Being able to serve all elementary students is fundamental to our Literacy Tutoring program. And this weekend, our new AmeriCorps Tutor Leaders received additional training to foster mental and emotional wellness, safety, and inclusion in our elementary students during Literacy Tutoring.
Our recently inducted AmeriCorps Tutor Leaders received Trust-Based Relational Intervention, or TBRI, training from our partners at Hope & Healing JAX. TBRI training develops trauma-informed leadership skills in our AmeriCorps Tutor Leaders and enables them to better understand and serve students that may need more informed or extra support during Literacy Tutoring. The strategies they learn create an elevated level of mentorship, relationship building, and understanding for under-served elementary students.
Ultimately, TBRI-trained AmeriCorps Tutor Leaders can better support all elementary students – making them feel included, “seen,” and “heard,” no matter their needs or challenges.
Many thanks to Hope & Healing Jax’s team members, Lesley Matherson, Robin Staley, and Christy Sellers, for leading the training! We are grateful for our partnership with you.
We are thrilled to see the deeper impact that our AmeriCorps Tutor Leaders will continue to have on the elementary students we serve!
Tutor Chronicles: Impact Beyond the Tutoring Site
When you think about READ USA’s Literacy Tutoring, you might immediately picture our teen tutors and the elementary students they tutor. However, another vital component to Literacy Tutoring’s effectiveness is our teachers, who coach our teen tutors in-the-moment during tutoring.
Our new Tutor Chronicles training series is designed to provide that same type of coaching to our teachers and specialists. While they already receive intensive, ongoing training to elevate their literacy instruction and coaching abilities, Tutor Chronicles capture real-time scenarios from Literacy Tutoring sessions, infuse those topics into regular trainings, and prompt teachers to use SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound) feedback for tutors.
“Part of the purpose is to underscore the importance of reflection and decision-making in the moment, based on real scenarios from tutoring, for our teachers and help them improve and refine the feedback they give tutors,” explained Tabetha Cox, our Chief Tutoring Officer. “This instructional feedback loop isn’t something that classroom teachers typically have the opportunity to practice.”
Most of READ USA’s teachers and specialists already work in Duval County Public Schools as teachers or educators, “so this is a practice that they can take back into their schools. It ultimately empowers them to take on greater responsibility as teacher leaders, coaching their colleagues to improve literacy instruction and helping even more students reach grade-level reading proficiency,” added Tabetha.
“Their impact ultimately extends far beyond our tutoring sites, into many classrooms in schools across the district. This is part of our mission at READ USA, to positively impact literacy instruction and the broader education system.”
Monday was our first Tutor Chronicles training, and we were happy to see the engagement and interest in this new approach among our teachers and specialists! Much more to come!
Books, Games, and More!
Many thanks to Kids Hope Alliance for inviting READ USA to join many other community partners during its Fall Festival last week!
Our team was thrilled to give out free books – our favorite thing! – while kids and families enjoyed face painting, games, balloons, and free resources. While it was a bit chilly – the event definitely lived up to its autumnal name! – we had so much fun alongside the Jacksonville Public Library, City of Jacksonville, Blue Zones Project, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northeast Florida, Florida Blue, Early Learning Coalition, and the Historic Eastside CDC. Thank you for including books, literacy, and READ USA in the family fun! And a special thank you to Kids Hope Alliance CEO Dr. Saralyn Grass and Director of Communications, Marketing, and Event Management Mari Ganues.
Check out some more photos on Kids Hope Alliance’s Instagram here!
Have You Shared Yet?
If not, now is the time!
Make Your Vote Heard: Community nominations for our 2025 Peace in the Pages award honorees are OPEN!
Do you know someone who:
- Is a champion of literacy, reading, or education in our community?
- Embodies the values of empathy, peace, non-violence, health, education, freedom, leadership, and success – and those values’ connections to literacy?
Tell us who! Nominate them HERE.
There are seven award honoree categories and details about each are below. You can also read more about our 2024 Peace in the Pages in Honor of Roseann Duran event here.
Award Categories
⭐READ to Lead Award
This award recognizes someone who exhibits the bravery and willingness to lead – especially when such leadership is difficult.
Past award winners include:
- Patti McElroy
- Betty Seabrook Burney
- Audrey Moran
⭐READ to Succeed Award
This award is presented to an individual who embodies how reading fuels success in life.
Past award winners include:
- Caleb Johnson
- Tim Cost
- Judge Rhonda Peoples-Waters
⭐READ to be Free Award
This award was created to honor an individual who understands the connection between the individual empowerment that comes from literacy and freedom. As George Washington Carver once said, “Education is the key to unlock the golden door of freedom,” and our award recipient is also someone who fully embodies this ideal.
Past award winners include:
- Ronnie Gadio
- Kevin Gay
- The Honorable Warren Jones
⭐READ to Heal Award
This award recognizes someone who embodies the importance of healing in all forms – intellectually, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Healing brings our community together and unites us in support and respect for one another, and the recipient of this award personifies the intersection of healing and literacy.
Past award winners include:
- Dr. Andrea Barnwell Brownlee
- Nicole B. Thomas
- Jeff Chartrand
⭐READ to Remember Award
Dr. Martin Luther King once said, “We are not makers of history. We are made by history.” The recipient of this award makes historical connections relevant to today and embraces literacy as the connection between our past, present, and future.
Past award winners include:
- Dr. Sherry Magill
- Dr. Floyd Willis
- Dr. Jim Crooks and Laura Crooks
⭐Marjorie Broward Memorial Scholarship Award
Marjorie Broward established libraries all over the globe and, closer to home, initiated JAX READS and many other book-related projects during her 95 years on this earth. It is in honor of this remarkable leader that READ USA established the Marjorie Broward Memorial Scholarship Award, which is presented to a school leader who exemplifies Marjorie’s commitment to service, community, and the common good.
Past award winners include:
- Principal Katie Adkins
- Principal Paula Findlay
- Principal Felicia Hardaway
⭐Mark Landen Memorial Award for Democracy through Journalism
Mark Landen worked for the Florida Times-Union for 30 years, starting by delivering papers and rising to the position of Director of Circulation. Mark’s legacy and unwavering commitment to journalism is the essence of this award recipient: a member of the media who embodies the ideals of sound journalism, ethics, and most importantly, the role literacy plays in our democracy.
Past award winners include:
- Tenikka Hughes, Action News Jax
- Mark Woods, Florida Times-Union
- Beth Reese Cravey, Florida Times-Union
Submit your nomination soon for our Board of Directors to make final decisions on our 2025 Award Honorees!
Children’s Book: Outside In by Deborah Underwood
Illustrated by Cindy Derby
The story begins in nature, as a young girl explores an impressionistic forest. “Once we were part of Outside and Outside was part of us. There was nothing between us.” After a few page turns, the girl is riding in a car, with contemplative text observing, “Now sometimes even when we’re outside… we’re inside. We forget Outside is there.”
But the outside always makes itself known in subtle and miraculous ways. From the sunlight that “flashes through the window” to the “warm bread and berries” on the kitchen table to the “wooden chairs, once trees,” the natural world organically weaves its way into the girl’s home, creating daily rhythms (“Outside shows us there is a time to rest and a time to start fresh”) and routines (“a spider seeking shelter, a boxelder bug in the bath”). Visible brushstrokes and splashes create texture, reflecting the outside’s raw, sensory, and uninhibited beauty — a beauty that (on the last spread) summons the girl out of her house and into the golden outdoors, reminding readers of the majesty that is always there, waiting just outside.
This thought-provoking picture book poetically underscores our powerful and enduring connection with nature. Outside is waiting: the most patient playmate of all, the most generous friend, and the most miraculous inventor.
Submitted by Kathi Hart, READ USA Lead Content Teacher
Parent Education Corner: Four Tips to Help Children Understand What They Read
We are continuing on our journey from last week about reading comprehension. This week, we’re discussing additional ways to help children understand what they read.
Being an active reader is key. That means focusing on the text, questioning the text, and taking mental notes. You can use these skills with your child at home.
Use these four tips to help improve your child’s reading comprehension:
- Make connections: When children connect what they already know to what they read, it helps them focus. Show your child how to make connections when you read aloud. If a book mentions places that you have been with your child, talk about those memories. Then have your child give it a try.
- Ask questions: Asking questions encourages children to look for clues in the text. When you read together, ask questions to spark your child’s curiosity. Ask things like, “What do you think will happen?” or “How is that character feeling?”
- Make “mind movies”: Visualizing helps bring a story to life. That’s where mind movies come in. When you read with your child, describe what the scene looked like in your head. Talk about how it makes you feel. Then invite your child to make a mind movie, too. Point out how your child’s movie may be different from yours. If your child likes to draw, encourage your child to create a picture of the scene, too.
- Figure out what’s important: Ask your child: Who are the main characters? What’s the most important thing that has happened in the story so far? What problem are the characters trying to solve? When children can point out what’s important, they’re more likely to understand what they read.
Submitted by Kathi Hart, READ USA Lead Content Teacher
Do you have any questions or ideas for the Parent Education Corner? Anything you’d like to learn? Let us know here!