Allan Tractenberg, a Reading Seed training coach, talks to volunteers who are signing on as reading coaches during an orientation session at the Vail School District Office.

Photos by Benjie Sanders / Arizona Daily Star

More Photos (3):

Related articles:

Volunteers nurture Reading Seed

Other articles by Danielle Sottosanti:

Volunteers nurture Reading Seed Nurturing the Reading Seed Community notes Walking is easier in the District Getting excited about elections Community notes Plans for 2 bed-and-breakfast inns in the works Hospitality at Rancho Merlita Community notes End of summer less of a bummer

Technical
ReliaSoft
Software Developer Sales and Marketing
Automation Center
Software Sales Computer
Automation Centre
Computer Software Health Care
BENSON HOSPITAL
RESPIRATORY THERAPIST

The Reading Seed Children's Literacy Program is looking for book lovers who'll grow youngsters' zest for reading.

The local nonprofit's coaches volunteer in more than 100 Tucson-area schools, working one-on-one with first- through third-graders.

"We have a really big vision … We would like to have all children reading at grade level by the end of third grade," said Elizabeth Campbell, Reading Seed's executive director.

"That would take a whole lot of reading coaches, but what happens is that the more coaches we train and put into schools, the more teachers and the principals see the outcome, and the more coaches they realize they can use."

Ocotillo Ridge Elementary School had 12 Reading Seed coaches last school year and would love to have 20 this year, said Karen Brandt, volunteer coordinator for the Vail school, 10170 S. White Lightning Lane.

"The impact is great. The students love to see their special visitor once a week," she said.

Students and coaches develop a special bond — students know the coaches are there to spend time with them and improve their reading, she said.

A Reading Seed coach works with the same two children all school year. The coach commits to at least one hour a week, a half-hour per child.

The northwest side's Homer Davis Elementary School, 4250 N. Romero Road, also has a volunteer coordinator to make coordinating schedules easy. The reading coaches have a significant impact at the school, said Principal Brett Bonner.

Reading Seed had around 900 coaches at the end of the previous school year and most will return, Campbell said.

Last week the group began training new coaches for the 2009-10 school year, aiming to increase its numbers with volunteer orientation sessions scheduled through November.

Before they volunteer through the program, new reading coaches must attend one of the three-hour orientations, which the Reading Seed is holding around the Tucson area. During a session, prospective coaches learn ways to keep children interested in what they're reading as they improve their literacy skills.

"The overriding umbrella is that it has to be fun," trainer Allan Tractenberg told those who attended the first volunteer orientation for the school year. Nearly 30 trainees attended the session, held Aug. 12 at the Vail School District Office, 13801 E. Benson Highway.

Vail School District parent Virginia Graves, 37, was one of the attendees. She wants to be a Reading Seed coach at Corona de Tucson's Sycamore Elementary School, 16701 S. Houghton Road. That's the school her children attend and where she already volunteers in other ways.

She began reading to her own children while she was pregnant with them and now wants to share her love of reading with other children besides her own, she said.

Like Graves, Marana mom Lisa O'Neill wants to become a reading coach at her children's school. Her son's previous teacher at Ironwood Elementary School, 3300 W. Freer Drive, asked her if she would be interested in joining Reading Seed because she read to students in the class.

For O'Neill, 37, her experience as a classroom reading volunteer has taught her what to expect as a Reading Seed coach.

"It's fun. You can really watch the kids grow and, when they make their accomplishments, you feel better as a person because not a lot of parents are able to volunteer or even take time to read to their kids. It's kind of backing each other up as a parent, so it's a good thing," she said.

Reading Seed coaches can request where they want to volunteer.

"What we've really found is that for it to work well for the volunteers, they need to be comfortable with what school they're going to," Campbell said. Generally, volunteers prefer not to drive far, she said.

It's more difficult to find reading coaches for some geographic areas such as elementary schools in the Sunnyside Unified School District and Tucson Unified School District schools that are far from midtown, she said.

Prospective Reading Seed coach Susan Betanzos hadn't decided on a specific school when she attended last's week orientation, but said distance was a factor.

"I taught at some of the Sunnyside schools and that's where there's huge need, but TUSD is just a little bit closer with the schedule that I have now," she said. Betanzos, 50, lives in the foothills on Tucson's northeast side.

Though she doesn't know where she wants to volunteer, her reason for doing so stems from her own childhood.

"As the instructor mentioned earlier, some families don't read," she said at the orientation. "My family was like that and yet I love to read. Books are my passion, so I wanted to share that."