6 minute read
Reading Partners
Audrey Smebakken pairs students of all grade levels with volunteers to read oneon-one.
By Mariya and Noah
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Audrey Smebakken has done lots of jobs since she graduated from the University of Minnesota in Morris. She majored in French and has been a camp counselor, bike mechanic, kick-boxing instructor, lifeguard and an educator.
Now, she works at Maxfield Elementary as the site coordinator to pair the 41 volunteers with the 12-
18 students for Reading Partners.
It is Audrey Smebekkan’s second year being the site coordinator for Reading Partners at Maxfield Elementary. Smebakken sees growth in the program. | Photo by Alicia Dahl
Q&A
with Audrey Smebakken
Q: How did you begin at reading partners? How long have you worked here?
A: One of my friends said that her partner works here and that I would really like it. I checked it out and it seemed
really interesting to me, so I applied and this is my second
year.
Q:
What interested you about reading partners?
A: I liked that I got to work with youth and that I was doing something that addresses inequity, and that I was working in a neighborhood that I lived.
Q: What does a normal day look like for you? A: I do attendance, so I check in with everyone. Then there are a few sessions, a break where I do boring stuff like checking my email and reaching out to people. Usually in the afternoon there are more sessions that
happen. At the end of the day, I prepare for the next day.
Q:
What level of students
are there?
A: Originally we had third, fourth, and fifth graders, but now we’re going to start working with second graders too.
Q:
do? What do the volunteers
A: The volunteers sign up, and their role is to communicate with me
and figure out what their schedule is like and when
they’re available. They also communicate with
me any of their worries or apprehensions. When they come in the classroom, their role is to go at the pace of the scholar. They will read out loud to the student at
their grade level. Scholars will be hearing vocabulary from someone who knows
how to pronounce it. Volunteers are role modeling, answering any questions, and encouraging scholars when they are having a hard time and want to give up on themselves, and also when they are doing really well.
Q:
How do you feel about working with reading partners? What do you like about it?
A: I mostly love it. I really like that it’s one-on-one and
that the scholars that come
here get to work with one other person for a whole 45 minutes. I also love that each
scholar can take home a book
once a week.
Q:
What’s hard/
challenging about reading partners?
Student reporters, Noah and Mariyah, interview the site coordinator for Reading Partners, Audrey Smebakken, at Maxfield Elementary. | Photo by Alicia Dahl
Mariya
WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE DESSERT?
grapes
WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE DISNEY MOVIE?
Descendents 3
Camping
Dance
Noah
WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?
A Scientist, specifically interested in biology
WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE CANDY?
Crunch bar
WHO IS YOUR FAVORITE MUSICAL ARTIST?
Yo Yo Ma
IF YOU COULD CHANGE SOMETHING AT SCHOOL, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
More homework
Below: The reading center at Maxfield Elementary holds Audrey Smebakken’s Reading Partners room. The room is filled with decorations, take-home reading, bins of books and lesson plans. | Photo by Alicia Dahl
A: I think that
scheduling is really hard because sometimes things don’t work out like they’re supposed to, and I have to go around and talk to a bunch of different people. Sometimes things work out and sometimes they don’t.
Q:
What books do you get and where do you get the books from?
A: We get them from a lot of places. We have funders. Some people give us money so that we can buy our own books, and others donate books to
us that we have specifically asked for. Sometimes people have book drives where
they just put out a box and people can donate books.
Those ones are hard because
not everyone donates great quality books. They can be torn up, and they might not have great stories.
Q:
Can you tell me a story from reading partners about a student who has grown?
A: Last year a scholar came to reading partners. That scholar would face
away from the tutor, have a hood up and was not at all engaging. After a month and a half of building the relationship and making it a safe and trusted one, the scholar would come in first, this scholar was very quiet and was embarrassed about being in reading partners. But this year, the scholar says hello and has been excited to come to
the room. This student is
still afraid of speaking in front of people and reading out loud but has come to
the point where reading loudly with expression with me or another volunteer is
comfortable. The scholar is
also more comfortable asking questions when there is confusion.
Q:
Can you tell me about a book that you have read in reading partners?
A: One story that a fifth grader liked a lot last year is called, “The Rough Face Girl.” It is a Cinderella story from a Native American tribe
from around New York. She
has two stepsisters that are very vain and then she’s humble, works really hard and cares a lot about her
family, but she’s sick of being treated poorly, so she leaves.
Q:
What are the benefits
of reading partners?
A: A benefit is one-on-
one. Every single scholar has one adult with them, and because of that they can move at their own
pace. Sometimes in the classroom things are moving too quickly for students to understand. When scholars
are in reading partners, it’s going as quickly or as slowly as they want in order for them to understand.
Q:
What is your opinion on reading partners?
A: It’s very complicated! I think that reading partners is really cool in a lot of ways, and I think that we’re doing really good work. But, I get frustrated a lot of times because we can’t help everyone, and I want us to be able to. It’s frustrating for me that we can’t help everyone simply because of money and not anything else. It’s hard for me to tell someone that they can’t be in our program and be honest about it because
it’s not something that I agree with. Another thing is that a lot of times we are looking at what’s working and what’s working really well and we aren’t always looking at what’s not working.
Q:
Do you see growth in reading partners?
A: I think that every day I see scholars learning a little bit more, whether that’s about reading in particular or if it’s about them having confidence in themselves.
I also see growth in the program as a whole. Last year when I started with reading partners, there were a lot of books that were
boring for people to read because they didn’t have any characters that looked like
our scholars. This year we have a lot more books that
have characters that look
like both our readers and our
scholars.
When Smebakken is not
working at Maxfield, she likes biking, singing and cooking. It is her last year at reading partners, and for the future she hopes to work in a community center.
Edited by Alicia Dahl
