This past summer I had the opportunity to work for AmeriCorps and the Minnesota Literacy Council as a Summer Reads Vista Coordinator. This job gave me the opportunity to tutor students in my hometown of Ely, MN who were reading below reading level. Throughout the summer I used my knowledge from a day of training in June to enhance students’ literacy skills. I worked with another teacher reading one-on-one with students and giving weekly assessments. The assessments included, word-per-minute tests, sight words, and a feelings about reading assessment. For four weeks we did projects with students, focused on one-on-one reading time, and went on educational field trips while monitoring student learning. We worked with two different age groups ranging from Kindergartners to 5th graders. It was an amazing experience and such an uplifting program to be a part of. Students would improve by 10 or more sight words over the course of the summer and many would increase their words-per-minute score by a significant amount each week. A teacher from the school recently told me that he saw an extreme change in the students’ ability after our program and has recruited more students for this upcoming summer. I just recently filled out an application to do this job again this summer, and am looking forward to using what I have learned in my college courses over the past year to benefit the students.
If any of you are interested in this position reference the links below, and please feel free to ask me any questions you might have. This is a wonderful teaching opportunity and I highly suggest it!
http://www.americorps.gov/about/programs/vista.asp
http://minnesotareadingcorps.org/about?gclid=CPSj2YXHmbYCFXSVMgod-14A0Q