Welcome to the Volunteer Blog! 

Thank you for being part of the Literacy Source volunteering team. We really appreciate your commitment and dedication to working with adult learners.

 Please use this blog for easy access to the resource links while you are volunteering at Literacy Source.

Any questions, need help finding something or, if you would like me to add a link, please email me sawyera@literacysource.org

Happy Volunteering!

Please see below to links volunteer trainings, click on the name of the training you want to view to be redirected. 

Schedule and Academic Calendar Information:
Literacy Source works on an academic calendar, with the 2025-26 academic year ending on June 30th and the 2026-27 academic year beginning on July 1st. 

Below are links to view the current/upcoming Academic Calendars: 
Spring Term Class Schedule and Descriptions: 
Summer Term Class Schedule: 
  • Coming Soon... 
Summer Term Important Dates: 
  • New Student Registration: June 15th and 16th 
  • Orientation Week (No classes): July 6th - July 9th 
  • Summer Term Classes in Session: July 13th - September 10th 

Logging your Volunteer Hours: 

Remember to please fill out the Tutor & Non Classroom Volunteer Hour Log each time you conduct a tutoring session or other volunteer hours. It is important to record each tutoring session the day it occurs as these hours count towards your student's instructional hours.

DO NOT USE THIS FORM TO LOG CLASSROOM VOLUNTEER HOURS. We track classroom hours on our attendance sheets and you do not need to use this form.  



Previous Volunteer Newsletters: 
We use the volunteer newsletter (sent out on the 3rd Thursday of the month) to keep our volunteers updated on trainings, policy changes, additional volunteer needs and helpful information about regarding adult literacy. If you are not receiving the Volunteer Newsletter, please reach out to Sawyer at sawyera@literacysource.org. 


Are you going to be volunteering in person? See below for directions to the Lake City Center and information on parking and entering the building:

Welcome to the Tutor Blog!


Thank you for being part of the Literacy Source tutoring team. Please use this blog for easy access to the links you will need for tutoring at Literacy Source.

Logistical Links:


Tutor/Volunteer Hours Log - Summer 2021 (last day to log hours 8/31/21)
Tutor Volunteer Hours Log - Fall 2021 (Start using on September 1st, 2021)
Please enter your tutoring hours every time you meet with your student. 

Why do I need to do this? These hours go towards your student's instructional hours which in turn benefits their learning goals while at Literacy Source. Some students need to fulfill a certain number of hours in order to receive benefits so it is really important to log their hours. Note: The link will change with each quarter as we track students hours by term. Bookmark the page for easy access.

Fall 2021 Class Schedule

Tutor Job Description

Tutor Self-Evaluation

Instructional Resources:

Literacy Source Class Google Drive Check out class lesson plans and materials

Teaching Kits 

Tutoring Resources

Any questions or need help finding something?


Please email me carolines@literacysource.org


Happy Tutoring!

Hello all and happy end of spring term! 

As we cautiously start to transition back to in-person learning, this will be my last blog post for now. I hope it has been useful in providing a way for you to quickly and easily access the information and resources you have needed through this last year. I can't thank you enough for all you have done, your commitment and perseverance has been outstanding and we are thrilled that with your help we have been able to continue to serve so many students. Our students have really benefited from your extra support and patience to the point where many of them now prefer learning online, so thank you so much.

New Tutor Hours Log Link!!


Today is the last day for the Spring Tutor Hours Log. As of tomorrow, Saturday June 19th, please use the new link Summer Tutor Hours Log, located on the right hand side of the this blog post. 

You are welcome to continue to tutor during the next 3 weeks of no classes if you and your student would like. We look forward to our summer term: Monday, July 12th to Thursday, August 26th.

Please see the new links for the: 


Center Re-Opening

We are planning our in-person return to the center this fall and anticipate opening the center for classes and tutoring while continuing to offer the online options. If you haven't completed the center survey please do so here, your input will help us with the re-opening planning process.

Thank you again for being the amazing tutors that you are. I truly hope that volunteering this past year+ has been a rewarding experience for you, and that is has provided a positive addition to the annus horribilus this past year+ has been.

I wish you a happy "vaxed" and unmasked summer, and look forward to welcoming some of you in-person in the fall.

With much gratitude,


Caroline


Hello,

Hope this finds you well enjoying the spring weather and either being or getting vaccinated!

1. Opening the Center in Fall

We sent out a survey to check-in about your thoughts for returning in-person to the center in the fall. If you haven't completed the survey please do so here. We are also surveying staff and students to get their thoughts. Thank you, your input will help us with the re-opening planning process.

2. Tonight! Spring Volunteer Social - Literacy Mixer...


It's not too late to join us for the Literacy Mixer tonight. Bring a book that you would like to share with fellow volunteers. We will send out the book list in our V-News tomorrow. 
Hopefully this is our last virtual gathering!

Please join us with this Zoom link:

3. Tough Topics Discussion


Please join us for our next "Tough Topics" Round Table Discussion
We will be continuing our discussion around some of the hard topics facing everyone in this country and around the world, focusing on how we can create a safe space for dialogue with our students, either in the classroom or in tutoring. We have some ideas/strategies to share and want to open the discussion up to brainstorm other ideas as well as address any challenges. Please join us!

Tough Topics #4: Wednesday, May 26th 6:30 - 7:30pm
Join Zoom Meeting

Here is a link to the slides from the last discussion: Tough Topics Slides

Caroline


 

Happy Spring Term!

At our weekly staff meeting today we shared how we all felt about this first day of our second remote spring term:

Hyped, stoked, positive, nervous, looking forward to seeing everyone, looking forward to supporting classes, excited, looking forward to getting to know new students, busy but excited, proud, amazed and hopeful.

Talk of vaccination appointments, record numbers in student registration, how excited students are to receive their class materials, what are our successes and what we will keep from this past program year are all floating in our conversations and meetings. It is amazing how far we have come and how much we have learned as an organization this past year. We are starting to plan for a hybrid return to the center in the fall, can this really be happening? It really is spring and a time of renewal for all of us!

Included in our reflections is the incredible work you have been and continue to do as tutors. How much have you learned? What can you do now that you couldn't do a year ago? 

With these last questions in mind, we invite you to attend the next Remote Tutor Training. We have added a workshop tot his training for tutors who are already matched and working with students. Join Phil Morris, ABE Instructor, as he facilitates a discussion based on your pre-surveyed questions and share tips and strategies for developing tutoring skills in this remote learning environment. Every workshop is different and crafted to fit your needs.

We encourage you to attend even if this will be your 2nd/3rd time! We are all continually learning along side of our students. 

Remote Tutor Training: Matched Tutors Breakout Workshop 

Slides from last Tutor Breakout Workshop training

Please Register: Friday, April 30th, 10am - 12:30pm. Register here

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Caroline

 Hello,

Welcome to the last day of winter term! We are finishing a week early to allow us more time to register the record number of new students registered for the spring term, last count was at 85! As most of our classes are already at capacity, in addition to the extra classes we added this term we are adding another ESOL 4/5 class next term and hoping to find alternative options for those students we are unable to accommodate. Spring term starts on Monday April 12th. Stay tuned it's going to be a busy 3 weeks!

1. Spring Tutor Hours Log w/Updates

With the end of the winter term and start of the spring term so comes a new hours log. As of Monday, March 29th please enter your hours on the Spring Tutor Hours Log. You can also find the link on the sidebar of this blog. 

You will notice the spring term log is shorter as we have eliminated the report page. We heard that this was not working for many tutors and as the instructors feel they are getting good feedback from you via email and other communication we have removed it. 

We have added some new fields for the type of hours and you are now able to add hours for Match Meetings/Cohort Meetings/Class Observations/Mock Interviews:
















Any questions? 
Please let me know: carolines@literacysource.org

2. Literacy Source Annual Breakfast!



You're Invited!
Tuesday, April 6th, 2021. 
8:30am-9:30am
In the comfort of your home!

Register Here



Join, students, staff and our guests (inc. Nancy Pearl book recommendations!) as we come together (virtually) to hear stories of how Literacy Source impacted the lives of students in our community. We all believe in Literacy Source's vision of an inclusive and equitable society, and we would like to extend an invitation to you to join us for this amazing and powerful event. 

If you are interested in being a table captain, please email our Development Manager, Phil Zoshak, at philipz@literacysource.org.

We look forward to seeing you there!

3. E-News and Volunteer Newsletters

Literacy Source publishes two newsletters every month. The E-Newsletter goes out to the larger community and contains general information and updates about what is happening at Literacy Source, in and around our community, to subscribe or to see archives please go to our website here.
The Volunteer Newsletter goes out to all volunteers who are actively volunteering, i.e. recording hours. If you are on the waitlist you may not be receiving it yet. You can still catch up as newsletters are archived as soon as they are published on our website here.


4. Spring Remote Tutor Training

The next Remote Tutor Training is coming up in April. This training is for all tutors, old and new! New tutors will be introduced to lesson planning and activities for tutoring. Experienced tutors work on building teaching skills and adapting activities and methods to a remote environment.

Friday April 30th, 10am - 12:30pm

Please register here

Happy Spring!


Caroline

 Hello,

Hope you are enjoying this snowy weekend!

We have a lot of content in this week's blog, so let's get started.

1. Chromebook Guides and Tips 


Our students have been persevering hard to access their classes and tutoring sessions in Zoom. After months of support from our instructors and dedicated volunteers, all of the students are accessing their classes! Most of this success comes from students acquiring Literacy Source Chromebooks. Chromebooks are great as they are small, mobile, and easy to use. Plus the Chromebooks are set to open at the Literacy Source Splash Page so students can access their class in 1-2 clicks. 
We know how confusing it is to tutor a student who is on a different device to the one you are using. We have also found that not all Zoom features are available on the Chromebooks which has been a learning curve for all. With this all in mind I want to share some of the great visual guides our instructors have developed over the last year to help students and tutors navigate into Zoom on the Chromebooks.
Please check them out below:


All the information is on the Literacy Source Class Google Drive. We know that there are a ton of resources here and it can be hard to find. We encourage you to use the Search function, it is a very powerful tool and works really well:
Try typing Zoom Chromebook in the Search in Drive bar and see what you find!  

2. New 2021 Winter/Spring Term Calendar


We are changing the dates for the end of winter and start of spring terms. Winter term will now end on Thursday March 18th, and Spring term will start on Monday April 12th. This will allow us time to register and orient new students and prepare for classes.


3. Tough Topics Roundtable


We ran our third discussion in this series talking about how we can create space to have conversations with students or just allow time in the classroom and tutoring sessions to reflect and acknowledge these are tough times. We talked about having a routine that creates this space in each session, maybe as the warm-up activity which in tutoring may be talking about highs and lows, looking at photos or doing a dialog journal. It is important to recognize that not everyone wants to talk openly and that we may differ in what we each consider to be a "tough topic". Here is a list of takeaways from our discussion: 
  • Respect the students’ goals
  • Be clear of your own boundaries, what you’re willing to share, how much you can be vulnerable
  • Link tough conversations to instructional communication skills or critical thinking goals
  • Set ground rules and prepare with language and guidelines for disagreement, determining fact vs. opinion, or verifying the validity of a source
  • Model language and give students time to work through their ideas 
  • Routines are good, give students agency and help them learn vocabulary to express themselves
  • Present options for Yes/No questions at lower level
  • Be purposeful about current events debrief as a warm up - to create an opening
 If you need ideas or have questions please talk to your advisor.

We look forward to running another roundtable in spring term.

4. Trivia Night



Reminder! Literacy Source's virtual Trivia Night is coming up next week: 
Friday, February 19th, 6:30-8:30pm.



It's not too late to gather your friends and/or family to form a team and join us for some brain-teasing trivia or, join solo and we'll team you up! Stuck for a team name? Here are some of the fun team names that people have come up with for ideas:
  • Talk Timers
  • Ida y Vuelta
  • In Second Place
  • Jane Error
  • Rosen's Renegades
Prizes: 1st prize, $100 gift certificate to Phinney Books and Kaffeeklatsch gift certificates for 2nd and 3rd places. 

Volunteer tickets are $12 per Zoom link. Use this discount code: Trivia2021!

Thank you all. Please remember to leave any comments, ideas, questions or suggestions below.


Warmly,

Caroline

 Hello,

Hope your January is going well. We have had a great start to the winter term with a record number of students enrolled for classes! We hope to start matching students and tutors at the beginning of February, so if you haven't already please sign up for the training this Saturday:

1. Remote Tutor Training: Zoom Workshop 

  1. Find tools/strategies/best practices for remote tutoring
  2. Adapt 2 activities from the teaching kits (on the instructor google drive) to remote tutoring. 

We encourage you to attend even if you are already tutoring. We will be splitting the workshop into two parts: one group will serve new tutors and will cover the first two tutoring sessions, and the other group will serve tutors who are matched and would like to work as a group to design remote activities and learning. As more experienced tutors, you will have needs and questions that are different than new tutors and we want to leverage the training time we have to best equip you for your work with students.

Register for Tutor Training: Saturday, January 30th, 10am - 12:30pm. 


2. Trivia Night!


We are excited to announce our first upcoming virtual trivia night! 
Part social and part friend/fundraiser we are looking forward to a fun night of brainteasers to benefit Literacy Source. All our welcome. Join us a team or, fly solo and we will assign you to a team.


Friday, February 19th, 6:30 - 8:30pm

Tickets are $15 per zoom link

Buy tickets here.

3. Newsletters

Some of you may have noticed we have welcomed a new voice to our newsletters this month. Former KCCF Coordinator, Liz Wurster, has taken the position of Communications Coordinator while KCCF is closed during the pandemic. Liz adds a vibrant and informative voice to both the E-News and the Volunteer News. If you have not made it to the newsletter distribution list as yet you can find them archived on our website:

E-News Archives

Volunteer Newsletter Archives

4. AmeriCorps VISTA Recruitment

We are seeking an AmeriCorps VISTA member : Outreach & Systems Coordinator, for the year April 2021 - 22. Please check out the job posting on our website and share with anyone you think might be interested. 

Thank you!

Caroline

 Happy New Year!

I hope you had a good holiday and were able to spend time with family, friends and/or loved ones, virtually or otherwise.

3 inches of rain in Seattle? It must be winter! The good news is that we start the winter term next week with full classes! It is exciting to see more students step up to learn online. We are even adding some extra classes this term, a M/W Computer Lab and an evening ESOL 1 and Conversation Class. You can see the winter class schedule via the link on the bar to the right of this blog.

NEW Tutoring Hours Log Link


We have a new link for you to log your hours for the winter term. Please access the new link in the bar to the right of this blog. 

Remote Tutor Training

The winter Remote Tutor Training is a required training for all new tutors. More-experienced tutors are encouraged to attend as your experience and knowledge really embellish the trainings and you will get to spend time with your fellow tutors to share and brainstorm ideas. We are all still learning in this environment!

This 2-part hybrid training is designed to both prepare and provide support for remotely tutoring students. We ask you please complete the first 8 Pre-Activities independently online before January 30th, 2021 and attend the second part, a Zoom workshop training on Saturday, January 30th, 10:00 am to 12:30 pm.

Part #1 Pre-Activities

Expect to spend approx. 3-4 hours on these 8 self-paced pre-activities:

    1. Working with Adult Literacy Learners, online training
    2. Literacy Source’s Instructional Philosophy
    3. The Danger of a Single Story Activity
    4. Intercultural Communication
    5. Photo Activity
    6. Zoom Meeting Skills
    7. Online Scavenger Hunt

Part #2 Zoom Workshop Training

The 2.5 hour Zoom Meeting will be a workshop format with the following objectives:

    1. Find tools/strategies/best practices for remote tutoring
    2. Adapt 2 activities from the teaching kits (on the instructor google drive) to remote tutoring. Choose from citizenship, reading, beginning literacy, or pronunciation.

Please Register for Part # 2 Zoom Workshop: Saturday, January 30th, 10am - 12:30pm. Register here

For step-by-step instructions on how to access the pre-activities and to register for the Zoom workshop please click this link: Invite and Instructions: Parts 1 & 2 Remote Tutor Training

With your continued help and support we look forward to another successful term. 

Stay dry and well,

Caroline

Greetings tutors,

As we enter the last week of term we hope that you have seen successes in your tutoring in this third term of remote learning. Successes in digital literacy gains, basic skills, and your students' own goals. We really appreciate you stepping up to tutor remotely, we know it has not been an easy journey. Your patience, flexibility, and perseverance have all contributed greatly to our students continued motivation and commitment to their learning. We have nearly 100 volunteers actively tutoring or helping in the classes, more than we ever hoped for in March of this year, so thank you.

1. Holiday Schedule

The fall term is coming to a close. Last day of classes is on Thursday, December 17th, 2020. Most students and tutors take a break for the holidays which you are welcome to do. However for some keeping a regular schedule and routine is important so please continue to meet if you and your student would like to do so. Please continue to use the Fall Tutor Hours Log until December 31st. Winter term will start on Monday, January 11th, 2021.

2. Remote Tutor Training

We are pleased to announce a date for our winter Remote Tutor Training, a required training for all new tutors. More-experienced tutors are encouraged to attend as your experience and knowledge really embellish the trainings and you will get to spend time with your fellow tutors to share and brainstorm ideas. We are all still learning in this environment!

This 2-part hybrid training is designed to both prepare and provide support for remotely tutoring students. We ask you please complete the first 8 Pre-Activities independently online before January 30th and attend the second part, a Zoom workshop training on Saturday, January 30th, 10:00 am to 12:30 pm.

Part #1 Pre-Activities

Expect to spend approx. 3-4 hours on these 8 self-paced pre-activities:

    1. Working with Adult Literacy Learners, online training
    2. Literacy Source’s Instructional Philosophy
    3. The Danger of a Single Story Activity
    4. Intercultural Communication
    5. Photo Activity
    6. Zoom Meeting Skills
    7. Online Scavenger Hunt

Part #2 Zoom Workshop Training

The 2.5 hour Zoom Meeting will be a workshop format with the following objectives:

    1. Find tools/strategies/best practices for remote tutoring
    2. Adapt 2 activities from the teaching kits (on the instructor google drive) to remote tutoring. Choose from citizenship, reading, beginning literacy, or pronunciation.

Please Register for Part # 2 Zoom Workshop: Saturday, January 30th, 10am - 12:30pm. Register here

For step-by-step instructions on how to access the pre-activities and to register for the Zoom workshop please click this link: Invite and Instructions: Parts 1 & 2 Remote Tutor Training

3. Tutor Hours Log! 

No "Tutor Blog" would be complete without a mention of the Tutor Hours Log! We know that this is not a favorite of your volunteering tasks but we ask that you bear with us while we are remote and please, please log your hours weekly. Here is the why behind us asking you to log this way, there are three main reasons:

a) Students instructional hours (including tutoring hours) determine when they get tested and for some there is a limited amount they need per week to ensure they continue to receive benefits.

b) Funders require us to report students' hours weekly and by term. Note: once the term is over we are not able to add in hours for that term.

 c) Advisors have many tutor pairs they are tracking and the report logs help them manage monitoring their students' progress and tracking when/if, and how, students/tutors meet.

We strongly suggest you bookmark this link to the log or, as one volunteer suggested, add the link to your online calendar every week as a reminder. How To Use Bookmarks in Chrome 

Alternatively you can bookmark the Literacy Source Splash Page that you use with your student, and access the Tutor Hours Log through this Tutor Blog (see sidebar!). We are here to help so please let me know if you have any questions or suggestions on how to make this easier for you.

This is my pen-ultimate post of the year. I will post one more before the end of the term with updates for the winter term. I wish you a warm and healthy season, and hope it is filled with many virtual happy gatherings and bon homie! 

Warmly,

Caroline


Hello, 

As we all embark on celebrating a very different Thanksgiving Day this year we join you in recognizing the conflicts of the times as we battle the desire to be with our families and friends and doing the right thing in helping fight against the pandemic. 

If you have a little more time on your hands (less time in the kitchen this year perhaps?) please join us as we take the time to reflect and learn more about the true meaning of this holiday from the Native American perspective, and the history of how it came to be the holiday we all know today. 

American Indian Perspective on Thanksgiving

Here at Literacy Source we have been integrating resources into our lesson plans and discussions that represent a more authentic voice in teaching about the Thanksgiving holiday. One good resource from the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian provides a lot of great information to help instigate these important discussions with your students: https://americanindian.si.edu/nk360

Click below to see a sample, a short, interesting and creative video:

 The Invention of Thanksgiving

I wish you and your families, loved ones and friends a very happy holiday wherever you or they might be.

Stay well and stay safe,

Warmly,

Caroline

 Hello,

We are half way through our 3rd term of online teaching and it is encouraging to see students, staff and volunteers all getting more confident in tech. skills as time goes on. We all miss being in-person and having those real connections. I know the instructional staff join me in thanking you for persevering through the ups and downs of the virtual world to help our students continue to learn.

Here are some Literacy Source events that I would like to share with you:

1. Tough Topics: A Roundtable Discussion

We had our second discussion last week and were joined by a number of staff and volunteers. Cat took us through some strategies for opening-up and facilitating discussions, using ground rules, I-statements and photos. If you missed the discussion here is a link to the slides: Tough Topics Slides

We look forward to continuing this discussion in winter term, 2021. 

2. Literacy Mixer - A Volunteer Social

Join us: Wednesday, November 18th, 6:30 - 7:30pm 

How it works - choose a favorite book and join the meeting for a show and tell with other volunteers. As we will be virtual this year please feel free to bring your own drink and a snack.

This is a great way to meet other Literacy Source volunteers and share your love of reading! As a teaser for the evening please check out one of our tutors, Yvonne Gibb's book recommendation:

I highly recommend “The Newcomers” by Helen Thorpe. (Published November 2017)

 

For a year, she follows 22 high school students in Denver, CO, in their journey of learning English, while getting to know the personalities and backgrounds of some of the students and their families. While non-fiction, it reads as a narrative. I found it heart-warming and insightful, learning of these students’ experiences. It gave me much to think about, about those whom we might interact with in Literacy Source classes/tutoring and how their experiences may relate. Obviously our students come from diverse backgrounds; this was a nice reminder of how diverse and in some cases, harrowing, their journey to Seattle may have been and continues to be.

Hope to see you!

Join Zoom meeting:
https://zoom.us/j/96075248296?pwd=UTN2NHNVYmhiLzhPV0FBNnhwSVY3QT09
 

3. Meet our new Co-EDs

We warmly invite you to meet our new leadership team, learn how the organization is doing, and communicate directly with the new Co-Executive Directors in a live Q&A session. This informational event is free and open to everyone. 

Virtual Tea with the Co-EDs: Cat and Shira on Literacy Source Today
Thursday, December 10, 2020
7:30 - 8:30 pm

Bring a cup of tea or the drink of your choice. Zoom link will be emailed to the RSVP list on December 8


Warmly,

Caroline



Hello tutors,

Here are three upcoming events happening at Literacy Source over the next couple of months.

1. Tough Topics: A Roundtable Discussion

We will be continuing our talk around hards topics that are and might be coming up in the next month and how to open up a space for discussion or comment with our students, either in the classroom or in tutoring. There were some great ideas and strategies generated at the last meeting with some good follow up ideas that we will be continuing.

If you missed the discussion here is a link to the slides: Tough Topics Slides

Please join us for our follow up discussion:

Tough Topics #2: Monday, November 9th, 2020 from 4 - 5pm 

Join Zoom Meeting

https://zoom.us/j/99127642336?pwd=YjRhNU13RzRLdFVwQU9jL01sSVAxUT09



2.  Free Digital Skills Training

You are invited to attend the free COABE (Coalition of Adult Basic Education) Google Applied Digital Skills training hosted by Literacy Source and SBCTC. This three hour webinar will explore the range of digital resources developed by Google for use in the classrooms and at home. This is a free professional development opportunity brought to you by a special grant from COABE and Google to give you the tools: videos, activities, and entire lesson plans to provide adult learners with the digital skills they need to be successful in today's workforce and literacy environments. To learn more about google Applied Digital Skills, click here:https://applieddigitalskills.withgoogle.com/en/teach

Date: Monday, November 9, 2020 Time:10am - 1pm PST


3. Save the Date - Literacy Mixer - A Volunteer Social

Wednesday, November 18th, 6:30 - 7:30pm 

How it works - choose a favorite book and join the meeting for a show and tell with other volunteers. As we will be virtual this year please feel free to bring your own drink and a snack.

This is a great way to meet other Literacy Source volunteers and share your love of reading! As a teaser for the evening please check out one of our tutors, Yvonne Gibb's book recommendation:

I highly recommend “The Newcomers” by Helen Thorpe. (Published November 2017)

 

For a year, she follows 22 high school students in Denver, CO, in their journey of learning English, while getting to know the personalities and backgrounds of some of the students and their families. While non-fiction, it reads as a narrative. I found it heart-warming and insightful, learning of these students’ experiences. It gave me much to think about, about those whom we might interact with in Literacy Source classes/tutoring and how their experiences may relate. Obviously our students come from diverse backgrounds; this was a nice reminder of how diverse and in some cases, harrowing, their journey to Seattle may have been and continues to be.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Hope to see you!

Join Zoom Meeting: https://zoom.us/j/96075248296?pwd=UTN2NHNVYmhiLzhPV0FBNnhwSVY3QT09

Caroline










Hello,

Hope you are finding this Tutor Blog useful and that it is providing you with some of the information you need to have a rewarding experience tutoring here. Please use this as your blog by posting questions and comments in the box below. The Tutor Blog only goes out to tutors actively volunteering. You will all see the comments and can respond to each other, this is a "Working Together..." blog and we would value your input! Remember you can always have access to this blog and all the class blogs via the Literacy Source Splash Page.

1. Tough Topics: A Roundtable Discussion

We ran the first discussion this week and had great attendance! We talked about topics that are and might be coming up in the next month and how to open up a space for discussion or comment with our students, either in the classroom or in tutoring. There were some great ideas and strategies generated.

If you missed the discussion here is a link to the slides: Tough Topics Slides

Please join us for our follow up discussion:

Tough Topics #2: Monday, November 9th, 2020 at 4pm 

Join Zoom Meeting

https://zoom.us/j/99127642336?pwd=YjRhNU13RzRLdFVwQU9jL01sSVAxUT09


2. Remote Tutoring Training

We launched the training last week and hope you will join the training course. If you already completed the training in July please consider joining Part 2 - the Zoom session. We plan to have a good hour dedicated to you working in pairs/small groups to go through the Teaching Kit scenarios and create remote activities. There are a lot of great resources in the Teaching Kits so there is always more to learn, and as experienced tutors you bring a great dynamic to the training.


Part #2 Zoom Training:

Friday, October 30th, 10am - 12:30pm. Register here


3. Student Typing Skills 

Many students have been asking for help with their typing skills. Are you interested in adding this digital component to your lessons or homework? Typing Club provides online keyboarding lessons and games for students who want to develop their typing skills. Join us in Zoom on Wednesday 10/21 at 3:30pm for an informal introduction to Typing Club where we will learn how to use this popular website in your tutoring sessions.

Wednesday, 10/21 at 3:30 - 4:30pm 

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82049073709?pwd=MEJpRUNkeC9lYW9zeE9VaFlyTkd2dz09

 

As always, thank you so much for all you are doing!

Caroline



Hello tutors,

I hope you are all doing well and ready for fall! These cool foggy mornings have come too quickly for my liking but hopefully it will help put out the fires for this season.

1. Tough Topics: Round Table Discussion

The issues going on in the world at the moment both locally, nationally and globally are overwhelming: Black Lives Matter, the pandemic, the fires and climate change, and of course the upcoming election and aftermath. You and I are lucky that we have the language and skills to read, discuss and find resources to learn and act on some of these issues, but what about our students? If one lacks these skills how do you talk about your concerns, find resources for your family, reach out for help when you are feeling overwhelmed? With this in mind we are putting together a session to begin talking about ways and strategies for us to provide a space for our students to talk and ask questions. Please join our instructional staff and volunteers in a discussion on how to create such a space in class or tutoring, and how to have discussions around potentially difficult current events topics, we hope you as tutors and classroom assistants will join us for this discussion. 

Tough Topics Discussion: Tuesday, 10/13 from 7:15-8:15 PM.

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87016897176?pwd=bVF1eGR0a0N0eW1qRTlkUXZ0ZGlwdz09


2. Remote Tutor Training

Please join us for our second remote tutor training. This training is for all tutors new and experienced. It is so helpful for more experienced tutors to come and share their experiences and learnings with new tutors, we are all learning together. We will share some of the tips and strategies our instructors have learned to help tutoring go more smoothly, be more creative and to help students really learn new skills!

The training will cover:

  • Tips/strategies/best practices for remote tutoring and how to craft the first two tutoring sessions

  • Navigating the Literacy Source Google Drive to find and use teaching resources

  • How to adapt activities from the teaching kits to remote tutoring (citizenship, reading, beginning literacy, pronunciation, digital literacy)


Friday, October 30th, 10am - 12:30pm. Register here
    Join Zoom Meeting:

    Pre-activities will be available from Monday, 10/12.

    3. Share your Stories!


    We would love to hear your stories about tutoring. What's working well, what work arounds have your discovered, any aha! moments?  Also, any ideas, resources or thoughts you have to share with your fellow tutors. You can post comments in the box below or email me: carolines@literacysource.org


    Thank you for all you do, please let me know if you have any questions. 

    Caroline

    Happy Rainy Friday!

    I hope you are doing well on this much needed rainy day and that you can breathe a little easier and more deeply with this cooler, fresher air!

    Urgent call for"Tech Buddies"

    We have been working and fundraising (huge thank you to those of you who donated) to get students Chromebooks and hotspots for this fall term. Now some of them need some help getting used to the technology. The teacher is busy working with the students in the class so it really helps to have someone working with the student to troubleshoot and navigate. We would assign you one student to work with until they are confidently getting into the class themselves.
    Please consider becoming a tech buddy to help our low-level ESOL 1 students navigate into Zoom at the start of their classes next week. This is a short term commitment of 1/2 hr. 2 times a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays approx. 10:45 - 11:15 am. 
    When students start attending classes on Zoom there are three skills that they must learn in order to participate in the experience: 
    • How to get on Zoom with their class meeting link, either from their phone or computer
    • How to mute/unmute 
    • How to turn on and off their video  
    If you can help, please contact Cheryl Mineer at cherylm@literacysource.org

    Zoom Trainings

    First, if you missed staff member Allie Azersky's training on Zoom this week you can watch the recording and/or check out her slide deck below. Allie covered basic skills and shared some strategies for working with students on Zoom:

    Zoom Training Slide Deck 

    Zoom Training Recording  


    Second, here is a link to a Literacy Minnesota training on Remote Tutoring 101. The training was not recorded so the link is to the slide deck only. However, you can register for future sessions with Literacy Minnesota here.


    Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur


    Finally, I would like to share a note from our new Co-Ed, Managing Director, Shira Rosen:


    Happy Friday. I hope everyone has a nice weekend. I just wanted to share a bit about this weekend. Tonight starts the holiday of Rosh Hashanah for Jews. Our holidays start at sundown and end at sundown. It is our new years and we celebrate by eating round challah with raisins (if you have never had challah it is a delicious egg bread), eating apples dipped in honey for a sweet new year, going to services, and reflecting on the past year. It is a religious holiday where we do not work. 10 days later, we celebrate Yom Kippur, the day of atonement, where we fast for over 24 hours and go to services. We also do not work on this day. During the 10 days, we are asked to reflect on the year, make amends with people, and think about the year to come. I enjoy this reflective time and being in community (a bit different this year for sure). I am always happy to talk more about it.

     

    L’Shanah Tovah, Happy New Year to all of you who celebrate. And, if you have Jewish people in your life, it is always nice to say this today and this weekend.


    I look forward to learning about each other’s customs, practices, cultural traditions and more throughout the year.


    Thank you Shira, and to those of you who celebrate - L'Shanah Tovah!


    Caroline

     








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