Community Engagment and Volunteerism Resources for K-12 Schools
A literacy volunteer program model

 
From Building Bridges and Broadening Opportunities: Realizing the Full Potential of the Literacy Volunteer Initiative, a study in progress by Dr. Sue Constable in association with the Charles A. Dana Center.

The capable others who serve as literacy volunteers will have diverse sets of characteristics (communication styles, relationship building) and attributes (strengths in literacy-related activities, special interests or skills) to offer young learners. In addition, their availability will vary based on schedules, transportation, and amount of time they can allocate to the program. Finally, all volunteers should be given the opportunity to serve in a way that is enjoyable to them.

The grid on the following pages is designed to effectively match the characteristics, attributes, interests, and availability of volunteers to research-supported literacy tasks that are suitable for them. This list of jobs is not exhaustive but suggestive, and is presented here to encourage volunteer administrators, teachers, and agency staff to think about the volunteer roles that would serve their target populations and the criteria that would be necessary to fill those roles. There is freedom within this model to add or subtract jobs, or change the stated requirements for each job based on individual program needs.

The jobs listed are based on a combination of early literacy learning models. They may or may not be appropriate to any specific program design. They are presented here in hopes that interested readers will use them as a framework for developing literacy roles that are effective for their specific populations.

Sample Job Descriptions for Literacy Volunteers

Descriptions written in normal font indicate what is necessary to carry out the task.

Descriptions written in italicized font indicate qualifications which may be helpful.