By Dawn Schmidt, Coordinator, Huntington County Literacy Coalition
At last fall’s Indiana Literacy Association’s annual meeting, many of us were interested in tutor training. So I’ll share what we have done at Huntington County Literacy Coalition. Please share your practices and ideas too!
We have around 35 tutors who meet with adults and children for individualized tutoring. Our volunteers are exceptionally caring citizens of Huntington County giving their time to help others learn. They epitomize our literacy’s tag line: “YOU CAN LEARN”.
Each fall, we have new tutor training one night a week, for two weeks. This was a change from previous years of a four week training. We use the book, “Litstart, Strategies for Adult Literacy and ESL Tutors” and have found it a good resource. It is available through New Readers Press. It does not address math or science.
With reducing the initial new tutor training to two weeks, we added a spring and fall continuing education on Saturday (9:00 a.m. -12:30 p.m.), for all tutors, where we have more time to address their topics and concerns. 2016 was our first go at it and it seemed to work well, so we’ll keep it for 2017….On February 18, 2017 we will have our school corporations’ (Huntington County Schools) psychologist and counselor speak on helping the students who deal with ADD and other attention deficit problems. Last August we had a recently retired teacher (and our board member) teach the basics for reading and also Huntington University’s Assistant Director of the TSOL Institute. Both were very helpful and appreciated by the tutors.
We have evening quarterly tutor meetings too, with the September meeting as our appreciation dinner. I usually use this time to share and instruct about anything that has come across my desk in the past three months that will help them, e.g. a new series of books. I may use something from a recent “Notebook” from the ProLiteracy publication or review a strategy out of the Litstart book. ProLiteracy’s website has tutor training videos too. Last December, we reviewed the resources on our library’s website, (could have made this a definite subject for a Saturday program). After conferences, I pick one or two workshops that I attended and discuss/teach and share any handouts. As an example, I went to Laura Smart’s workshop last year on “Creating Motivating Learning Environment” and we used her handouts. We adapted her classroom ideas to tutoring. The tutors were responsive and grateful for the information. I also showed a video on line multiplication with handouts.
Our quarterly meetings are a time to review and be reminded of general practices such as the monthly tutor report, the initial phone call(s) process with new students, and any situations that may need to be clarified. The two hours go quickly and the tutors are totally engaged. I ask for input for the effectiveness of our meetings (I should make up a 3 things sheet) and always invite them to give me ideas for upcoming meetings.
One last thing….have great snacks!
