Literacy First tutors provide support to over 30 community nonprofits each year. (In fact, last year, they provided over 8,000 hours of service around Austin!) For Roxana, working at Latinitas was another way to build empowerment for a community she cares for deeply. Here’s why. By Roxanna Torres, 2017-18 Literacy First tutor My community partnership […]
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Blog
Discovering My Path
Many Literacy First tutors come to the program with an unchanneled drive to create social change and leave with a clear sense of their next steps. Amy, a first-year tutor, reflects on what she’s seen in the program, and what it means for her service journey. By Amy Wasetis, 2017-18 Literacy First tutor I started […]
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Exploring Worlds with Literacy
As literacy advocates, all of us at Literacy First know that reading about new worlds broadens minds. This knowledge becomes even more powerful when we see it in our students. First- year tutor Aleisha Galindez tells us what that experience looked like for her. By Aleisha Galindez, 2017-18 Literacy First tutor One of my favorite […]
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From the Amazon to AmeriCorps
Every year, we recruit tutors from fascinating backgrounds. Many are recent college graduates exploring possibilities beyond their studies. Some tutors discover that their calling is drastically different from their field of study. Annie, who originally studied monkeys, is one of these tutors…. By Annie Shupp, 2017-18 Literacy First tutor When I first began my year […]
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The Power of a Field Trip
By Holly O’Hara, 2017-18 Literacy First tutor More often than not, Literacy First tutors gain insights that are not necessarily limited by the time they spend with their students in the classroom. Literacy First tutors become part of the community of the schools where they serve – they’re around five days a week, and in […]
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Sound Awareness and Shoelaces
By Brooke Long, 2017-18 Literacy First Tutor Many of the Literacy First tutors are surprised by how much more there is to their teaching experience than just the tutoring session. Literacy First certainly helps the children we serve, who are as young as five in the program but we often help the tutors learn life skills […]
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Closing the Gap
by Grace Blakistone, 2016-17, 2017-18 Literacy First Tutor We often hear that tutors are drawn to our program by our mission of educational equity, so much so that it becomes ingrained in their life’s work. After leaving the Literacy First program, many tutors go on to work in public policy, justice, and human services, as […]
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A Conversation with the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation
What do a tutor and a program officer for one of the biggest foundations in town have in common? Turns out, quite a lot! They’re both first-generation college students. And they’ve both lived in foreign countries: Henry was a teacher in China for four years, and, as a child, Virginia lived in Mexico (among […]
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Reading Turns a Frown Around
All of our tutors are guided by the Literacy First staff supervisors, who have years of teaching experience. In practice, this means that they not only understand the intricacies of teaching reading and the importance of literacy to lifelong learning, but they also help our tutors build strong and caring relationships with students. This support […]
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Education and Equality: Meet Sam Zigrossi
Sam Zigrossi was reflecting on his family background. His father and both sets of grandparents immigrated to the United States from Italy, and the new life that they built for themselves here led Sam to believe that education is “how you can make your way in the world.” It’s hardly surprising to hear Sam […]
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