TEACHING BUDDIES
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
WHAT SHOULD I EXPECT FROM THIS PROGRAM?
Once matched with your Teaching Buddies, expect to work together to find a time for weekly 1 hour Zoom sessions until early December. If relevant, we will also email you with reading materials for your child as assignments. More information can be found on our Parent Guide.
WHAT SHOULD I EXPECT TO DO AS A PARENT?
As a parent, your job is essential to help our Teaching Buddies support your child virtually. We hope you can make sure your child shows up to class, does their assignments outside of class, and be in contact with your Teaching Buddies.
WHY CRITICAL THINKING?
After interviewing several parents and teachers, critical thinking skills -- writing and deep reading are what everyone identified as the most essential for their child. Unfortunately, skills in deep reading and writing are also the hardest to enforce over Zoom, especially with large class sizes. This is why Teaching Buddies are essential for our students this fall to make sure that they get the help that they need!
WHAT TRAINING DO VOLUNTEERS RECEIVE?
Currently, our volunteers receive a self-paced training experience equipped with best practices in engaging kids, recommendations for impactful activities, as well as resources to reach out to other volunteers or teachers/parents with any issues. Our training is created based on advice and guidance from teachers and parents with years of experience, and we are always improving on it! We also provide support for our tutors if they have any questions or need any help with the tutoring process.
WHAT IS YOUR RELATIONSHIP TO CHICAGO?
We are currently focused on outreach to help elementary and middle school students in the Chicago Public School systems because it is a historically underserved, majority low income/BIPOC community, and where we conducted the most research.
THIS IS SO COOL! WHAT ARE OTHER WAYS I CAN HELP?
We are always looking for more students we can help, as well as parent perspectives to improve our program! We’d love for you to share our service to families you know who could use the extra help, as well as any feedback you have and your expertise as a parent!