Category: Success Stories Historias De éxito

Faces of TLC: Tutoring

8/8/2016

Antonina was nominated to work with a tutor when she was in sixth grade. She came into the program to gain content reading skills as she entered middle school. Her tutor was crucial to Antonina’s success and ensured she maintained her enthusiasm and willingness to read, while also helping her improve her ability to read high level academic material. Antonina successfully moved through middle school to high school.

As a high school students, Antonina has now chosen to support younger students in the same way by volunteering as tutor at TLC. This year she worked with a Kindergarten student. Her time and dedication to TLC helped Esmerelda learn her sight words, work on decoding beginning texts, and gain the comprehension skills to understand the stories she read. We are so lucky to have Antonina with us this year. Thanks to all our volunteers for helping us achieve our mission.

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Kids, Dogs, Read Together

7/13/2016

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POSTED: WEDNESDAY, JULY 13, 2016 4:30 AM
By Isa Jones |
PHOTO: BRADLY J. BONER / NEWS&GUIDE

Roxy was laying on her back, her belly exposed and her eyes half open. She had a faint smile and let her long legs touch 9-year-old Sebastian Hernandez. The youngster barely noticed. He was too focused on the book he was reading aloud — about a dog that decided to run away from home and become a wild dog.

“This is pretty fun,” he said after finishing the book and giving Roxy — a Sheltie/Australian shepherd mix — a vigorous belly rub.

Sebastian was at Teton Literacy Center — he’s been attending for three years now — to improve his reading and writing skills. As part of the summer sessions the center decided to work with Teton County Pet Partners and provide therapy dogs for the children to read to.
“Pet Partners has been really fantastic,” program manager Kristin Livingstone said.
The idea to have therapy dogs assist young readers came after a donation of dog-friendly books was made to the center.

“They are written for dogs to listen to, in tone and content,” Livingstone said. “Like, one of the stories is about being a wild dog or a burglar coming to the door. It gives the kids an authentic reason to use expression while reading, and pre-read the story to read it fluently while reading to the pet.”
Pet Partners was immediately on board.

“It helps kids really learn to read,” said Kelly Chadwick, administrative coordinator for Pet Partners. “When they’re reading out loud to an animal, it makes a huge difference. It lowers inhibitions and there’s no pressure — the dog is their friend.”

In another corner of the center, fifth grader Melanie Hierro was reading a book about summer camp to a snoozing Labradoodle named Tracy. Melanie said she likes reading picture books and chapter books, but she clearly likes dogs even more. As soon as the last word came out of her mouth, the book was on the ground and her hands were furiously petting Tracy.

Pet Partners brings three dogs every week during the summer sessions — four in July and two in August. The kids rotate through the dogs, each reading one or two books to the pups.

The afternoon of July 6 was the first go-round, and every kid, and dog, had a smile.

Pet Partners is part of a national organization that opened here back in the 1990s, Chadwick said. There are 42 teams of pets and their humans that provide therapy in the valley at places such as St. John’s Medical Center, MorningStar Assisted Living Center and C-Bar-V Ranch.

“We’re hoping it’s such a success that we can continue it through the school year,” Chadwick said.
Livingstone said she isn’t sure what the future of the partnership will look like, but the first day was certainly a good sign.

“The dogs aren’t judging them or correcting them,” Livingstone said. “They are sitting there and giving them love, which inspires confidence in the kids.”

Contact Isa Jones at 732-7062 or entertainment@jhnewsandguide.com.

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An Open Letter: Kate Reflects on her AmeriCorps Service with TLC

5/16/2016

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I came to Teton Literacy Center somewhat on a whim. I'd seen an announcement for the AmeriCorps internship, thought the place looked wonderful, sent in an application, and within a week or so decided to pack up and move to Jackson. Though the process of getting here sounds pretty easy breezy, the experience as a whole has been so important in uniting my past experience and shaping where I'll go from here.

As a member of the after school program team, I got to dive right in planning lessons for enrichment clubs at Jackson Elementary and lesson planning (and occasionally subbing) for Monday tutoring students. I'd tutored before, taught English, and even have some bilingual health education experience under my belt, but wrangling a group of kindergartners after school was a whole new ball game. How are you supposed to design literacy-based activities when they're still working on writing their names? Somehow we figured it out, and I developed a new appreciation for emergent literacy. Plus, getting to hang out with that always-stoked little bunch of muppets became a highlight of my week.

Perhaps the coolest part of my time here, looking back, was getting to be a part of the progress and development of tutoring students. Writing lesson plans that work on fluency and phonics is one thing, but seeing the impact of a good student-tutor relationship in action is quite another. I wholly enjoyed learning the mechanics behind getting someone up to speed in reading and writing, especially students coming to English as their second language. But what I will really take away from the tutoring program is the understanding that a student who feels respected and empowered is far more likely to learn in the long run, and that one positive relationship can be the tipping point for putting a struggling student on the path to success. With only a few more end of year assessments left to go, almost all our Monday students are up to grade level or beyond. However, what most excites me are the little sparks of inspiration I've seen between tutor pairs: like Fernando performing a poem he'd just learned, or Brayan learning sight words while playing Go Fish with his tutor every week.

Apart from tutoring and enrichment, I helped put on a series of events for TLC Family Lit families in partnership with Latino Outdoors. Part of the AmeriCorps internship requires a project that builds capacity for science literacy with a partner organization. Mostly the brainchild of Teton Science Schools graduate student Alfonso Orozco, I was excited to help make the connection between Latino Outdoors and Family Lit. With gear and logistical support from TSS, we took a stroll in Grand Teton National Park, learned about conifer and species ID at the Murie Museum, got some practice using bear spray, and raffled off some park passes for continued family fun. What a cool experience to see the families I know from TLC connect with the beautiful Jackson surroundings as I'm starting to explore them myself.

From here, I'll be teaching field education with Teton Science Schools this summer, and hoping to stick around as a volunteer tutor with TLC. I'm keeping my eyes peeled for more opportunities in education and feeling a conviction to stay in the classroom, especially with English Language Learners, in any capacity. I'm not sure that I could have asked for a better array of experiences, a work environment that's more supportive and conducive to growth, or a more enjoyable introduction to the Jackson community than I've gotten through this internship. Thanks, TLC, from the bottom of my heart, for having me these past several months! It's been a whim I'm sincerely glad I saw through.

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Teton Literacy

This blog is designed to inspire literacy learning beyond the walls of TLC. Check back each week for timely content geared towards engaging families and volunteers alike.

Together, we can achieve our vision of a 100% literate community.

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Faces of TLC: Tutoring

Kids, Dogs, Read Together

An Open Letter: Kate Reflects on her AmeriCorps Service with TLC

Teton Literacy

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