Kalamazoo Literacy Council: Be a Tutor
Why tutor?
Requirements and duties
What do I do first?
When do I begin tutoring?
The Laubach Program
Why tutor?
In 1992, the National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS), conducted by the Educational Testing Service and funded by the U.S. Department of Education, sampled the literacy skills of more than 26,000 individuals age 16 years or older. The NALS Study was the most comprehensive study to provide a picture of how well adults in this country use printed materials to accomplish day-to-day tasks: reading a bus schedule, using an automatic teller machine, or understanding a judge’s instructions to a jury. Participants were then assigned to one of five ability levels based on their performance. Researchers used the results to estimate that between 21 and 23 percent of adults in the United States are functioning at Level 1—the lowest level. This represents approximately 40 to 44 million people. At most, people in Level 1 are able to perform tasks involving brief, uncomplicated text such as totaling the entry on a bank deposit slip or locating information in a brief news article, but many do so with difficulty. Others are unable to do so at all. An additional 50 million people are functioning at Level 2. Their skills are still quite limited, and they have considerable difficulty carrying out tasks requiring them to use lengthy texts or do two-step calculations. Today more than 40 million adults in the U.S. cannot read or write, and another 40 to 50 million can neither write clearly nor fully understand what they read. Children whose parents are functionally illiterate are twice as likely as their peers to be functionally illiterate. The threat of illiteracy for children who don’t learn to read well is very real. Helping low-literate adults improve their basic skills has a direct and measurable impact on both the education and quality of life of their children.
We need tutors—lots of tutors, who are willing to be trained, and volunteer their time each week, to work with people who need help. If we can get “Each One to Teach One”, thousands of adults can be taught to read, greatly improving their lives, and the lives of their family. What a worthwhile and valuable way to spend a couple of hours a week! Think of the positive change you could make in someone’s life!
Requirements & Duties
Qualifications
1. You must be literate.
2. The ability to speak clearly is important.
3. You must be able to see and hear clearly.
4. It is important to be conscientious, flexible, patient, and positive.
5. You should have the ability to respond to others in a warm, realistic, and nonjudgmental manner.
6. You must have access to transportation.
7. You must show proficiency in doing lessons, after attending the required training.
What is Expected of Each Tutor
1. It is essential that you meet with your student regularly and punctually.
2. Use the materials recommended by the coordinator as the primary material.
3. You will need to prepare each lesson given.
4. You are to keep a record of student progress, your preparation time, and teaching time. This information will need to be reported to KLC quarterly.
5. You are expected to inform the coordinator promptly, of any problems or changes in tutoring status.
6. Provide encouragement and support to student.
7. You will be required to monitor your student’s changing needs and goals, and provide additional supplementary primary reading materials and exercises, if needed.
8. Periodic in-services may be held and as a KLC tutor, you will be expected to attend, for additional, updated, informational training.
9. You and your student are expected to meet at least once weekly (or more), for sessions of one to one-and-a-half hours.
10. Once you have committed yourself to being a tutor, it is with the understanding that you will tutor for a minimum of one year.
What do I do first?
Once you have decided that you really want to tutor someone, the first thing you will need to do is contact one of us. You will find contact information on our Contact page. Here you have a number of contact options. Choose the one that you would be the most comfortable using. Once you have contacted us, we will tell you when the next required orientation will be held and also sign you up for the next training sessions, which will be four three-hour sessions, a total of 12 hours of training. In your 12 hours of Laubach Way to Reading training sessions, you will be given all of the information and practice that you will need in order to effectively tutor your student. Please make sure that when you sign up for these training sessions, you will be available for all twelve hours. If you do not attend all of the sessions, you will not be considered qualified to be a Kalamazoo Literacy Council tutor. Unless you complete the total 12 hours of training, you will not be certified as a Laubach tutor. Once you successfully complete your training, you will be ready to tutor!
When can I begin tutoring?
After you have attended the required orientation and successfully completed the 12 hours Laubach Way to Reading training sessions, you will be contacted with information about your new student! This information will include the student’s name, phone number and level at which he or she tested. Once you have this pertinent information, you will be responsible for contacting him or her by phone, and setting up your first meeting. You will also be responsible for getting in touch with June Miller and letting her know what materials you will require. It is important that you pick these materials up before you meet your student. After your first meeting, it is essential that you continue to meet once a week for your tutoring sessions. It will be up to you and your student as to when and where your sessions take place.
About the Laubach Program
The Laubach Way to Reading is a basic reading and writing series developed primarily for adults with little or no reading ability. The series consists of five skill books and correlated readers for student use. The teacher’s manual for each skill book gives detailed instructions and lesson plans. The series provides a systematic development of basic reading and writing skills. Each lesson includes vocabulary development, phonic or structural analysis of words, the reading of a short story, comprehension checks, and writing practice. The lessons progress from the sounds and regular spellings of basic consonants to those of the short vowels, the long vowels and finally to irregular spellings and more difficult reading, writing, and grammar skills. The skills books and correlated readers may be used with both speakers of English and those who are learning English. A separate series of manuals, The Laubach Way to English, provides complete instructions for teaching the skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing English to the non-English-speaking student.
