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Aurora University Students Teach, Learn In Children's Reading Clinics
12/16/2008
AURORA, Ill. —Local struggling readers from kindergarten to high school are getting help from Aurora University students enrolled in AU's Master of Arts in Reading Instruction (MARI) program.
Roberta Linder, assistant professor of education and chair of the MARI program, said AU students are preparing for careers as reading specialists or literary coaches through classroom studies and by tutoring individual underachieving readers from area public and private schools.
Linder said the MARI program offers free reading assistance programs for area families whose children are below grade level in reading.
The clinic offers reading assessment and tutoring in 16-week sessions during the school year. Reading assistance is provided by AU students who are certified classroom teachers completing their clinical training to become reading specialists.
Linder said four cohorts (classes) of AU students have been combining classroom studies and tutoring sessions this fall. Two cohorts meet on campus weekly and other cohorts meet weekly in Davis Elementary School in St. Charles and in Freeport Junior High School . Tutoring sessions are from 4:45 to 7 p.m. weekly.
To date, Linder said, students from East and West Aurora public schools, Holy Angels and St. Rita parochial schools in Aurora , and from Batavia and Oswego pubic schools, have received assistance on the Aurora campus.
Cohorts are planned to launch tutoring sessions in January in Sycamore, Wheaton and Bensenville locations. Sessions will continue at the AU campus and in St. Charles.
AU’s MARI program is designed to prepare classroom teachers to become reading specialists. Classroom courses develop candidates’ skills in assessment and tutoring with individual students, writing reports based on assessment and observation, and working collaboratively with other school personnel.
AU students can choose from two options. the degree option leading to certification as a reading specialist or the reading endorsement option, leading to an endorsement as a reading teacher.
Courses and requirements for both degree and endorsement candidates are aligned with the Reading Specialist Standards (2003) of the International Reading Association.
Information about the MARI program and the reading clinics is available from local schools or by calling AU at (630) 844-3835.
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