Seeks to Increase Youth
Literacy
By Susie Davidson
Advocate Correspondent
Students at over 40 schools in Boston, Cambridge, Framingham and Brockton have benefited from the Greater Boston Jewish Coalition for Literacy. This Sunday at Brandeis’ Hassenfeld Conference Center, GBJCL’s third annual conference for literacy volunteers will help streamline the effort.
The GBJCL, a program of the Jewish Community Resources Council, oversees
hundreds of volunteers who spend one to two hours per week with kindergarten
through third grade children who are in need of reading skills assistance.
Their Metrowest affiliate is a partnership between JCRC and the Jewish Family
Services of Metrowest.
The tutors need only enthusiasm for the work. “No previous teaching experience is necessary,” said GBJCL Director Tammy Alfred Steinman. The conference, however, is a supplement to their basic training, which is led by Boston Partners in Education.
“This conference is to boost tutors' skills and
provide them with ongoing supportk,” she continued. “Workshops are
led by high level facilitators, and participants can choose which topics are
most relevant to their individual experience or general interest.”
Participants are mainly GBJCL
tutors; teachers are also invited. As GBJCL is the only volunteer organization
to hold an such an event, it tends to attract volunteers from other literacy
volunteer organizations, which include Leaps and Literacy, Generations Inc. and
BPE.
Sunday’s participants will choose from several workshop offerings, each of which will run twice. The conference begins at 9:30 a.m. with registration and coffee and will be followed by opening remarks from 10-10:30, workshops from 10:45-noon, lunch from noon-1 p.m., with the second workshop from 1:15-2:30 p.m.
In The Culture Game: 10 Ways to Understand Cultural Differences, Veronica Darer, Ph.D., a Wellesley College multilingual/multicultural educator and Harvard Graduate School of Education lecturer, will lead activities designed to improve understanding, communication and motivation regarding students’ diverse cultures.
John F. Savage, Ed.D. Professor Emeritus at Boston College who has written five books about teaching language arts, will lead a forum on children’s literature and how it can be utilized to help develop vocabulary and reading comprehension in children.
Ten children’s picture storybook authors will be examined in a session led by Naomi E. Singer, M.Ed., a literacy specialist based at the John Ward Elementary School in Newton, and Matthew Miller, a first grade teacher at Cabot School in Newton, with readings and hands-on activities.
Writing encouragement will be the focus of “The Write Stuff: Getting Ready to Write: Ten Tips,” facilitated by Genteen Lacet, a Boston Public School teacher, who will explore ten methods by which to build student confidence and writing appreciation.
MaryAnn Johnson, Ph.D., Associate Professor of English at Wheelock College and a Boston schoolteacher and principal for nearly 30 years, will host “Clap! Snap! Tap!,” which will study phonemic awareness through a child’s ability to hear, identify and manipulate. Games, songs and chants will play a part in this workshop as well.
Primary Reading Specialist Krista Demas, M.Ed., who teaches at Buckingham Brown and Nichols School in Cambridge, heads “Have fun while you tutor reading!”. Games which can be adapted to any age or level of reading ability will be created with the aim of reinforcing student skills and information awareness.
Five rules and activities to help guarantee improved spelling comprehension will be explained in “Spelling Counts! 10 Tips for Improvement.,” led by Heather Ahern, M.Ed., a teacher and private therapist/consultant and Sarah Arnold, M.S., teacher and private educational therapist.
Finally, the careful selection of children’s multicultural literature will be studied in “All That Glitters is Not Gold: 10 Things to Think About in Choosing and Using Children’s Multicultural Literature,” headed by Dr. Terry Meier, chairperson of the Language and Literacy Department at Wheelock College, who teaches and writes about children’s literature.
“Many people have been involved in the planning of this year's conference,” said Steinman, who cited Conference Planning Committee members Joyce Goldweitz, Conference Chair, Beth Davis, Rose Feinberg, Claire Saxe, Cathy Schumer and Judith Tye. Organizers, in addition to Steinman, included GBJCL Program Committee Co-chairs Susan Ansin, Gene Black, GBJCL Advisory Committee Chair Ruth Fein, JCRC Executive Director Nancy K. Kaufman, JCRC President Geoffrey H. Lewis, JCRC Social Justice Committee Chair Fran Putnoi, and JCRC Director of Social Justice Programs Nahma Nadich, as well as GBJCL Metrowest Coordinator Linda S. Lieberman and
GBJCL Program Assistant Carol M. Rubin
Steinman encourages public participation. “We welcome all of our literacy volunteers/tutors or people interested in our program to attend,” she said.
To learn more about the Greater Boston Jewish Coalition for Literacy, please call 617-457-8669.