A real good cause is seeking a few good volunteers.
As the Sedona Literary Center starts its 22nd year of tutoring second- and third-grade students in reading, writing and arithmetic, it’s looking for an important part of the equation — volunteer tutors.
According to its director, Carolyn Fisher, the program works one-on-one with students at Big Park Community School and West Sedona School who are behind their peers in reading and math. The more volunteers it has, the more students it can tutor.
“Our motto is, ‘A child who reads, succeeds,’” Fisher said.
The grass roots program, run solely with volunteers, works with second- and third-graders to get their reading up to par before their struggles affect the rest of their studies.
“In first through third grade, they’re learning to read. Beyond that, they’re reading to learn. So we try to catch them before they fall behind,” she said.
Tutors meet with students at Big Park Community School in the Village of Oak Creek on Monday and Wednesday after school until 4 p.m. while others meet at West Sedona School on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons.
Teachers encourage students who are falling behind to take advantage of the program, and parents have to sign a form agreeing to pick them up from school at 4 p.m. after their one-on-one session.
This year, the program begins Monday, Oct. 5, and ends Thursday, March 11, before Spring Break. After Spring Break, students are busy preparing for state exams.
Isabel Blanton has volunteered every year since the program’s inception. When her son had trouble reading in early elementary school, they went to the library and read every afternoon for a few hours.
Seeing how much the reading helped her own son inspired her to volunteer.
The greatest thing for Blanton is seeing some of those students’ names on the honor roll years later when they’re in high school.
“It makes you feel good to see them and see they’re doing well,” she said.
Neither Blanton nor Fisher have teaching experience, they said, but none is required.
“I didn’t have any teaching skill,” Blanton said. “You don’t need any special skills, just a little patience. The love of working with them makes it easy.”
According to Fisher, tutors don’t need formal training, but they do need a willingness to commit to two afternoons a week from October to March.
She understands that people will travel, she said, and fortunately, there’s substitutes for those cases.
Anyone interested in learning more about being a tutor can attend an orientation Thursday, Sept. 10, from 9 a.m. to noon at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, 100 Arroyo Pinon Drive, or contact Fisher at 284-4638.
Alison Ecklund can be reached at 282-7795, ext. 125, or e-mail
aecklund@larsonnewspapers.com
