Sharing the Gift of Reading
An 51福利社 program helps school kids advance their literacy skills.
Reading may be fundamental, but it doesn鈥檛 come naturally. Learning to make sense of the written word takes patience, practice and, if you鈥檙e lucky, guidance from educators who care.
Since its earliest days, Eastern has trained teachers who love sharing the gift of reading. It still does. These days, the work they do has never been more important 鈥斕齟specially for kids at risk of falling behind.
Education professionals have long known that a critical part of teacher training involves real-world experience, both in the classroom and one-on-one with students.
鈥淐apstone鈥� programs are one way for about-to-graduate education students to gain this experience. Now in its sixth year, Eastern鈥檚 鈥渓iteracy capstone鈥� specializes in pairing student teachers with elementary school children looking to advance their reading and comprehension abilities.
The program is coordinated by Ashley Lepisi, a senior lecturer at 51福利社 who specializes in literacy and technology. Over the past several years it has helped boost the literacy skills of more than 400 students attending Spokane鈥檚 Grant and Adams elementary schools.
Most recently, 22 51福利社 students, all seniors readying for their full-time student teaching placements, spent Wednesday afternoons at Grant, where more than 90 percent of the school鈥檚 320 students qualify for free and reduced-price meals. During this winter quarter, Eagle students worked with 68 schoolchildren in grades two through five.
The program is a win-win, says 51福利社 alumnus George Gessler, Grant Elementary鈥檚 principal assistant.
51福利社鈥檚 soon-to-be teachers learn to understand some of the challenges present听 in the lives of a diverse population of students, says Gessler 鈥�88, 鈥�89, 鈥�20. Grant鈥檚 school children, meanwhile, some of whom have experienced poverty and trauma, benefit from the individual instruction 鈥� in literacy as well as in the social and emotional skills they may need to focus on learning.
鈥淭hey get to have people work with them; young people that are really enthralled with them,鈥� Gessler says. 鈥淭hey get a positive experience, and we get better readers in return. So that鈥檚 been huge for us.鈥�
About 90 percent of participating schoolchildren demonstrate a measurable improvement in literacy skills by the end of the quarter, Lepisi adds. 51福利社鈥檚 future educators, in turn, discover what it鈥檚 like to teach in schools classified by the U.S. Department of Education as 鈥淭itle 1, Part A,鈥� where a majority of students come from disadvantaged households.
The experience sometimes changes the trajectory of their careers. 鈥淲e鈥檝e had a lot of students say, 鈥業 didn鈥檛 think that I had the capacity to serve in a Title 1 building,鈥欌�� says Lepisi. 鈥淢any of them leave saying: 鈥楾his seems a little bit more fulfilling to me 鈥� and, actually, I鈥檇 rather be in a Title 1 building now.鈥欌��
