Greetings Oasis Reading Mentors!
This week, rather than a lot of links, I thought I would simply share some thoughts – address the elephant in the room so to speak.
We know that as reading mentors, we impact students when we meet in person, converse with them, read and write with them and of course, highlight vocabulary. During these strange COVID times, our literacy approach will work online with a bit of creativity and flexibility. The most important component we bring as reading mentors to distance learning is the personal touch. Reading mentors encourage a student’s interest in reading since we model reading for pleasure. It does not matter what a student’s ability, reading aloud to the student and talking together benefits the student both academically and socially. Despite the distance and the technology issues, we can still help a student achieve positive literacy outcomes.
Naturally, we want to mentor in person. We greet our student as they exit the classroom and walk with them to our designated space. We want a solid hour where we can focus on the student and hopefully find that the session plan we worked on so diligently is a major success. Well, with distance learning we clearly will not have the opportunity to walk with our student. We will however, greet our student by looking into a computer screen, perhaps after clearing internet and connectivity issues. We will still have the opportunity to speak with our student, hear what is happening in their life, and even see a bit of their surroundings at home. Many of our volunteers have met family members, pets and learned what was for breakfast. I mentioned the personal touch that we bring to our sessions and I believe that personal touch is very important now as an elementary student’s life has effectively “shrunk” this year with stay at home mandates.

I won’t sugar coat the problems. We all have different technology (computers, laptop, Mac, etc.) and certainly different skill sets with technology. Training can either go quickly or sometimes feel a bit overwhelming. We now have volunteers mentoring online who shared that they would never consider even training for the experience. I admit we have had a few who felt their technical skills prevented them from moving forward. We want to hold up a book and share the pictures, or we find that when sharing a book online we can’t always see the student on the screen. But let’s be realistic in that sometimes the best things in life require a bit of determination and patience. We at Oasis are continually looking for ways to make this transition easier and so far, it is working for a third of our team!
I think there are few things to consider if you are on the fence about online mentoring. First, consider the importance of making a connection to support a student. Second, the sheer joy of volunteering – stepping outside of ourselves and our problems. Finally, reading children’s books!
I leave you with the simple and profound words from Jonnae, an APS second grade student. Jonnae felt the best part of tutoring was spending time with someone new.
“I’ve been isolated here and I just needed that, I just needed someone to talk to.”
Until next time – be well, stay safe and happy reading!
Vicki
Relaxation and Fun
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We miss you, so make sure you leave us a message about how you’re doing, what your plans are or anything else you might have to say in the comment section below!
The technology is really not hard after the initial scramble. The teachers and principals are so kind and considerate. I’m lovin’ working with my kindergartener. We read Clark the Shark last meeting. He liked it. On another subject, the Blue Danube video was so cute. What an interesting way to think about music. Thanks Vicki.
Hi Vicki, I was somewhat reluctant initially and found the first session a bit difficult. But after that it’s been rewarding. My student is great with computers and taught me how to use google meet right away. After our second session together he told me, “I wish we could tutor everyday.” That really lit up my heart and made it all worthwhile. Kids really need personal contact right now and being home is hard on them, especially if parents are too busy to supervise or interact. I really encourage all of you reluctant tutors to try it three times and… Read more »
That is extremely inspiring! Congratulations.
Thanks for the update and the encouragement, Vicki! As I’m going through the training and hearing from everyone, I have been very impressed with the Oasis approach! It’s wonderful to see the resiliency in all the tutors as they transitioned to online meetings. I commend them all! I am so looking forward to being part of the program.
Also – I’m very glad to know Jan 25th is Fun at Work day. I’m going to plan something!
Thanks for your always inspiring thoughts, Vicki. I’ve been mentioning a second grader, and it’s been very rewarding. It’s not always optimal to do all of it online, but I’ve had fun exploring the Google jam boards as a means of presenting activities and games for the student. I’ve always enjoyed learning more about technology, so that’s been fun in itself. The key, I think, is to be patient with yourself and know that just “hanging out” with the student is as important as any other part of the session.
This is my first year to the tutoring experience. I was given an 11yo who was totally disconnected from school and not attending classes at all. Each tutoring session is different w attempts to engage in reading in a variety of ways. The majority of the sessions are interactive w a lot of listening! She reconnected w her teacher last week but missed tutoring w me. I was able to connect w a 5yo whose tutor was unavailable. I love love love the principal and the educational assistants!
good windy morning ! I admit that although I am used to computers I was not sure how this year would go.. I absolutely love my second grader and also confess we spend a good portion of the hour playing word games, making faces ( of characters we read about) reading sneaks in at the end of our session. Our teacher is great ! she allows me into the entire classroom to chat for a few minutes. I agree, it is harder this year but I am smiling at the end of every session.
Thank you
Definitely a windy morning here at Oasis! Even our computers are acting up and want to sleep…. I recognize this is a different way to mentor Cyndy and I am thrilled to hear you are smiling each time!
Greetings Paula, Jenni, Jeanne, Jan and Davinia!
It truly warms my heart to hear how well everyone is adjusting to online mentoring. I always appreciate hearing volunteer stories. Also, let’s welcome a new group of volunteers including Davinia to our team. Stay well, Vicki
Vicki:
When Hope and I come next week, I don’t know what day. You and I can talk about the tutoring. We were supposed to the last time. We have SO MUCH GOING ON RIGHT NOW. We are still working on finishing the books. I’ll let you know as soon as I know. I know I will have to use one of your computers because Apple store is closed unless we decided to go to Best Buy.
Stay well to all our peeps at Oasis.
Roxanne Sikes
Last year I purchased a book of Word Ladders from Scholastic. These are great fun activities to do with students. The ones in the book I have are for grades 2-3. I have scanned several of them and saved them as jpegs so that I can add them to a Google Jamboard to use with my second grade student. I just add the jpeg file to the whiteboard then fill in the blanks using sticky notes. You can premake the sticky notes and leave them in random order for the student to choose, or can create them as the student… Read more »
Yay! Thank you Jeanne!
For those of you interested in the actual quote and a link to the Rita Pierson Ted Talk, here they are! I now think of our Oasis volunteer reading mentors as Champions.
“Every child deserves a champion – an adult who will never give up on them, who understands the power of connection, and insists that they become the best they can possibly be.” ~Rita Pierson
https://www.ted.com/talks/rita_pierson_every_kid_needs_a_champion?language=en