Every fall, Team Read recruits and trains hundreds of teenagers to work as one-on-one reading coaches with elementary students in Seattle and Highline.

This year, we had 130 teens return to the program to coach again at local schools.  We also had more than 500 applications from new teens interested in joining Team Read for the first time.

High school and middle school students from 25 high schools and middle schools in King County applied to work in the program.

Trainings for new and returning coaches took place in October.  Reading coaches learned new skills to use when working with their students on vocabulary, fluency and comprehension.  They role-played tutoring scenarios and learned to use Team Read coaching tools to help their students learn sight word lists and basic phonics skills.

“We are so impressed by all the teens who want to give back to their communities,” said Bill Eisele, Program Manager for Team Read.  “I’ve been leading trainings for 10 years now, and it is always a thrill to see coaches excited to work with young students.”

Team Read reading coaches will continue their training at their elementary sites through the end of the October, and student readers will begin in the program in early November.