Reading Partners Tutor & Journalist Matt Bracken unlocks student potential
May 1, 2019
Originally posted on听 by Catherine Praiswater.
This blog post corresponds听to a featuring Matt Bracken on his time with Reading Partners.
Journalist Matt Bracken, Spotlighting the ‘Underdog’
“I want to encourage everyone to look for volunteering opportunities around your community. It does not certainly have to be with听Reading Partners听or literacy tutoring or anything like that because everybody has different skills and interests. Volunteering is being a part of your community and leaving it better than you found it.”
Those words are from journalist Matt Bracken who’s from听Michigan, USA and his schooling is in the area of journalism. 听He commutes long distances to tutor literacy for at-risk students.
Matt began his journalism career with the听Baltimore Sun听where he started as a sports producer, writer and editor.听听He transitioned into the director of audience engagement because of his increasing interest in a multitude of topics that make up a metropolitan city.听听He called this job a jack-of-all-trades.听听
His philosophy is to understand the audience, but most particularly the underserved.听听Because of this philosophy he has spotlighted historical neighborhoods. There was an audience for it.听听Digging into the archives had an element of intrigue and interest for Matt.
Telling stories that might have been overlooked within the community were sought out by Matt and he told the 鈥榰nderdog鈥� stories that resonate with people.听听听Human interest stories.
While working for the听Baltimore Sun, Matt found that his employer allotted time during the week for journalists to dive into their community and volunteer.听听Matt has always loved education and he believes strongly in helping struggling readers to succeed. 听He found a niche in literacy tutoring.
Struggling readers find support from journalist Matt Bracken
The schools he served in the Baltimore area did not have any structured program at first but the teachers provided literacy plans and guidance to Matt.听听Matt served within a low-achieving district.
Later he found a national program,听Reading Partners.听听Check out their website and learn more on tutoring or bringing the program to your USA school.
If you are interested in a literacy tutoring program within your own country but are not sure where to look, I can help you and am happy to help you.听听Just drop me a comment or an email.听听
Reading Partners听applies research-based best practices.
Matt provided literacy instruction as a volunteer with听Reading Partners听in the Baltimore area for several years.听听One of the advantages for the struggling readers was that those students had a consistent tutor.听 He was assigned his听same students from early childhood up through to the sixth grade when Matt moved and took up residency in Washington, D.C..
Literacy instruction remains an important service for Matt and as luck would have it Matt鈥檚 new employer also allotted volunteer hours.听听
Well, the luck of this Irishman was two-fold!听听Reading Partners听was partnering with Washington, D.C. schools and Matt transferred his services from Baltimore to D.C.
He was given a list of the schools, their location, and the percentage of听at-risk听students at each school.听听
Sure he could have chosen a school in his area that would be a hop and skip with regard to transportation, but he chose a school with high need for tutors in a district that takes several metro trains to get there.听听Certainly not an easy commute and also very time consuming.
Journalist Matt Bracken commutes far and wide to unlock student potential
What I find awesome about Matt Bracken is that he didn鈥檛 have to volunteer.听 He chooses to tutor. 听Plus, Matt is really young and he takes time to commute and prepare when he could be joining friends.听听I commend Matt for the time he is spending with the children in literacy.
鈥渊补丑.听听There are schools in more affluent neighborhoods and much more convenient for me.听听I picked a school that has one of the highest levels of need in Southeast D.C.听听It鈥檚 a famous neighborhood in the city but it gets short changed a bit. 听The neighborhood is a 听fascinating place for me.听听It鈥檚 a a wonderful historical neighborhood and it鈥檚 neat to see the changes that have gone on.鈥�
Matt does not see his volunteer work as a service but rather an opportunity.听听鈥淚t鈥檚 an opportunity to be a part of a community that would never even be in my path.听听There are passionate people trying to make their community better and my tutoring allowed me to see that.鈥�
I am lucky and I think other people should be as lucky to be able to see a place that does need a little bit more love.
鈥淵our show is wonderful Catherine because it highlights different positive elements that cover a really broad spectrum of things to make a difference in this world. And I feel the same way about volunteer working.听听I’m a part of a community and I’m leaving it better than I found it.鈥�
Check out some of Matt Bracken’s journalism,
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