Emergent Reader -- Mid-Year; A Demonstration of Book Buddies in Action

TheBook Buddies manual and Emergent Reader training videos provide comprehensive and easy-to-implement guidelines for setting up and running a successful tutorial program in the early grades. Vividly portraying the Book Buddies model in practice, this video demonstrates the mid-year work of tutoring volunteer Linda and her first-grade tutee, Tanisha, who have been meeting regularly since the beginning of school. Tanisha has gained limited fluency in reading, with knowledge of letters and beginning letter sounds, and the pair now works on expanding Tanisha's word bank, creating a personal dictionary, mastering consonant blends and digraphs, and other goals. Commentary from the presenters identifies and describes each component of the Emergent Reader Lesson Plan outlined in the Book Buddies manual and provides pointers on methods and materials for this stage of the tutorial process. Emergent Reader: Mid-Year is designed to boost the skills and confidence level of reading professionals, tutorial program coordinators, and volunteer tutors

Francine Johnston, EdD, is Assistant Professor of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, where she teaches courses in reading, language arts, and children's literature. Tutoring is a key part of her curriculum, as she believes that there is no better way to help preservice teachers learn how to teach beginning readers.

Marcia Invernizzi, PhD, is Associate Professor of Reading Education at the Curry School of Education, University of Virginia, where she also serves as Clinical Director of the McGuffey Reading Center. With Connie Juel, she cofounded the Book Buddies community volunteer tutorial program, which has served over 700 children since 1992. Dr. Invernizzi's research on the effectiveness of Book Buddies has been published in The Reading Teacher and Scientific Studies of Reading.

Connie Juel, PhD, is the Thomas G. Jewell Professor of Education at the Curry School of Education, University of Virginia, where she also serves as the Director of Studies in Learning to Read. She is codirector of the Center for the Improvement of Early Reading Achievement and a former Associate Editor of Reading Research Quarterly. Cofounder with Marcia Invernizzi of the Book Buddies tutorial program, Dr. Juel has published numerous research articles, chapters, and books on literacy acquisition.