Story written by Isabella Bourillon, 2022-2024 Spanish Literacy First Tutor
From the onset of the school year, Literacy First tutors strive to create welcoming, fun environments where students feel safe and excited to learn and are inspired to work on their reading skills. Our tutors pick up the same students from class each day to provide one-to-one literacy support. While some students may understandably be resistant to be pulled from class and spend time away from their peers, most students look forward to the special time they get to spend with their tutors each day.
Literacy First tutors are often seen by the students as mentors, and even students who are not in the program ask the tutors when they will get to come read with them. This valuable one-to-one instruction time not only helps children improve their reading skills but also contributes to social-emotional learning. Teachers often report that students in the program are more willing to participate in class, their confidence having grown from the time they spent in the Literacy First program.
One of our current tutors, Isabella served in her second year with Literacy First during the 2023-2024 school year. When she returned to the same school as the year before, she saw some familiar faces and was excited to catch up with the students she worked with the previous year. In the following story, she witnessed how one student’s confidence had grown and learned something surprising about the impact she left.
I always knew working with kids was going to be eventful, dynamic, and chaotic and being a Literacy First tutor has proved that to be right so many times. I have been a bilingual tutor for 2 years now. At times our job can seem repetitive, tight scheduled, centered around structured lessons, data and information. But it is also about connecting with students–from learning their entire life stories when we do our “Getting to Know You Book” during our first lesson together to being an engaged listener, even if it’s when listening to an extensive speech about Roblox.
Last year I had a student in kindergarten named Maria. She used to be extremely engaged with everything around her, would tell me stories about her day, said hi to everyone in the hallways. She was a happy, talkative, and motivated kid. In the lessons, she did well and she graduated by the end of the year.
When I started this school year, I wondered if I would see Maria again. The moment I saw her in the first-grade classroom I felt so happy for her. I got very excited to see how well she had been doing. When it came time to test her for beginning of year benchmarking, I told her that we were going to check how much she could read.
She immediately said, “but I know how to read!”
“I know, Maria, you did so well last year in my class and now you know how to read,” I responded.
With a confused face, she looks at me and says, “How do you know I know how to read?”
I had to explain to her that when we went to my classroom every day the previous year, what we were doing was practicing reading. Realizing she might not remember me, I shared that I was the one who helped her learn how to read and by the end of the year, she got the diploma because she did so well that she graduated.
Again, very confused, she said, “What do you mean you helped me learn how to read? All we did in your classroom was get stickers and coloring pages!” I held back laughter at this response, finding it funny that the main thing she remembered about our daily lessons were the stickers and coloring pages she collected at the end of our lessons.
This was my first interaction with one of my past students from the previous year and it made me happy and so proud of what I am doing. I was amazed that this little girl had no idea that she was being pulled out of the class because she needed help. She never saw me as someone who she was forced to work with. Even though our actual work was reading and she accomplished her goals, she only remembered the fun and caring environment I created for her and the other students.
I might not be remembered as one of their teachers or the one who helped them learn how to read. They might not remember my name, but I know they will remember how they felt in that little space we had next to the library where we practiced reading together. And I know the skills they developed with me will help them for years to come.