- April 25, 2024
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On any given school day, the media center at Emma E. Booker Elementary School in Sarasota is dotted with pairs of heads tipped close to each other.
A table, a chair in the corner, a comfy couch against the wall. These are the spots that Rockin’ Reader tutors stake out to meet with their student.
Once their tutoring time starts, they spend the next 30 or 40 minutes reading.
Longboat Key resident Ruthie Maass started the Rockin’ Reader Program in 2004 for the Sarasota County School District.
Maass had previously volunteered in the school district and eventually ended up on a volunteer board. She noticed that there were tutoring programs for third-graders and first-graders but nothing for kindergartners. Maass was asked to pilot a program, so she decided to start one at Emma E. Booker Elementary School.
“It has been one of the four at-risk schools, and so I went to see if I could interest them. Long story short, I piloted the program that we worked out with curriculum specialists, of course, and the teachers,” Maass said. “I set the goal that every child would have a tutor.”
Within five years, the Rockin’ Reader Program, which aligns with the curriculum set by the school district, grew from just kindergartners to include first and second grade. Now, it includes some third-graders.
Every reader is assigned two students, whom they see every week. The youngest kids are read to for a half hour. As they get older, the time increases to 40 minutes. Eventually, the students read to the tutors and then take a comprehension test.
Today, the program has grown to include at least 100 tutors, several of whom Maass has recruited from Longboat Key.
Seven years ago, Maass told Murray Blueglass, a retired school superintendent and fellow Longboater, that he should work with kids again. He agreed, and ever since he has been a Rockin’ Reader volunteer.
When Blueglass meets his new students he tries to understand who they are and what their interests are, so he can choose appropriate books.
Blueglass worked with a student once who was interested in nothing but basketball. The boy wanted to be a professional basketball player and he only wanted to read about his basketball heroes, so Blueglass found books related to that topic.
That year, the student started at a 1.7 reading level and finished the year at 4.7. Blueglass said because the student was interested in basketball and watched games, he was not only able to comprehend what was happening in the books but he could discuss the book, too.
“One of the greatest rewards is to take a kid in second grade and who is reading maybe on a first-grade level and then over the course of the year, be able to give that child books at a much higher level because they can handle it, understand it and score well on the exam, and also enjoy it,” Blueglass said.
Blueglass said he gets a sense of satisfaction and feels joy while he’s tutoring. He said it’s remarkable to watch a student who was struggling and stumbling over words finally understand what he or she was reading.
“There are times my eyes watered up,” Blueglass said. “With the most difficult children in reading, when they get it, it just becomes a springboard for everything they do after that.”
Arlene Skversky, a former teacher, has been a tutor for six years after Maass asked her to participate. Last year, she had a bilingual student who was struggling with reading in English. Now, though, Skversky said he has improved.
“It feels so good that you can make a difference,” she said.
Booker Elementary teacher Phyllis Woods said that six of her students would not have passed if it weren’t for the extra reading support they got from the Rockin’ Reader Program. Woods said the tutors are open to listening to her and asking the students questions she would ask in the classroom, such as what the book setting is.
Woods also said the program allows students to get one-on-one time that she wouldn’t be able to give them, which she said is something the kids deserve.
Kerry Gorman has been a tutor for five years. She chooses to work with kindergartners and is amazed watching the kids go from just wanting to play to reading and talking about books.
She, too, finds that one-on-one time is special to the student.
“I think the major thing is that they’re important for that half hour,” tutor Kerry Gorman said. “They’re the only one who is important. Even with attentive parents, most students go most of their life not as No. 1 no matter what just because they share time with siblings.”
Whether it’s special attention or gaining a new friend, the tutors and students both get satisfaction out of the program.
“It really is the most rewarding experience when you know you’ve touched the life of a child and made a difference,” Blueglass said.
