READ USA had a record response to our call for teen tutors for the summer tutoring session! We were so impressed by the more than 700 local teens who applied to be trained and paid as tutors during Summer 2023.
READ USA currently has funding to hire around 200 teen tutors, who will tutor nearly 800 elementary students this summer at public elementary schools across Duval County. Imagine if we could hire all 700 teens – we’d be able to tutor up to 2,800 elementary students! With supporters like you, together we can close the literacy gap even further and solve illiteracy in our community!
On Monday and Tuesday this week, as well as this coming Saturday and Sunday, READ USA trained and prepared teen tutors and teacher coordinators for the summer tutoring session. The training covers everything from lesson structure to implementation, best practices, motivating student focus and engagement, and other topics to ensure our teens can hit the ground running!
Multiple community partners also routinely participate in READ USA’s training sessions, and we are so grateful for the following organizations and individuals who shared highly valuable insights to help set our teen tutors up for tutoring, educational, and future career success:
- Hope Street’s Jacquelyn Green and Robin Staley conducted a three-hour training on Trust-Based Relational Intervention®, an attachment-based, trauma-informed intervention that is designed to meet the needs of all children, and especially the complex needs of children who have experienced trauma. The root of this training is to help teens form trust-based connections with students that is aware of and responsive to each student’s unique background.
- VyStar Credit Union’s Marc Streebel addressed a variety of financial education topics for students to learn how to manage their newly earned paychecks, manage bank accounts, and other financial topics as part of READ USA’s focus on facilitating workforce development skills.
- City Year’s Warren Buck discussed the opportunity for READ USA’s teen tutors, 18 years of age and older, to join City Year this fall for one year of service as a paid AmeriCorps member with benefits and a scholarship to use for next steps in their career. READ USA trains and coaches teens to tutor young children in reading, which makes City Year the perfect next step where teens can use the workforce development skills and education training gained from READ USA to work as a paid intern under a certified teacher with City Year.
- University of North Florida’s Dr. Rudy Jamison facilitated a thought-provoking discussion with tutors about future career opportunities: how to leverage your skills and passions to choose your career path, how to chart and pursue that path, and topics to keep in mind as they consider higher education opportunities. You could just feel the young minds in the room abuzz with inspiration for their future!
We cannot say THANK YOU enough to our partners who joined us! Each of you greatly enhance the value that teen tutors derive from READ USA’s Literacy Tutoring program.
Reminder: Save the Date for 2023 Peace in the Pages!
Our 2023 READ USA Peace in the Pages event, generously presented by David & Monique Miller, will take place on Thursday, September 28 from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at TIAA Bank Field.
Our generous donors who support READ USA at $1,000 a year or more receive at least two seats at the Peace in the Pages luncheon. Want to join them? Donate now!
We are so thankful for David & Monique Miller’s support of our event celebrating literacy and more importantly their unwavering commitment to leveling the playing field for everyone in our community.
#ICYMI: Hear directly from David Miller about why he and Monique support READ USA’s efforts to close the literacy gap in our community:
Children’s Book: If Everybody Did, by Jo Ann Stover
Written and illustrated by Jo Ann Stover
If Everybody Did shows the hilarious and terrible consequences of everyone doing their own thing. This book teaches about the consequences of our actions. What if Everybody stomped and roared, picked a bud and always cried? Humorous illustrations match the unlikely, outrageous circumstances that would arise if Everybody did. Originally published in 1960, this classic story and original illustrations have been restored for a new generation of readers.
Submitted by Kathi Hart, Tutoring Program Content Specialist
Parent Education Corner: Conversation Starters for Reading Nonfiction Books with Your Child
During the READ USA Book Fairs, every child that attended was given a READ USA Parent Guide with literacy activities and reading support for you to use at home. These resources will be especially beneficial as you support your child’s literacy development during the summer months.
We will be sharing these resources in the Parent Corner this month in case you missed receiving your Parent Guide from the READ USA Book Fair. You can also access digital versions of the Parent Guide here (and they are available in nine different languages, too!).
Here are conversation prompts for reading nonfiction books with your child:
Submitted by Kathi Hart, Tutoring Program Content Specialist
Do you have any questions or ideas for the Parent Education Corner? Anything you’d like to learn? Let us know here!