Countless Literacy First tutors have witnessed first-hand the joy and confidence that students unlock once they find the key to reading. This was the case for Jenny, who is now in her second year as a tutor. Last year, Jenny had the pleasure of working with Lydia and seeing her confidence grow throughout the year. Below, Jenny shares Lydia’s story. In celebration of GivingTuesday, please consider donating here to provide more readers like Lydia the opportunity to develop their literacy skills.
Each of my students shines in such different ways and seeing them grow in their literacy fills me with happiness. I’d like to tell you about Lydia, one of my sweet kindergartners.
Lydia is a little girl with bouncy curls on her head, big brown twinkly eyes and an infectious smile. She began the school year knowing very few letter sounds and had room to grow in building self-confidence. I could see the importance of my work in supporting Lydia as her reading tutor.
Throughout the first half of the fall semester last year, she would make progress, then faced setbacks. Towards the end of October, she started trending upward in every way: her self-confidence and letter sound knowledge increased, and her error rate decreased. Then came November. She was absent the week before Thanksgiving break, which, combined with the holiday week, added up to two full weeks of absence. When we returned from that time off, she faced significant challenges in picking up where she left off. She became unsure of what she knew, not believing she had ever seen any of what we were covering. I felt as discouraged as she did. Doubts about my ability to help her crept in, but I resolved to redouble my efforts and lift us both past this stumble. We continued working hard, and even though she didn’t increase in her scores for the rest of the semester, she stayed steady.
Winter break came and went. As I prepared for the first day of the spring semester, I wondered what changes this semester would bring for me and my students. I was simultaneously excited and nervous.
Understandably, Lydia was quite unsure of herself that first week back. Once we got into the rhythm of lessons again, something in Lydia changed. She transformed from a child who doubted her abilities at every turn to one who knew she could and would conquer whatever she encountered!
It didn’t take long into the semester before her scores increased dramatically! Now, in March, when I start the lesson, she asks whether we’re going to do only one section of the page or both. When I reply both, she claps her hands and says, “Yay!”. When she has a group of words to read, she counts how many there are, then says, “Easy peasy lemon squeezy!” At the beginning of our time together in the fall, if she didn’t get something correct on the first couple of tries, she’d want to give up. Now, she listens to my prompting to correct it, and tries doggedly until she gets it!
Seeing her blossom into this confident child who is eager to learn new things every day encourages me to continue my work with this organization so that I can support other burgeoning readers. Now in my second year of service with Literacy First, I look forward to empowering another set of children on their journey to literacy!
Jenny Loser (she/her) is currently an AmeriCorps member who began serving with Literacy First as an English Literacy Tutor in fall 2023 and is now in her second year as a tutor. Before joining Literacy First, she got her degree in Family & Child Development, but never utilized it. She worked in the medical sector for most of her career until deciding to move on from there. She became a tutor because it gave her the opportunity to use her degree and combined her passion for working with children and reading. She wants to continue to pursue tutoring children. In her free time, Jenny enjoys all things entertainment related (movies, shows, music). If you’d like to connect with Jenny, you can find her on LinkedIn or Indeed as Jennifer Loser.