H.O.R.S.E.
for Change
Basketball Tournament
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Thank you to everyone who participated in our first ever H.O.R.S.E. for Change event. As a result of your generosity, we were able to raise literacy awareness and more than $40,000 to provide programs for the adult students and families of Reading Connections. Nearly 100 volunteers and players donated their time and took their best basketball trick shots.
Congratulations to the tournament winners, Kishon Bishop and Seth Gundlach! A special thank you to our dedicated event committee, Proehlific Park, VF, our tournament sponsors, and fans for supporting this event!
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Congrats to Kishon Bishop & Seth Gundlach!
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H.O.R.S.E.
for Change
Event Committee Members and 2018 Tournament Winners. Back row (L to R): Ryan Saunders, Shane Lukas, Jean Pudlo, Murphy Sullivan, Kishon Bishop (Adult Division Winner), Kem Ellis, Dana Adams, and Clyde Brown. Center (L to R): Julie Rendle, Seth Gundlach (Youth Division Winner), and Hilda Tajalli
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Program Spotlight: Computer Skills Class
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This month Reading Connections would like to acknowledge our newly enrolled student, Lura McLendon. McLendon has been attending the Computer Skills Classes offered at the High Point Public Library (HPPL) through the Reading Connections' Program.
McLendon first heard about the Computer Skills Class through a mailed copy of the HPPL monthly calendar. She decided to take a chance and join the class. After several months of attendance, McLendon has been awarded with a certificate acknowledging her efforts and improvements in her computer literacy skills. After seeing the benefits gained from being a student in the Computer Skills Class, McLendon spoke with ABE Coordinator, Blake Hamilton and enrolled as an official student within the Reading Connections' program.
McLendon continues to impress all of those around her and brings joy to the tutors that she has the pleasure of working with. We are happy to have such a diligent and attentive student within the Reading Connections' program.
Blake Hamilton, ABE Coordinator
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Greensboro ABE student, Howard Gray and tutor Wade Britt have been meeting unceasingly for math instruction. They were matched in mid-January and have sometimes met 4 times a week for instruction! Howard has been diligent in his math studies and has completed dozens of hours of homework. While they treat their tutoring sessions very seriously, they also always leave room for lots of laughter. Wade finds ways to contextualize instruction and relates fractions and integers to real-life concepts. With Wade’s support, Howard plans to enroll at NC Works and join a construction program in order to begin a new career. He is well on his way and has already significantly improved his math skills. He has conquered order of operations and is now studying algebra. We look forward to continuing to hear about Howard and Wade’s many accomplishments together.
Kiara Coulman, ABE Coordinator
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Student Spotlight: Ibra Diokhane
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Ibra Diokhane is from Dakar, Senegal. In Senegal, Ibra made a living by buying and selling clothes for his family’s business. However, his family’s business eventually struggled to compete with other businesses that offered lower quality goods at cheaper prices. So his family made the life-wrenching decision to leave their homeland in hopes of finding a better life in the U.S.
Ibra and I have been meeting at Reading Connections for about a year and a half. In the beginning, we worked on preparing him for job interviews. During our sessions together, we spend nearly all of our time chronicling Ibra’s life. We write down experiences that Ibra encounters daily. For example, we made a booklet about him getting new glasses. Such projects are always accompanied by photos. We did the same after we watched the solar eclipse. Another story evolved when Ibra got his library card.
Beyond these, we make videos of Ibra learning new lessons. This enables Ibra to reinforce that day’s lessons which he enjoys sharing with his family and friends. We are currently reading a biography of Abraham Lincoln. Ibra practices identifying the 5ws (who, what, when, where and why) on each page.
For the last couple of years, Ibra has enriched my life and I hope our learning together fulfills his!
Bill Seabrook, Tutor
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Congratulations to Our Sewing Graduates!
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Last week, we celebrated the completion of another sewing cycle.
The sewing program is unique in that it integrates English instruction while preparing students to join the workforce, specifically the sewing industry. The program is intensive and lasts for 6 weeks.
Students start their morning at Industries of the Blind where Liana Adrong provides the sewing machine operator instruction. Then students head to Eagle’s Nest at Grace Community Church. Erik Hill teaches the English class. The lessons are heavily focused on vocabulary related to sewing and workforce readiness, like time management and filling out forms.
We are so proud of all of the students who participated in the program!
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Become a Literacy Volunteer
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If you or a friend would like to become a volunteer tutor or career coach, you can register for our free training in Greensboro.
March Training
Orientation:
Monday, March 26th, 2018
5:30 pm- 7:30 pm
Session 1:
Tuesday, March 27th, 2018
5:30 pm- 8:30 pm
Session 2:
Thursday, March 29th, 2018
5:30 pm- 8:30 pm
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If you would like to register, please contact us at 336-230-2223 or email
info@readingconnections.org
. You can also check out our
calendar
for ongoing events and training dates.
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Wade Britt recently provided tutoring to another Reading Connections’ student, H’seo (Michelle) Nie. H’seo initially enrolled at Reading Connections to improve her English and reading. After accomplishing that goal, she then set her sights on earning a GED (General Equivalency Diploma). She and Wade met for a total of 132.5 hours over the course of one year, and H’seo passed the Math portion of the GED in December! In order to finish her goal of attaining a GED, she now needs to pass Science. If you, or someone you know, is a great science teacher and wants to volunteer, please contact us! H’seo, and students like her, have asked for additional support in preparing for the science GED, and we would love to have a new tutor join our team!
Kiara Coulman, ABE Coordinator
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Online Tutor Training Courses
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What:
Two free
online training courses
in basic literacy and ESOL are being offered for new tutors and teachers. The courses are designed to provide instructional fundamentals in areas such as how adults learn, phonemic awareness, lesson planning, and more.
When:
Available until April 3rd
Facilitated by:
Marilyn Cox, a ProLiteracy certified trainer
Register:
To register for either course, complete the online registration form
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Happy spring from all of us at Reading Connections!
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