Role of a reading tutor:

• Make a commitment to tutor once a week during the school year. 
• Work one-on-one with a K-3rd grade student for a half hour to 45 minutes at your partner school. 
• Read aloud with a beginning or emerging reader to develop oral language and comprehension skills. 
• Hands-on activities to enhance literacy skills and to foster a love of reading.

Qualifications of a reading tutor:

• Desire to work with children. 
• Tutor training provided by the GBJCL. 
• Completed and approved GBJCL application and CORI form. You can fill it out the application on our website or contact us to mail you a hard copy. While the application can be filled out online, you will still need to print out and mail in the CORI form along with a photocopy of a picture ID.

Information for volunteer tutors:

• Volunteers tutor in public elementary schools primarily in underserved communities.  School district partners are Boston, Cambridge, Framingham, Brockton, Maynard and Somerville.
• Volunteers join “literacy teams” representing synagogues, Jewish organizations, or day schools.  Volunteers from a given “literacy team” tutor at the same school.  
• The Coalition helps forge partnerships between “literacy teams” and a public elementary school.
  
  Click here for a list of partnerships.

Organizing a new "literacy team"

To form a new team, contact the GBJCL.  We will help you establish a partnership with a new school, (or collaborate with a smaller team already working in a school). 

Tutor Training and Support

All new tutors are required to attend a training session.  Training focuses on work with early and emergent readers and includes a Jewish learning component to remind us of our Jewish obligation to tikkun olam (repairing of the world). 

The Coalition is committed to the ongoing development of volunteers’ tutoring skills.  New tutors are requested to attend a mid-year support session. In addition, there are other workshop opportunities offered throughout the school year that all tutors are encouraged to attend.

Sheera (the GBJCL trainer) is always accessible via phone or email to help you if you have particular needs or concerns about your students. We encourage you to contact her for any additional help!

Click here for some games and activities that you can use today in your tutoring session.

For more literacy tips and resources, click here.