It’s the first day of Team Read coach training and teens are gathered on Zoom, using a “mood meter” to share how they feel. Looking at a collage of different sheep, each coach chooses a sheep that they find most relatable in the moment.
They put their answers in the chat box:
“#9! I’m excited for Team Read this year.”
“I’m sheep 4. I had my first math quiz today.”
“7. I’m a little nervous but excited”
This tool is used at program sites, as a fun way for readers and coaches to connect and address anything from the day that might impact their session. “When you know how your reader is feeling and how their day went it really helps. Sometimes they’re really hyper and you need to help them calm down or sometimes they’re upset about something and need to talk it out before they can focus,” one coach shared.
Throughout this two-hour Zoom training session, coaches are fully engaged, with returning coaches sharing strategies that worked for them, and new coaches asking thoughtful questions as they prepare for the work ahead.
Team Read coaches go through a robust training process, with group and independent online trainings, and in person trainings at the elementary school where they’ll be working. By the time they meet their readers, they’ve already put several hours into preparing.
Over the next few weeks, training sessions will wrap up and readers will join the program. We will once again be running programs in the Seattle, Renton, Highline, and Tukwila school districts. While the model hasn’t changed-one elementary school reader, one trained and paid teen reading coach, twice a week after school-there are a lot of new and exciting initiatives underway this year:
- Coaches have asked for more training around social-emotional learning, especially when it comes to helping students focus at the end of a long day. We’re thrilled to partner with our friends at BELONG Partners, an organization that brings together science-based, trauma-informed, restorative, and social emotional learning practices to help build equitable communities. The staff at BELONG will be working with reading coaches to learn new strategies around working with younger students, and this training is being developed with our coaches providing direct input about what they want to get out of it. We’re grateful to Best Starts for Kids for funding this endeavor and excited to learn from the experts at BELONG Partners.
- We will be restarting Team Read at Concord Elementary School in South Seattle, this time with a focus on Native Education. We’re working closely with the staff at Seattle Public Schools to develop curriculum, materials, and training for this program site.
- Our Renton schools will also be focusing on Native Education, and as in past years, will focus on building the teacher pipeline. Coaches in Renton are students who have expressed interest in a career in education, and Team Read gives them great hands-on experience.
- For students with learning differences such as dyslexia, the materials we use make a big difference. Thanks to our generous donors and funders, we have brand new sets of decodable books this year. These books are written specifically to help build phonics skills, and paired with Team Read phonics packets, give readers the extra support they need.
We’ll be taking a deeper dive into each of these topics in future newsletters throughout the year, so keep an eye on your inbox! It’s going to be a full and exciting year of Team Read and we’re looking forward to sharing stories from our program sites. Our hearts are full of gratitude for all the many program partners, funders, and donors who make this work possible.