Mia McConnell
February 24, March 3, March 10 @ 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm
Boys And Girls Club - Reading Is Freedom
Renee Infelise
Renee@bgcp.org
For my PACT
I tutored young students at Taft Elementary School through the Reading Is
Freedom program by the Boys and Girls Club. I started tutoring kids at Taft my
freshman year, going once a week throughout the spring. During my sophomore
year, Laura Halprin started the Reading Is Freedom program through the Boys and
Girls Club. Reading Is Freedom strives to help kids at lower reading levels
gain the confidence and skills necessary to excel in the classroom and in the
future. After working by Laura's side since freshman year, Laura assigned me as
her assistant in leading Reading Is Freedom this year and will pass on the
leadership role for my senior year. This
year, because I no longer play a winter sport, I started tutoring a Taft right
after ski week. Traditionally, during the first visit to Taft we will receive
our new student and read a fun book or play a game to try and get to know the
student and allow them to become comfortable around you. I think this casual
and fun visit is essential because it's hard to give a student advice before
they feel comfortable around you. When we got to Taft I got assigned to a 3rd
grade boy named Alexis. From the moment I met him I could tell Alexis was an
extremely shy but sweet boy, and a diligent worker. Each Taft student's teacher
will fill out a form before the tutors come that says what reading level the
student is at, what the student struggles with, and what activities they enjoy.
From Alexis's sheet I learned that he was a level 1 reader, a couple levels
behind for his grade level, and that he had self esteem issues, especially
because he doesn't receive enough support and assistance at home. One of the
huge reasons why students at Taft often struggle with their reading and
schoolwork is that at home many of their parents are struggling to work
multiple jobs in order to feed their children and speak English as their second
language and therefore can barely help with their child's homework. My goal
from the start of my tutoring with Alexis was to boost his confidence as a
reader and as a student in general. After three visits to Taft, Alexis has definitely
started to improve his reading skills and has become more comfortable with me.
Each time we meet I try to narrow his focus to a specific type of word or
technique that he has repeatedly struggles with. For example, he often forgets
to pronounce the 's on words like "my dad's car". For our next two
lessons I told him we would focus on always remembering to pronounce the 's
sound and by the end of the hour he was perfecting the skill. I'm excited to
continue improving his reading skills while also getting to know him better.
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