Some More REAL Improvment!

by Bethany Larson

I had the opportunity to talk with a couple of ILC student’s parents/guardians at the family picnic City Impact hosted.

“How is Mickela doing?” her grandmother asked.

Mickela was a student that staff member, Miriam had tutored for a semester last year. Over the past year, Miriam has tracked Mickela’s improvement.

“The first time I read with Mickela was over a year ago, when we were just planning for the Impact Learning Center. She was hardly able to read a couple of words back then. She struggled greatly and her confidence was non-existent. Reading with Mickela now was very encouraging! She was breezing through stories and was reading with a very descriptive voice. I could hear the excitement in her voice when she knew she had mastered a story. When she approaches a new story, she does not get discouraged when she is unable to read a word or two. Instead, she writes down the new word on a sticky note and puts it at the front of her binder. The next week she comes back to review those words. She is so confident now and it is a joy to see how far she has come!”

Since the Impact Learning Center has started, Mickela has now been receiving reading tutoring a couple times a week. This has allowed for about ten sessions this semester.

I told her grandma that she had improved greatly since last year. I was curious if she had noticed a difference. Her grandma told me that she doesn’t get to read with Mickela that often, but one day she noticed Mickela had picked up a book and started reading aloud, something she had rarely done before. She informed me that she was very close to graduating from her reading program at school, which meant that she was up to her expected grade-level. How exciting!

Talking to a couple other parents and Miriam, Reading Tutoring Coordinator, it is evident that students receiving tutoring once or twice a week are rapidly improving the reading-grade level. And what’s more is that the students love to read. A peek into the Read Room will show you that. Students are reading aloud to their peers and interacting in conversations about the books they read.