By Madeline S. Collazo,
AmeriCorps VISTA Program Associate, Jewish Coalition for Literacy
Bio: Being
an avid volunteer, Madeline has served in the East Coast, West Coast, Puerto
Rico, and even American Samoa.
When I was a little girl, my
favorite time of day was story-time. After I got ready for bed, I would pick
out one of my favorite books. My mother would then read aloud as I listened and
drifted off to sleep, cocooned in stories of dragons and princesses and
children who would not eat their vegetables. I remember my excitement the day I
looked down at the page and discovered I could read the words along with my
mother, the stories I loved leaping off of the page.
For many children, there is no
story-time. The only exposure they get to reading is in the classroom, and for
many, this simply isn’t enough. Boosting reading skills at a young age is
crucial for future success and, in order for students to get the most out of
school, they should also have reading support at home. My current position as
an AmeriCorps VISTA at the Jewish Coalition for Literacy (JCL) is focused on
Parent and Community Engagement; my top priority is organizing and facilitating
workshops for parents who want to practice basic English vocabulary,
pronunciation, and structure so that they can read books at home along with
their children. Since September 2013 alone, JCL conducted more than 100 parent
workshops in public schools across the Bay Area, helping communities that are
often marginalized and underserved.
Phyllis Harrison, principal of North Shoreview Montessori School in San Mateo and long-time JCL partner, believes that JCL’s parent workshops have a multi-generational effect on families, benefiting the parents who come to the workshop, their children who now benefit from a reading-friendly home, and consequently, future generations in the family. “By coming to their child’s school every week, parents need and want to know that North Shoreview is their child’s home away for home,” Harrison told me.
Parents love the workshops as well, which provide them with the skills they need to help their children excel. Mothers, fathers, and guardians are their children’s first teachers, and the most trusted person in their sons’ and daughters’ lives. Sara L. Gomez, who faithfully goes to JCL’s “Reading Together in English” workshop every Tuesday morning at an elementary school in San Francisco, said: “I love to learn English so that I can help my daughter.” Dina Estevez, another regular at the Tuesday session, added that “it is very fun and we practice a lot of English.”
It is thanks to this enthusiasm and growing interest that JCL’s workshops are developing a new cadre of parents committed to their children’s reading success, and to creating supportive home reading experiences. Together, we are making story-time the new favorite time of day.
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