With classes starting again, there are plenty of excited students and teachers. I came across this article and even though it is directed towards teachers, the message applies to anyone who teaches, tutors, trains or facilitates learning. I hope it inspires future and current Turning Pages tutors. Enjoy.
What Students Remember Most About Teachers by pursuitofajoyfullife
Editor’s note: Today’s post is the second in a two-part series about one tutoring pair from Turning Pages. Click here to read the first one. Both articles first appeared in the Lexington County Chronicle on May 30, 2013 and are reposted with permission. Lexington Publishing Co., Inc. retains all rights.
What if you could neither read nor write? Imagine what your life might be like — filled with frustration and shame that even your children can do what you cannot do. That’s how Tammy Myers felt as her three boys were growing up, attending school and dealing with homework that she could not help them with.
Tammy is one of more than an estimated 27,000 Lexington County residents who do not read well enough even to fill out applications for the better-paying jobs they need to support their families. Tammy had trouble reading in elementary school. In third grade, she was diagnosed with dyslexia, a neurological disorder that underlies a learning difference. Because people with dyslexia process visual information differently they can experience difficulty with reading, writing, spelling and sometimes even speaking. People with dyslexia may be of average or above-average intelligence. Dyslexia is different from impaired vision or hearing.
“Reading is difficult for me,” Tammy says. “If someone reads it to me, I can understand it. When it comes to writing, I’m lost.” Tammy’s parents were divorcing, a traumatic experience for her and her younger sister. As a result, her mother had to move her daughters repeatedly. By the time she reached high school, Tammy had attended eight different schools. Tammy’s teachers did not know how to help her, she wrote in a narrative about her life for the Chronicle, so she was put in special education classes which did little to help.
She began to suffer with pain in her knees. After three months, she was diagnosed with fibromyalgia, a condition that results in chronic widespread pain. Some say it is like a tooth ache all over your body.
While working at a Waffle House, Tammy was working on her 11th and 12th grade credits at an alternative school when she was told all her credits but five had been lost. Disheartened, she quit school, found another job and met her husband. Tragic as her story is, it is not uncommon among those who cannot read.
Tammy is determined to do something about it.
She meets regularly with Sandra Dayse, a Turning Pages literacy tutor at the Lexington District 1 adult learning center at the former Intermediate School on Harmon Street. Tammy has found that she can learn better when she hears than when she tries to read, a result of her dyslexia. But she has made a commitment to qualify for her General Education Diploma (GED). She wrote a four-page biography of her life using an app on her cell phone. It allows her to tell her story into the phone and convert it into writing.
She believes that will help her get a better job and help her husband with their family’s expenses. “Turning Pages and First Steps has been such a help to me,” Tammy says. “Now I want to do what I can to help.”
To find out what YOU can do to help, give us a call at 803-782-1210.
Editor’s note: Today’s post comes from community leader and Board member Jerry Bellune. We find Mr. Bellune’s enthusiasm to be infectious, do you?
One of my favorite books in the 6th grade was big game hunter and animal trainer Frank Buck’s biography, “Bring “Em Back Alive.” One of my teachers complimented me for reading a high school level book. Such compliments mean a lot of anyone learning to master reading skills.
Mr. Buck led a colorful life on many continents. That fired my imagination and made me think of adventurous career choices. That was relatively easy for a budding writer as storytelling was a staple in our family.
Thinking back on those early days makes me realize how fortunate many of us are to have been born into families of readers, surrounded by books and encouraged to aspire to any career our little hearts desired. Unfortunately, about one in 10 of us has no such privileges. They grow up in homes with no books, only TV sets, the electronic baby sitter.
Award-winning speaker and business philosopher Jim Rhon (pronounced Rone as in bone) observed that successful people have large libraries. Unsuccessful people have large TVs. My purpose is not to disparage TV. Sesame Street and many other educational programs for children are far better than nothing.
But we should never forget that penologists project how many prison cells will be needed within the next 8 to 10 years by the number of 4th graders who cannot read well.
Turning Pages has played an inspiring role in the lives of many of these unfortunates who some how slipped through the cracks of our great public education system. Your support as a donor or volunteer tutor is welcome. We invite you to join us.
Editor’s note: This blog post comes from board member and NPR lover Genevieve Lyons.
Did any of ya’ll hear Nature Notes this morning? Every day on ETV Radio, Rudy Mancke shares a little tidbit (60 seconds!) from his vast knowledge about local flora and fauna. He might answer a listener question about an insect or creature, tell an anecdote from a recent encounter with nature, or give a tip to watch for a tree or flower that is coming into bloom.
Today, he answered an unusual question. It is almost as if Turning Pages had called him up and requested a valentine to books. I just had to share it with you all.
For a short and lovely reminder of the meaning of the gift of literacy: Books!
If any of you, dear readers, would like to share your own valentine, favorite book, or encounter with literacy, I’d love to talk to you. Email me: genevieve {dot} ray {at} gmail {dot} com.
Turning Pages 