SMART Volunteers Help With Reading Skills
Bernice Schwartz has been volunteering as a reading partner for over seven years; she loves reading to and with children.
A retired college teacher, the spry senior citizen faithfully fulfills her weekly commitment to work as a SMART (Students and Mature Adults Read Together) volunteer at the Grady Elementary School.
On January 7, Ms. Schwartz followed her usual Thursday routine of greeting the office staff, donning her name tag, and checking her assignment. She then headed toward the classroom where she met her student, and took him to a round table in the hallway for their private reading time.
The third grade boy was prepared for his session, and the two seemed comfortable with one another. "I enjoy working with my students," said Ms. Schwartz, who has also volunteered at Roosevelt High School in Yonkers.
Pulling out a number of pre-selected books from his backpack, the eight-year-old chose "The Teacher From the Black Lagoon" as his first read.
"What's a lagoon anyway?" queried Ms. Schwartz rhetorically. "Let's see if we can figure it out through the story. If we can't, we can always try the dictionary."
As they read the book, the child and his mentor asked questions of one another, following a routine indicative of an intergenerational pair who often spend time together. SMART volunteers work with the same students once a week for one hour during the school year.
As the two studied the illustrations in the book, they laughed at the reptilian representation of the teacher in the story. "Have you ever had a teacher that reminded you of a crocodile?" asked Mrs. Schwartz. "Yes!" exclaimed the boy.
The grandmotherly volunteer sounded out words with her student, asked occasional reality check-type questions - "This teacher is like a dragon. Do you think maybe this is a dream?" - and assisted with creatively finding definitions for new words. Covering syllables of words with her hands, she asked her pupil to pronounce them individually until he had mastered each new word. "This is a hard word," she said of the word "slithered." "You ordinarily expect it to be 'walked.'" SMART is sponsored by JCY-Westchester Community Partners, a 91-year-old organization whose mission is to develop intergenerational programs to meet the needs of the community. JCY sends mature adult volunteers into schools to work one-on-one with students who need help with their literacy and language skills.