The Tutor E-Book

David James Boyce

• Herausgeber: BooxAi
• Kategorie: Für Kinder und Jugendliche
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Beschreibung

This work, entitled The Tutor, chronicles my path helping adult non readers become more independent after learning reading, writing and life skills. As a volunteer, teaching non reading adults is the one thing that can only be paid forward and the benefits last a lifetime.

Leseprobe

David James Boyce, Jr.

The Tutor

All rights reserved

Copyright ©️ 2022 by David James Boyce, Jr.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Published by BooxAi

ISBN: 978-965-577-928-8

The Tutor

My journey as an adult volunteer literacy tutor

David James Boyce, Jr.

“They came because they wished to learn.”

– Frederick Douglass

Before moving forward, it is important to see how low-literate or non-literate adults use their system of survival skills. Some are employed, manage households and raise families. Others operate businesses and even volunteer in our communities where we live daily. As tutors, we learn from each other and our shared experiences. For adults desiring to improve their experiences enters a new phase of development, learning new skills and elevating the competency of new tasks. Literacy tutors now more than ever are needed as technology continues to evolve, requiring more proficiency skills and less direct supervision.

I wrote this book to honor individuals, families, educators, friends, tutor trainers, tutors, and emerging adult readers. Where I am today is a culmination of my life experiences and the people that have assisted me, and those I have learned from on this long journey and assisted along the way. To date, I have donated eight to 10,000 hours of free volunteer tutoring services to empower new adult learners, helping them improve themselves and move forward to achieve their desired goals. My purpose in writing this book is to help those reading below grade level. According to statista.com, on Jan 7, 2021 the National voter turnout rate was 66.7 percent as of December 7, 2020, for the presidential election. The voter turnout statistics was recorded as the highest ever. Imagine what the rate may have been had the additional 43 million English-speaking, eligible, non-reading adult population were reading, writing, registering, and voting their convictions.

Contents

Meet the Author

Preface

Introduction

1. Why learn to read?

2. My calling

3. Tutor training

4. Job description of an Adult Literacy Tutor

5. Life skills

6. One-on-one tutoring

7. How can we understand this situation?

8. My first memorable student

9. Types of literacy

10. Adult learners’ immediate needs

11. Some issues that can hamper adult learning

12. Individual study plan

13. Cursive writing

14. Community resources to assist new adult readers

15. My Second Memorable Student

16. Motivating the adult student to be a self-directed learner

17. Strategies to improve reading comprehension

18. Some technology challenges for the non-reading adult learner

19. Assessing student progress

20. Moving forward

21. Recordkeeping

Afterword

Glossary

References

Meet the Author

David James Boyce, Jr. is a retired military veteran with over twenty-seven years of service. He enlisted in the U.S. Army in December 1968 before graduating high school. He was adamant about continuing his education, because he felt that was one thing he could apply to his life and share with others. After graduating high school from Saint Louis High School, Honolulu, HI, while stationed on his first tour in Korea, Boyce continued his education, earning his Associates of Science from Georgia Military College, Georgia, a Bachelor of Science degree in Human Resource Management from Empire State College in New York, and Master’s Degree in Education from Trident University, California. His tutoring certifications include Tutor, Master Tutor, Tutor Trainer, and Master Tutor Trainer-Literacy.

This work, entitled My Journey as an Adult Literacy Volunteer Tutor, chronicles my path, what I have learned helping adult nonreaders become more independent after learning to read. Teaching is the one thing that can only be paid forward and the benefits last a lifetime. This reflects the lens of his passion, calling for volunteering and teaching adult non-readers to read, write, and improve their life skills. He has been tutoring new adult learners since 1986.

Preface

“Make a difference about something other than yourselves.”

– Toni Morrison

The purpose of this book is to educate the reader on our unseen continuously growing illiteracy problem and some of the issues that affect non-reading adults today in our communities and possibly in some of our homes. I wrote this book to share my experiences with fellow tutors, community leaders, to share my experiences of tutoring non-reading adults to help them read, write, and assist them in the improvement of their lives since 1986. This journey currently spans more than three decades of volunteer service to date in communities as an Adult Literacy Volunteer Tutor in and out of the military. “Illiteracy has been present in American lives since the foundation of this country, and unfortunately is still around today” (Impacts of Illiteracy, n. d.). Simply stated, illiteracy means not being able to read or write in one’s dominant or command language, skill, or profession. The adult illiteracy rate in the United States is continuing to rise and the issue is becoming more pervasive year after year. “In 1980, the U.S. Census Bureau counted 24.3 million Americans over the age of 25 who had not gone beyond the 8th grade” (New Readers Press, 1989). That number has increased by 18.7 million persons to 43 million U. S. adults with low literacy skills (OECD 2013). If these numbers representing illiteracy were an illness or disease, they would be declared an epidemic, which requires time, effort, and resources to correct the situation. 8.2 million adults are classified as functionally illiterate, not able to understand short bits of information. Low literacy rates cost the affected individuals to our nation trillions of dollars in terms of economic impact.

I have tutored adults in Germany, Hagerstown and Frederick, Maryland; Calcium and Fort Drum, New York; Phenix City, Alabama, Hinesville and Columbus, Georgia. Overseas assignments also provided tutoring opportunities in Frankfurt, Germany through the Army Community Services program.

I hope that readers of this book find space in their hearts and schedules to help change an adult’s life by volunteering to tutor someone to read, write, and improve their life skills. Although the strategies in this book are used primarily with adults, one can also use these strategies, guides, and materials with younger learners as I did with my last three children while they were in grade school. The information and strategies that I have learned, researched, taught, and shared can be valuable assets for parents teaching their school-age children. Compare the school-age children at home unable to get a parent’s assistance with homework because their parent has difficulties reading. In addition, providing insights as well as a springboard for adults learning to read and write that are beyond school age helps the entire family unit.

The objective of this book is to encourage volunteers to help adult non-readers become proficient at the fifth-grade reading level and accomplish life skill tasks for their needs in their daily lives. This is the minimum requirement for those that want to continue and enroll in an Adult Basic Education (ABE) program to achieve a General Education Diploma (GED). Today, more than ever, adult literacy tutors are needed in every community. My mission is to help as many adults as possible that want to learn, change their lives and improve their family’s life.

VOLUNTEER to TUTOR a non-reading adult and help CHANGE their LIFE and FUTURE.

Introduction

“The time is always right to do the right thing.”

– Martin Luther King, Jr.

What do you want to be when you grow up? As a child, I was often asked that question, by family members and other adults, even some teachers. The answer came when I saw someone that I liked, on a weekend television show or what I saw someone do in the community. My answers ranged from a police officer, firefighter, truck driver, teacher, and then an airplane driver, as I knew then. As I gave those answers to the adults’ questions, there seemed to be an image in my mind seeing myself in those positions. Arresting the bad people; putting out fires; driving big trucks; and driving an airplane through the clouds looking down at small buildings. It felt good. In school, other possibilities emerged; when our class went to the school library each week. I would ask and get help to find a book to read about some grownup professions.