Literacy:
Spanning the U.S.
Peoria
tutors, students shine at literacy awards
Peoria Journal Star: 6.07.2015 by Braley
Dodson
Two years ago, Bobby Archie Jr. committed himself to his education.
“I thought, I have to get my GED and then everything will fall into place,” Archie said.
Last
month he and two other Peoria residents were recognized by the state for their
achievements in literacy.
The 2015 Spotlight on Literacy Awards were
presented May 13 at the Illinois State Library in Springfield. The award
annually recognizes 10 students and 10 tutors from Illinois. Tutors and student
winners are nominated separately by someone within the organization they work
with.
“That
was the first time I’ve ever won something in my life,” Archie said. “It was an
honor to win something like that. It was great to be recognized as a real
person.”
Archie,
50, was released from prison two years ago. At the time, he read at a
third-grade level.
Now,
he’s reading at a sixth-grade reading level, recently received his driver’s
license and is running his own business. He goes to Common Place
Family Learning Center twice a week and reads books from the
library.
“I know
I can make a difference and I am proud to tell my story to the young kids,”
Archie said. “I got to say I have been there, done that, and you really don’t
want to go there.” READ MORE !
Volunteers are the heart of Tri-State Literacy Council
Herald Dispatch: 6.08.2015
Tri-State Literacy Council trains 30-60 volunteer tutors each year.
All our tutors are amazing.
Vivian Atkinson, a tutor with TSLC for more than 10 years, tutored a
lady for three years until she attained her high school equivalency diploma.
Andrea Lupson, a tutor with TSLC for almost two years, tutored a gentleman
whose first language was not English. Not only did she cultivate his interests in
the United States, she helped him improve his workplace and language skills, so
he could obtain a job in Huntington.
Many of our volunteers work with learners for greater periods of time
than the requested one hour per week. Some TSLC tutors take on tutoring more
than one learner, putting in additional hours of planning and instructional
time. Skip Flynn, Linda Board, Donna Wheeler, and many others, work or have
worked with multiple learners each week.
Still more of our tutors, who originally planned on volunteering with
TSLC for only nine months to a year, have stayed with our organization. Dr.
Evelyn Pupplo-Cody has been with TSLC for more than 20 years. We have a host of
tutors who have volunteered for five years or more, and many more tutor longer
than the one year they first signed up for. Our tutors show up. TSLC tutors
volunteer for many other projects. They show up at Marcum Terrace for Summers
on the Terrace. They show up for family literacy events at CCPL main and other branch libraries. They
show up for Tutor Advisory Board meetings to help support one another and to
find ways to make tutoring more successful for tutors and learners. READ MORE !
The Literacy Connection honored
tutors and learners at the annual Tutor/Learner Recognition
Daily Herald: 6.10.2015
by Carolyn Chadwell
The
Literacy
Connection's annual Tutor/Learner Recognition was held
Thursday, June 4, at the Gail Borden Public Library in downtown Elgin.
A
morning program took place from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. and an evening program took
place from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
More
than 100 tutors and their learners attended the event to celebrate their
outstanding efforts during the past year.
Certificates
were awarded to tutors and learners who reached milestones in the following
categories: Tutors with 5- and 10-years of service; Learners with 5, 10 and 15
years of attendance; Learners with over 50, 75 or 100 hours of attendance; and
Tutors with over 50, 75, 100 and 125 hours of service.
Administrative
and testing volunteers also were acknowledged and awarded certificates.
There
were two guest speakers: Carina Morales in the morning program and Eustacio
Baldazo in the evening program.
Both
speakers delivered inspirational stories of their personal and professional
achievements since beginning the adult literacy program with The Literacy
Connection. READ MORE !
Literacy
Council volunteer still going strong after 40 years
Frederick News Post: 6.13.2015 by Laura
Dukes
Caroline Gaver
has spent more than half of her life with the Literacy
Council of Frederick County.
The now
68-year-old owned a dairy farm with her husband, Joel, when she noticed some of
their employees did not know how to read. She saw something in the newspaper
about the Literacy Council looking for volunteer tutors, and it made her
curious about how an adult would learn to read.
That was 40
years ago, and she’s been a volunteer with the council ever since.
The
Libertytown resident said they taught, and still teaches, volunteers to tutor
using the Laubach method. This is a multi-sensory phonics-based approach with
charts and keywords, Gaver said. The keywords, such as “bird,” are meant to
teach sounds of language.
When Gaver
started volunteering with the council, the majority of the students she saw
were American-born English speakers who were almost completely illiterate. They
started learning at beginner levels, learning sounds and names of letters.
These students
usually had received some schooling, but many had dropped out early, Gaver
said. This was often because they had to work to help support their families.
“That was typical of the middle of the last century,” she said. READ MORE !
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