" - Reflections on Validating Student Concerns

Ryan Moorehead, Iowa Reading Corps
AmeriCorps Member

Blog post written by Ryan Moorehead, Iowa Reading Corps AmeriCorps Member at Oskaloosa Elementary.

I have always considered myself a fairly patient and mindful person. Growing up, I was the only child in my family who could enjoy a long afternoon of fishing, or a baseball game without having my attention stolen by a more exciting proposition. This sort of mindset combined with a little curiosity and hard work made school something to look forward to every day. I had always attributed my academic successes, at least in part, to some innate abilities and handful of other intangibles.

As I get older, I am slowly realizing that I often downplayed the importance of being mindful and patient. I was fortunate enough to have parents and teachers that not only spoke to the importance of these qualities, but also provided me with practical strategies to apply to any adversity I may encounter. After a while, these strategies so deeply ingrained as to almost seem automatic. 

At some point, a light bulb went off in my head and I realized that this was something I could easily incorporate into tutoring sessions when needed. For some of the students I work with, it seems inevitable that some unfortunate circumstance will find them throughout the course of any given day (e.g. Sally wasn’t sharing the soccer ball at recess or Billy breaking someone’s pencil during Art). This, in addition to potential stresses from home, could leave even the best of us without enough bandwidth to be engaged in our learning all of the time.

When a student arrives flustered it’s easy to reassure them with a “Calm down” or “Breathe.” Unsurprisingly, that is often met with an “I am breathing!” As I’ve learned, little minds full of emotion and anxiety are not on the ingredient list for a meaningful tutoring session. I have found that acknowledging each student’s concerns as valid to be an incredibly powerful tool. Everyone gets upset every once and a while – it’s part of life. The most important part of these experiences is how we respond and refocus our energy in a calm and positive manner.

I’ve found that small exercises grounded in these general principles to be of vital importance in my role as a tutor. They help create an environment that is not only conducive to learning, but is also fun. With a little practice, hopefully the students can come to draw on these strategies as second nature.

Improving Student Attendance

Blog post written by Loni Jorgenson, Iowa Reading Corps AmeriCorps Member at Hoover Elementary.

Loni Jorgenson, Iowa Reading Corps
AmeriCorps Member

At our school, we have a few Reading Cops students who have had attendance issues in the past. However, after enrolling these students in Reading Corps, we have seen fewer problems with attendance. At the end of March, we were excited to let one of these students know that she had improved her literacy skills enough to exit from the Reading Corps program. Having one-on-one tutoring has been great for this student because she has had another responsible adult at school to look to for support. When we told this student that she had met her goal to exit Reading Corps, her response was, “I don’t want to stop coming to read with you, Ms. Jorgenson!” 
 

After speaking with my Internal Coach, we have decided that I will occasionally meet with this student throughout the week during open times when I cannot meet with another student for Reading Corps tutoring. This will give me the opportunity to provide guidance to this student throughout the rest of the school year, in hopes that her attendance will continue to improve.

Sharing Local Impact

Blog post written by Tricia Busch, Iowa Reading Corps AmeriCorps member at Ballard East Elementary.

Tricia Busch (third from left) and the
Ballard East Reading Corps team.

At the beginning of March, our Reading Corps team at Ballard East hosted a site visit with the United Way of Story County (UWSC). The United Way visitors were able to observe a Reading Corps intervention to see how their funding and support of Reading Corps is helping local students. We discussed how things were going and I shared success stories and edSpring graphs for some of my Reading Corps students.

In addition, my Internal Coach at Ballard East and my Heartland Area Education Association (AEA) Hybrid Coach were also able to participate in the meeting to share how they have helped me during my term of AmeriCorps service. I feel very fortunate to be serving at one of the three schools that are currently piloting this partnership with the Heartland AEA and am glad that I could use this opportunity to express my appreciation with the United Way visitors. 

At the end of the month, I also had an opportunity to interact with students and their family members at Ballard East's “Literacy Luau.” The event was a Hawaiian themed night, hosted by Ballard East, dedicated to literacy. Each classroom featured a variety of literacy-based games and we also provided a book walk and book fair for students. I enjoyed being a part of this night and helping with the games. The students were very excited to bring their parents to school, they all had a blast, and the night was a success!

2014-2015 Member Application Open!

Become an Iowa Reading Corps AmeriCorps Member!

If you're passionate about helping students receive the literacy skills they need to succeed, we invite you to learn more about becoming an AmeriCorps member with Iowa Reading Corps. As a member, you'll provide one-on-one literacy tutoring to students in Kindergarten through third grade who are below grade level in reading. You'll receive extensive training and support before and throughout your term of AmeriCorps service, so an education degree isn't required to be a successful candidate for Iowa Reading Corps.

Iowa Reading Corps AmeriCorps members are trained as Elementary Literacy Tutors and are placed in school districts throughout Iowa. Members are assigned to one site for the duration of the program year and serve at least 40 hours per week. During the summer months, members partner with local United Ways to recruit volunteers and support community engagement by providing literacy activities at summer feeding programs, assisting with summer tutoring programs, and/or coordinating children's summer literacy programs at local libraries. 

In return for their service, AmeriCorps members receive a living stipend, optional health care coverage and child care assistance, and access to training opportunities. Members must complete 1,720 service hours beginning September 1, 2014 and ending no later than July 31, 2015. Upon successful completion of a term of service, members receive an Education Award of $5,645 to be used toward future college expenses or to pay back existing federal student loans. Members who are 55+ may also transfer their education award to a child, grandchild, or foster child.

To complete a member application and view a full position description, please visit: http://www.uwiowa.org/apply-americorps. Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis through July 31, 2014.

Turning "I Can't" into "I Can"

Jenn Martin, Iowa Reading Corps
AmeriCorps Member

Blog post written by Jenn Martin, Iowa Reading Corps AmeriCorps Member at Oskaloosa Elementary.

Recently, I've been reflecting on some of the most significant challenges and successes that I've experienced with my Reading Corps students. Over the past few months, I've been tutoring a few students who were well below the target scores for the school year and after seeing slower progress, I was starting to feel frustrated with my part in the tutoring process. With support from my Internal Coach, we continued to adapt and work to meet the needs of these students. After conferences, I was informed that two of those students would be tested for learning disabilities. Although I felt a sense of relief that their needs would continue to be met, I was still feeling discouraged. 

As the weeks have passed, both of these students have really started to shine in the Great Leaps interventions. It is so rewarding, especially for these two, to see how excited they are becoming as they have started to more frequently “leap” pages. I've also made it a point to provide purposeful encouragement to these students and have seen them develop more self-confidence every day. I must admit that seeing an increase in a student's self-confidence is the best part of my job as a literacy tutor!

I also have a few students in Reading Corps who have an, “I can’t” attitude. The last thing that I want is for any student to feel like a failure. After chatting with the family members of one of these students, we decided to implement an “I can” policy. In an effort to increase this student's self-confidence, we no longer allow him to use the “I can’t” phrase at home or during tutoring sessions. Instead we encourage him to say, “This is hard,” or “I can try.” By simply removing that "I can't" phrase from his vocabulary, we have seen him become a more confident reader and his mother even noted that she has seen an all-around improvement in his self-confidence. It is so nice to know that by working together with my students’ family members; I can be a part of something bigger.

Engaging Every Parent and Guardian

Jamie Thompson, Iowa Reading Corps
AmeriCorps Member

Blog post written by Jamie Thompson, Iowa Reading Corps AmeriCorps Member at Neil Armstrong Elementary in Bettendorf.

The past few weeks have provided an important opportunity for me to get to know my students and their families. I recently participated in parent-teacher conferences by sharing more detailed information about the Reading Corps program with the families of students who currently receive Reading Corps services. I also provided examples of how the twenty minutes that I spend with these students each day has helped the students grow as readers. Many of my students' parents and guardians were very interested in the program and even asked to receive more information about the interventions that I use with their children so they can begin using similar strategies when they read with their children at home. 

Our student graphs provided a great and easy-to-follow visual representation of each child’s progress. As a member of the Neil Armstrong community, I felt that it was very important for me to use this opportunity to introduce myself as the Reading Corps AmeriCorps member and to share positive feedback regarding my students' reading growth and progress. Because many of the students who I tutor in literacy are also below grade level in other subjects, many of these students' families do not receive a lot of “positive” information at conferences. I was happy to take this opportunity to share some progress and good news!