Read Alliance in the Reading School District (Part 2)

Dave Patti, Chairman of Berks Business Education Coalition, sits down with United Way's Read Alliance Program Manager Deborah Glaser-Lloyd as well as local teen leaders to discuss the Read Alliance program.

Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:16

Hi, and welcome. I'm Dave Patty with Customs Bank. Also have the the great pleasure to be the chairman of the Burks Business Education Coalition, and we're continuing our podcast series today for BBEC talking about Reed Alliance. We had before the director of Reed Alliance, Danielle Gindo, telling us a little bit about the program and helping us to understand how that program works and what how we brought it to Burks County. And today we're delighted to be joined by guests who really run the program here in Reading, the people who really are the are where the rubber hits the road. With me is uh Deborah Glazer Lloyd, who is with the United Way, a former teacher from the Reading School District, 37 years as a teacher, public school teacher, now running the program, and then Dalen and Hannah, who are two of our teen leaders. Now we're going to explain a little bit about what that means, but the basics that we covered before in the program, and Deborah, correct me if I get any of this wrong, but is is really a dual impact model where we're using our teen leaders, generally tr sophomores, juniors, high s uh high school seniors, to teach kindergarten first and second graders with a phonics-based reading program to help them impreed improve their reading scores and get to proficiency. Is that more or less so?

SPEAKER_00 1:33

Yes, that's correct. Thank you so much. Uh we do ninth through twelfth grade. We're at the Reading High School, and we want everyone to join our program. You know, we encourage that. So right now it the program runs in nine elementary schools in the Reading School District. Uh I'm the program manager, and I was lucky enough to work in the Reading School District my whole career as a special education teacher and then a reading specialist for, like you said, 37 years. But I loved every minute of it. And the last time I was uh well, I was ready to retire and I ended up being the read teacher at 10th and Penn. Tammy and um Ashley Chambers, um they came down and they were like, we'd like you to run this program for us for United Way. Tammy White and Ashley Chambers from the United Way. From the United Way.

SPEAKER_04 2:23

And the program that's six years ago, I think, that that they had started there, correct?

SPEAKER_00 2:27

It's been a while.

SPEAKER_04 2:28

So the program grew slowly from what one one or two elementary schools in the first year, and as you said, we're now nine out of thirteen for editing. And looking at some other schools, I understand.

SPEAKER_00 2:37

Well, actually, we're very excited. Um, Amanda Hansen will be doing Governor Mifflin, so we're expanding to Governor Mifflin.

SPEAKER_04 2:44

That's great.

SPEAKER_00 2:45

And that starts in January.

SPEAKER_04 2:46

That starts already in January, okay. So we'll already be in another school district uh and growing. So how many young readers do we see in a year? And how many have we seen over the six years?

SPEAKER_00 3:00

Well, actually, uh, you know, those numbers are pretty high. Uh we usually do we're trying to get 25 to 30 littles per session, and we do about 25 teens per session as well. So if you multiply that by nine, we got a lot going on. So um right now we have close to our 30 mark in each elementary school, so that's 270, you know, uh littles. And if you do the 25, you know, we've got that many teens coming as well.

SPEAKER_04 3:28

So and a session is 12 weeks long.

SPEAKER_00 3:31

It's 15 weeks. 15 weeks. We do Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, 3 to 430. And our teen tutors, the regular teen tutors, they get $11 an hour, but our senior teen leads, um, and we're so lucky, they get $12 an hour, and that's teaching leadership skills. And we talked a little bit about um why we chose these these young women here, Hannah and Dalen. They're just superstars. We just couldn't be prouder of them. And they started in ninth grade with us and now they're in twelfth grade, so we're losing them, but but hopefully all the skills that we gave them they're taking with them to college. Sure.

SPEAKER_04 4:08

Great. So so so Dalen and Hannah, what what got you to want to be a teen leader, to be a tutor, to come into this program four years ago? How much did you heard about Read Alliance or the program?

SPEAKER_01 4:23

Um okay, well, our situation is a little funny because I first heard about Read Alliance through posters that were put up in the high, and I didn't know anything about the program. I never really heard about it. I've heard a few students talk about it, and I was interested. I applied and I started just working as a teen tutor. And I really learned to love it a lot. I loved the classroom setting, I loved working with peers, and it ended up becoming where I always came back to work, and I loved it. I loved the environment and the littles, they really make like the whole program, they're the best, but um yeah, I love Dalen.

SPEAKER_04 5:05

And Dalen Hannah got you involved, I understand.

SPEAKER_02 5:07

Yes, just to tag along a little to what she said. Um, me and her met ninth grade year too, and she had told me that she had started the program. And I had seen it on the announcements, but I didn't really know anything about it or how to sign up for it. So she put me up to it, and I started in at Riverside as a teen tutor at first, too, and I fell in love with it. The people, the kids, how welcoming it was. I every step of the way I felt welcomed, not only by the teachers, by the kids, by Miss Lloyd. I met her and I I fell in love with it. I was like, oh, she's so nice. She would come to check the program. Yes, how I started.

SPEAKER_04 5:45

When when when you were young, did either of you play teacher play school? Did you line up your stuff to have your dolls or something?

SPEAKER_01 5:51

A little bit. I never expected to actually be in the classroom helping out, and I can say that it has brought a lot of amazing opportunities and networking skills for us. We've met a lot of great people as a part of working with Reed Alliance, and we've had a lot of great conversations, and I feel like it's been really good. We've learned a lot and we've gotten to meet a lot of great people that have the same passion, which is working with the kids and seeing how far we can get those.

SPEAKER_04 6:16

So tell us about about what you see with the as you call them, the littles. As they come in, how does this program transform their lives? What what changes? What do they get out of it?

SPEAKER_02 6:27

Well, at first they're very they're all very nervous. Some of them, you could already tell off the bat, they're very excited to be there, but some of them are very, very shy, they don't really talk. You have to really get them out of their shell. So when you're working with these kids, you're dealing with a lot of different personalities, which is also what my one of my favorite parts, because you get to see them advance from first being so shy and not talking to nobody, but to now being able to play with you and even coming up to you and running up to you when you hug them. And even the whole reason why the program is their um process in reading, it becomes they become clearer readers, they start reading faster. And it's really nice to see, especially from somebody that came here when she was young. If I had had the program when I was their age, it would have it would have helped me a lot. And now getting to help them, it's like it's like seeing my younger self and being like, wow, I didn't get that help, but I know I could help you guys. So it's a very rewarding experience.

SPEAKER_01 7:30

One of the things I will mention is that I feel like one of the things, the most valuable things I feel like I've gone to say that I've gone to teach some of the younger students is that it's okay for them to make mistakes. Because I feel like one of the reasons they're so shy and so scared and unsure is because they're scared to be wrong. Right. But they don't realize that that's how they learn and that's how they get better and they keep improving. But I feel like that's the best thing.

SPEAKER_04 7:55

Do they think of you too as being ancient, being really old teenagers or something, or are you more like their big sisters?

SPEAKER_02 8:01

I don't think so. I think they see us more of like role models. Kids always they grew they grow up to wanting to be a teenager. Every kid wants to be a teenager. And they look up to us and they they'd be like, Wow, she's so tall, she's so pretty. Like that, you when you're working with kids, little girls will come up to you and they'd be like, Oh my god, you're so pretty. It's the compliments, it's so endless. And but it's also in a way you feel like a big sister because you're like, Wow, you look up to me.

SPEAKER_01 8:34

It shows it shows the importance that the role of the teen holds in their life and in the program because I constantly over these four years have seen how the kids sort of go like a fond a fondness of who they're working with because that's who's been pushing them, motivating them, supporting them, teaching them, working with them, and like it's really nice to see how those relationships like develop during the program. Like like she was saying from the beginning, things like is there pressure in being a role model?

SPEAKER_04 9:04

Do do you even times when you're not in front of them think about well, you know, I'm I'm I'm a team leader in in Reed Alliance. I have to be act a certain way, be a certain way.

SPEAKER_02 9:13

I think there definitely is, especially there's times where maybe you haven't had the best day or but getting to show up to work and you have to make sure that the kid knows that you're there for them, but and put besides what you have going on, it's very important and you get to you get to th it makes you feel better because it's like wow, I'm working towards b being a good role model for these kids. But no matter like what I got I have going on right now, I'm working towards the kids knowing that I'm always there for them and that they could look up to me.

SPEAKER_04 9:48

All right. I'm gonna and I don't know if anyone's talked to you about this or you've thought about it cognitively yourself, but one of the reasons employers love this program, and obviously we want everyone to have a good uh background and a preparedness for learning that comes from reading, but you're getting what we call soft skills, learning to, you know, boy, some days I'm not having a great day, but I still have to shuffle work on time, do my job, serve these customers, these little customers, you know, and and take care of them. What what do you think you're getting out of the program? Uh Ms. Lloyd talked about money and and being paid, which is I think really important to show that we value your time and you're learning about making uh making a living, getting a wage. But what else do you get out of this?

SPEAKER_01 10:28

I mean, besides the blessing of being able to get paid for something that you really could do out of the kindness of your heart with the kids because they really grow on you. Um It pushes you to be a good role model for them and to want to be the best version of yourself because they're constantly looking up to you and I constantly see how much they look up to the older ones, the little ones. They constantly are just looking up to them. That's like their role model. So I feel like it really does push you to want to be the best version of yourself and make sure that you're a good, clear role model that you would want them to have.

SPEAKER_02 11:02

I think uh a big part of that that we stuff that we learn throughout the program is definitely managing time, not not only time, but things around the room, like what times do they switch? I I have to make sure that I have the kids um out the room by 3 40, make sure they have their stamps, they have their stuff, the folders are put back. That's definitely one of the skills I've learned, and I've learned to be strict about it and have a have be go smoothly because I I don't like when things are out of place.

SPEAKER_04 11:36

Do you feel some empathy for your teacher back in class when you're when you're suffering about the classroom management? Definitely. I feel God blessed so bad. Look at look at your fellow students. Will you listen to her? No, no, we have to be on time here.

SPEAKER_02 11:49

Yes, yes. I now I look back and I think I've learned throughout the years that teachers are definitely one of the most needed and and underappreciated people every much underappreciated because their jobs are far beyond what they're what they're required to do. Like it's teachers deal with new things every day, like attitudes, um different um how do I say that? Different students, different backgrounds. For example, I've had I've seen teachers deal with panic attacks or autism, and I think that's something very beautiful to see because you're you are far beyond what you're supposed to do. You're helping kids. Like I had my teacher at my school, there was a a little boy having a panic attack. I had never experienced a panic attack, so I didn't know that's what that was going on with him, but she managed it through him, she walked him every step of the way, and she helped him a lot. And I that was a point of my life where I was like, wow, teachers are really superheroes, they're amazing.

SPEAKER_04 12:55

And you don't know what happened at home for that little one the the night before the that morning. No, but she's going on so you have to deal with that when they come in.

SPEAKER_02 13:02

Exactly. But she let her let me know that um he has panic attacks when he feels nervous, and actually that day we were being recorded, so I'm pretty sure he got just a little anxious, but the way she dealt with it was truly amazing.

SPEAKER_04 13:16

That's great, that's a great story.

SPEAKER_00 13:17

And Dave, I'd like to share that the the writing school district teachers that are in our program are just amazing. And honestly, the superintendent, the assistant superintendents, they help our program so greatly. They're the ones that that bust the children there, they're the ones that give them snacks before they get there. You can't be reading if you're hungry. So they get the same. Right. And that's a good point to make.

SPEAKER_04 13:38

So the United Way is a collection point through EITC and another means to to take corporate money and and private contributions. Correct. And help pay the wages for for the for the tutors and some of the other hard expenses that go along with providing the program, the materials and things like that. But also the writing school district is a full partner in this, providing teachers the snacks, the space, they do it. You know, a safe place and paying the teachers. But but you know, I know from from talking to Dr. Moumin, you know, somebody who was there when we started this and is back with the school district again, how much he sees this as a real value to what it does and brings, and how it's a good investment because by you helping get these children to proficiency, that's saving the school time and money later on. Yes, it is. Um one way or the other they're gonna have to get to that level, you're doing it faster and more efficiently, which is great. Um either of you thinking about something now late later in life related to to kids as a teacher or something else where you'd be working with children?

SPEAKER_01 14:37

Um I was really in between and I still kind of am because I've always had a thing for being really good with kids and having a love for kids, but I also am I happen to be very interested in the medical field as well. So I'm exploring both of those options right now, but I do know that if I did ever go into medical, I would want to do pediatrics.

SPEAKER_04 14:56

That's great.

SPEAKER_02 14:57

For me too, I when I first started the program, I didn't expect to love kids and actually go into something working with kids in the future, but it has changed my mind a lot and it has it has taught me a lot of things and it makes me want to help. I really do want to make a difference, just like I'm making a difference with Reed Alliance. I want to make it a difference it may make a difference in the future too. So I would like to do social work and I'm really excited about it.

SPEAKER_04 15:24

Well, you're making a difference immediately with the you know over the four years, but because those young people will go on to be better learners throughout their life, you're gonna keep making a difference long after you haven't seen them. And I certainly know that from from the New York experience with this program, a great number of those littles, as we call them, will not be little forever, they'll be teens, and then they want to become teen leaders like you. You know, so you you've you've created the next generation of yourselves, which is also important and great. So thank you for that. Um but I also understand the two of you are actually the managers or some of the managers, so you're teen leaders among the team teen leaders.

SPEAKER_01 16:00

Yeah, so we're experienced there to help them. We're teen lead supervisors, so um we kind of just are around making sure things are running smoothly, making sure that when teens are coming, that they're situated, that they know what's going on, that they're all aware, and if they have any questions, they're unsure of anything at all, or they just need a little extra someone there for a situation, they can always come to us.

SPEAKER_04 16:23

So management's pretty easy, just they do anything you tell them, they they document everything every day. You don't have to stay on top of them.

SPEAKER_02 16:29

I wouldn't say that. So for us for senior team leaders, we're essentially there to provide aid for the teens, make sure that all their data is put in the correct way. We we check us as senior team leaders, we make sure that we look through everybody's data sheet, make sure that everybody has the information right, or if they have it wrong, we'll make sure that we write down their names, we'll go up to them. Another big part, remember when you were talking about um soft sk skills, another big part that I would say is communication skills. When you first start, you're gonna have to talk to every single teen individually. And at first, yes, it could be a little scary, mainly because you guys are around the same age range, maybe they won't they won't respect you as much, but you have to make sure that you're uh you're serving yourself as that authority, but as well as to aid them and make them feel not only respected, but that they can come up to you and be trusted, like, hey, I have a problem with this, because uh we don't want them to feel uncomfortable in any sort of way or feel like oh I can't come up to them because they're gonna be rude. You know what I mean? So we have to make sure that we are making sure that we aid to all of them, making sure that they're on the right track. They do they need anything? Hey, I seen that you put the looking back that you're missing it. Can you go back and make sure you do that? Or if you're missing your name and the data sheet, I seen that you worked with this this and girl this day. So make sure that you're going back, making sure that they are doing the right thing essentially.

SPEAKER_04 18:02

So you wear the shirt that says I'm the boss?

SPEAKER_02 18:05

I wouldn't say that, but I walk around like I am.

SPEAKER_04 18:08

Well, learning to have a command presence, to learn learning how to have a little bit of swagger is part of learning to be a manager. That's that's great. And and and you you touched on the documentation. So read alliance is very data-driven, documentation driven. Tell tell us just briefly what are the kinds of records that you keep.

SPEAKER_02 18:26

So every student has a read data sheet and we have a looking back sheet. So and the looking back sheet, well, let me start with the data sheet first. In the data sheet, you start with books. Usually kids, it depends their reading level. Some kids might start at set one, some kids might start at set two. So you have to make sure you're really on that because if there's like it's hard to explain when you don't have it up, but there's like little we do it on on the um Google Sheets. So we have uh tabs at the bottom that says each set, we have the the book number, we have the date, we have what the first reading and second reading, which is you have to read the book once, then you do the um a little game in between with the words you got wrong, then you do the second reading, you have to put your name. If you left off on a page, let's say you left off on page three, you have to document that. If you were done with the book, you also have to document that. But it's very important that you do document it because um at the end of the week, so every Thursday we have celebration, which is You've heard about celebration Thursday.

SPEAKER_03 19:30

Tell me about the verse.

SPEAKER_01 19:31

Do you want to talk a little bit about it? Oh celebration Thursday, yes, it's when we finally get to give the littles a little bit of recogn recognition and prize and incentive, if you will. Um, so that's when we look at what book they're on. So they come up with 13 and they bring us the book. We check what book number and level that they're on, and we make sure that that's put into the system on their data, and we just give them the little prize, and that's also just how we see that they are making an effective progress over time. Sure.

SPEAKER_04 20:02

Do the teen leaders kind of take a little pride in that too? Hey, look at look at you know, my my little one did this.

SPEAKER_02 20:08

Oh, yes. They get a prize too. Yes, we do get a prize. Okay. I've had teens take tons of stickers, put them in their computers. I also as well do that.

SPEAKER_04 20:18

A little competition, who has the most stickers?

SPEAKER_01 20:20

Who has the coolest stickers?

SPEAKER_02 20:22

Yes, because you have to you have to make sure you get the good ones before everybody else does.

SPEAKER_04 20:25

I'm feeling bad I don't have stickers for you today.

SPEAKER_02 20:27

Oh, it's tons of them, Dave. They'll give it like right now. You have tons of them on program.

SPEAKER_04 20:32

Well, that that the that's exciting. So if if you had four years, you have a lot of stories.

SPEAKER_01 20:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 20:37

Oh, each of us each tell us the like the one story that you will remember forever. What what was the big thing that happened that just you're always gonna look back and go, wow.

SPEAKER_02 20:46

Okay. Well, I'll go first. So I have tons of stories. I could go on and on forever. Uh because I constantly, constantly senior things, and it's really rewarding to me. But during my 10th grade year, uh this that was my first year as a senior teen leader, actually. I had a group a whole group of kids at the at the start. We didn't have that many kids or teens, I just say, so I would also be reading with kids most of the time. And there was this little girl named Victoria. I worked with Victoria a lot, actually. She was super sweet, super cute. And after she left the program, I never saw her again. But uh, I had went to a I had gotten invited to a gender reveal party, and I seen her there, and she was with her mom. And I was like, oh my god, hi Victoria. And she ran up and hugged me, and and she was like, hi, and her mom, her mom was a little creeped out at first. She was like, who are you hugging my child at this moment? But I told her essentially, I was like, hey, I had Victoria at the program Read Alliance um when I was in 10th grade. I worked along with her, and her Mom was like, oh really? That was one of you. You guys actually helped her a lot. And that's when I realized, like, wow, this program actually makes a difference, not only on the kids, but also the parents noticing that their kids have made a progress and that they have become better readers. It was so nice to see it, and especially since if she remembered me, I was like, oh wow.

SPEAKER_04 22:21

That's that's very cool. No, that's that is something I always remember. Like to you to the point you made earlier, but I made a difference today. And Hannah, what's what's the story you remember?

SPEAKER_01 22:33

Um, well, first I'll say that, like I was saying, like I feel like besides the reading skills and like educational academic skills that they gained, they gain a lot of personal like skills, I would say. So um I had a student, I think it was last year, um, and this said student wasn't particularly very excited to start reading. Every time we would have to go into the room, it would be a little bit of a I don't want to, I'm not sure, whatever, whatever. We try to get him to be on track. And after a while of working with students, I would always we usually try to keep the same team with the same little just so it builds their relationship and it's someone that's been working alongside them, they know what they've been through. But um I started realizing that um it wasn't out of denial that we weren't wanting to read, it was out of like I was saying earlier, fear to be wrong, fear to make mistakes. And one of the most rewarding things I can say is that I got to see from the beginning of the program to the end how much better of a reader he was becoming because he started losing that fear of being wrong. Because I would always like instill that in all of all of the students that I've had at my school, I always make sure to instill in them that it is okay to make mistakes. I make mistakes, teacher makes mistakes, all of us make mistakes, but that's how we learn and that's how we get better. And you made him feel safe. Yes.

SPEAKER_04 24:02

That's great. So Miss Lloyd, now you've seen this for six years, but if you could pick one story.

SPEAKER_00 24:07

Oh, well, you know what? I I actually thought, because I'm a reading specialist, I thought our whole goal was about reading. But then I met these teens, and you know, it's funny, we're changing lives, Dave. We really are. I mean, Tammy White had this vision, and you know, she decided that you know we were gonna go forward with this, and you know, our New York team showed us how important it is to do this program here in Reading, Pennsylvania. And I'm telling you, I believe it too. I'm a believer. These teens have made such a difference in my life. We were talking about being lifelong learners and they teach me something every day.

SPEAKER_04 24:45

And and if someone's watching or and they themselves want to become a teen leader, or they think their their child or their grandchild would make a great teen leader, how do they get in touch with you? How do they let you know?

SPEAKER_00 24:56

We are so fortunate that we have case managers um at the high school and they're in the career center, and we have a lot of teachers there to support us as well. And I'm telling you, um they just go to the career center and they're in the cafeteria too. I was just down in the cafeteria at Redding High, and um they do like a recruiting session down there. So we've had pe people come up, teens come up to the table, and you know, we give them a little squishy, we take their information, and you know, the Equis team takes it from there, and um, our case managers there are just phenomenal. So they will get them the information they need, get them working papers, you know, we're giving them their first job from for the most part, you know. So they they walk them through what that looks like and just a little bit about that, the case managers there as well. They also do financial training, you know. Uh girls, do you want to talk a little bit about that?

SPEAKER_01 25:49

Yes, our case managers are so great, they have supported us so much. I can say that um my case manager started off as being in my position as a teen lead, and she actually taught me like a lot of the stuff that I know now, a lot of my skills that I use and implement at the program, so I'm so forever thankful for them. But um, yeah, they do a bunch of different things for the teens besides training and stuff related to just the program. Um, they do stuff like um financial planning and um budgeting and what it looks like resume building life expenses.

SPEAKER_04 26:25

Yeah, which is is is important obviously to us as a bank that the the the the education literacy uh financial literacy is is being brought into the program as well and important, also as part of that lifelong learning. That's great. We we could talk about this forever, unfortunately cannot talk about it forever because we we promised we would only be on the podcast for a little bit. Um, but I really want to thank you certainly to the United Way and and to you, Deborah Glazer Lloyd, for being the program director for Reed Alliance. Dalen, Hannah, our two great team leaders. Good luck to you for everything that you go on to. And you're both going to go on to big things after this. Thanks for the service. Uh I'm Dave Patty with the Burks Business Education Coalition. We hope this has given you a little bit more information about Reed Alliance. If you did not see our first episode with Danielle Gindo, please check that out as well. Um, and if you would like more information, connect with the United Way or the Reading School District, and we'll try and help you out. Thanks very much for being with us. We'll see you next time.