I mentioned in a recent Monday Funday post that my library is offering a reading mentorship program that pairs teen volunteers with school-aged kids who might need some reading support and encouragement. I can claim zero credit for this program, as its a system-wide project that I believe is used in other library systems as well, but as I have facilitated the program several times to great effect, I thought I might as well share a bit about it here!
“Reading Buddies”, as our program is called, is a registered, multi-week program in which teen volunteers (13-18) are paired one-to-one with school-aged children (grades 2-4), who then meet together once a week for several weeks. Each meeting is one hour in length, and all participants meet together at the same time every week. We usually provide snacks to help keep the energy going, especially as we usually meet after school, when spirits are typically starting to sag!
The program is very effective, for several reason. Teens get a chance to give back to their community, gain experience working with children, and earn some of the service hours required by many high schools. They also get a chance to meet teens from other schools and make new friends outside of their usual peer group. The children get a positive teen role model who shows them that not only is reading and hanging out at the library fun and cool, so is being a positive member of your community. Children also get positive, undivided attention from a mentor, which many kids in this busy day and age might be missing.
That’s not to say that the program is entirely without its challenges. Because our teen volunteers are working with children, we have to contact references, which can be exceedingly time-consuming – I recently had three applicants list their mothers as their references (despite being told that they couldn’t list a family member), and played telephone tag with a number of busy teachers who were rarely in their offices. Volunteers might have never worked with children before, and can sometimes feel a bit intimidated by the prospect. Others might never have volunteered or held a job before (especially the younger teen volunteers), so making sure everyone understand their roles and responsibilities is very important. And thought it’s rarely been an issue for me, I always make sure that my teens know that any cell phones spotted during the program will be dramatically and comically confiscated and placed in the colourful kid’s sand pail of doom until the end of the session.
Another series of challenges can come from the families of the children, or “little buddies”, as we call them. It’s vital that caregivers understand that the program is not a tutoring program or language class, and that teens will be providing encouragement and support, not correction or instruction. As well, caregivers need to understand that signing up for the program is a commitment, and that if they cannot continue with the program for whatever reason, they need to let us know. Life is busy, and unfortunately when schedules collide, its the free activities that are often the first to be dropped. This can be very disappointing for the teen volunteers who have made the effort to come, so do be sure to stress to families the importance of committing to the entire program, or at least making sure to let the program organizers know if their plans have changed.
Expecting children to sit and read quietly for an hour can be a big ask sometimes, so I like to start each session off with an ice breaker to set a positive mood, and sometimes intersperse the reading with small games and activities to get participants talking and moving. This can be particularly helpful when participants are feeling a bit shy or nervous – teenagers can sometimes seem pretty big when you’re in grade 2!
Finally, I like to fill a booktruck with pre-selected books that I think work well with paired reading or as read-alouds. Having a selection of books at the ready can really improve the efficiency of the program, as some kids can spend large parts of each session scouring the entire library looking for a good book! As part of the registration process we ask caregivers about their children’s reading levels and interests, so we can put aside books that might appeal to each child.
Inter-generational programs really are so very important, and impactful, and can offer real opportunities for individuals to support and learn from each other. Teen-child mentoring programs benefit both parties immensely, and can also be heaps of fun! I highly recommend trying a program like this at your library, and please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions about how we run our program!