To most of those who volunteer to tutor children, reading seems a natural function. But because most adults have forgotten exactly how they learned to read, a tutor-training program should cover the four core steps of a reading tutoring session: rereading, word work, writing, and reading new text (Cohen, Kulik, & Kulik, 1982; Koralek & Collins, 1997; Wasik, 1998). While the order and emphasis may vary from one tutoring partnership to the next, these core elements are basic; tutors need to be proficient at each.
To help tutors plan a complete session, the Wichita Public Schools program gives all tutors a reading handbook that divides the tutoring session into parts and suggests activities for each part. Delaware Reads gives its tutors even more direction: a prescribed sequence of activities to be followed in each and every tutoring session. Instead of telling, Book Buddies in the Bronx shows new tutors a video of a genuine read-aloud session. After watching the video, tutors and trainers discuss the reader's choices and the child's reactions.
As trainers from New York University America Reads observe, "Children being tutored are developing ... physically, emotionally, socially, as well as intellectually ... Behavior in each of these areas influences a tutoring session." Each session, even with the same child, will be different. Proficiency with the core elements means that the tutor can see and greet the "teachable moment" with an appropriate activity.
Most researchers recommend that a child meet consistently with the same tutor, one-to-one, for two or more sessions per week, each session lasting 30 to 60 minutes. The ideal length of time depends on the child's age, attention span, the variety of activities and materials available, and school-day logistics (Corporation for National Service, 1997; Koralek & Collins, 1997; Palinscar & Peterson, 1997 ; Wasik, 1997).
In the America Reads partnerships, the time individual tutors spend with children each week varies widely. Federal Work-Study students and AmeriCorps volunteers spend from 10 to 20 hours per week tutoring; community volunteers average from two to four hours per week. Tutoring configurations also vary: from 15 minutes per day, five days a week, to two, one-hour sessions per week.
Tutors must become competent at reading aloud with children, taking turns with a child (shared reading aloud), and discus-sing a book together with a child (dialogue techniques). When children read a familiar text, they reinforce what they know and strengthen skills not completely mastered. As they become familiar with what words say, they can relax and focus on what words mean. Rereading familiar material gives emerging readers opportunities for success, building their confidence, sharpening their skills, and letting them see themselves as readers. Reading becomes fun!
Programs stress building opportunities for student success. The Wichita program asks tutors to include at least one activity in each tutoring session where a student can succeed-even if the student cannot read at all. For example, the tutor may perform a shared reading with the child, where the child reads along on the repetitive parts of the text.
Word study, which gives new readers tools to decode the mysterious black markings on the page, should be part of each tutoring session. Emerging readers learn by exploring letters and sounds, and understanding how letter sequences represent sound sequences to create meaning from print. Effective tutors have an awareness of phonics and vocabulary development; help children look for patterns in words they already know; and use those patterns to help children decode new words. In some tutoring programs, children develop personal word banks (collections of known words written on cards and used in word study), or keep a list of new words they have mastered.
At Hooked on Books in Louisville, students are taking these skills back into the classroom. One teacher reports of her tutored students: "When they come to a word they don't know, I see them being very intentional to solve it. What's more, they're showing a lot of pleasure in reading."
Most programs teach the tutoring techniques of modeling story retelling, remembering details, making inferences, and acquiring new words. Tutors with Reading Discovery in Oklahoma City learn to facilitate the reading process by modeling "think-aloud" strategies. They help children decode and understand new words using semantic (meaning), syntactic (language), and phonetic (visual) cues to find meaning. Tutor training at Omaha's America Reads gives tutors a chance to learn and play reading games. The games are then made available at all sites for tutors to use in their sessions with children.
Reading and writing develop together. Writing supports reading in many ways: Writing helps emerging readers learn concepts of print, such as directionality, and helps students attend to the structure, sounds, and symbols of words. Writing also gives a child a chance to express ideas on paper and think back on the text that was read. Writing explores deeper levels of the printed story and gives the child new concepts to bring to future reading (Braunger & Lewis, 1997). Another concrete skill tutors can learn is shared writing, an activity in which tutor and student compose a story together, each alternating sentences and reflecting on the story as it develops.
New reading material expands a child's vocabulary and strengthens newly acquired skills. As the child and tutor work through new text, the tutor encourages the child to apply what he or she has learned from rereading, word analysis, and writing. As the new text becomes familiar and comfortable, the child will reread it with increasing mastery, comprehension, and pleasure, and so the cycle begins again. To help tutors tailor their sessions to their students' interests, training should introduce them to resources for exploring children's literature and explain how to choose appropriate books based on students' skill levels.
A good program needs good books, and plenty of them. For each child, for each reading session, there is a book that is "just right." Books for tutoring sessions can come from the school library, the classroom, used bookstores, or community donors. Recommendations for appropriate books from a child's classroom teacher are especially helpful. And, of course, it is ideal if the tutor can occasionally give a child a favorite book to keep.
Hunting for a place to tutor and rounding up needed materials can be discouraging tasks for tutor and child. Montana Reads emphasizes that site coordinators should provide a specific place for the tutoring pair and maintain an abundant supply of materials.
Some programs recommend a tutor "tool kit," a plastic bin holding the child's favorite books, plus paper, crayons, pencils, scissors, tape, etc. The tool kit might also include a journal for listing books the child has read; personal word lists; and the child's writings or drawings. Other items in the kit might be a word bank and a notebook to record lesson plans and progress.
For programs with limited resources for tutoring supplies, the Las Cruces, New Mexico partnership is an inspiration. Through a donor network of publishers of educational materials, the partnership has received free tutor supply bags, trade books, activity books, award-winning storybooks, and bilingual and multicultural materials.
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