There are some new faces in the halls at Byron-Bergen Elementary School this summer. Twenty graduate students from SUNY Geneseo are participating in the Summer Reading Clinic, part of SUNY Geneseo’s Reading and Literacy Graduate Program. The clinic pairs a graduate student, many of whom are working teachers, with a school-aged student. Together, they set literacy goals and develop strategies to achieve them.
Alexis Hamlin is a graduate student participant. She teaches seventh and eighth grade where she encounters many students who struggle with foundational literacy skills. “By the time they get to seventh and eighth grade, we don’t have time to work on basic skills,” said Hamlin. “I’m in the literacy program specifically to get a better idea of how my students struggle and the basics of their skills. I want to incorporate other instruction that will target those skills and close that gap between their reading level and their grade level.”
Participant Stephanie Wall believes in the value of one-on-one literacy work to give students the tools they will need for their next grade level. She started the clinic by doing assessments, looking at students’ past work, and talking with the student. She uses those components to set goals. “I think this program is helping kids,” said Wall. “It’s one-on-one, me and them for an hour and a half. There are no other distractions, so I think it has been very helpful for some of the students.”
Isabelle Selvek was eager to participate in the clinic because summer is the only time she has for fieldwork. She is a full-time second-grade teacher, but her future career aspirations rely on completing her master’s degree. The clinic is one of the last requirements she must complete for her degree. “My hope is to move into a literacy teacher role in the future, but this program also allows me to move into a high school setting.”
“It really is a win/win,” said Byron-Bergen Director of Instructional Services Betsy Brown. “The clinic allows educators to complete the hours needed for their degree programs and our students have access to high-quality one-on-one literacy instruction which not only helps prevent loss of skills due to summer slip, but also gives them the tools they will need to excel in the fall.”
The Byron-Bergen students are not the only ones benefiting from the Summer Literacy Clinic, though. These teachers will take the skills developed at Byron-Bergen back to their home districts and classrooms.
“This program gives us time and opportunities to do fieldwork,” said Hamlin. “This real-world experience makes it more meaningful when we apply the skills we are learning in our own classrooms.”
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Photos by Gretchen Spittler
Summer Reading Clinic participants at Byron-Bergen Elementary School.
