Reading Buddies Program

ABOUT THE PROGRAM

This mentoring program, in its second incarnation, partners students from Fostertown School with NFA North Campus student mentors. The students and mentors read books and discuss them online in a secure forum. Students have the opportunity to select books from a wide range of titles that suit their personal interests. The program not only provides the students with positive feedback and academic support, but also time spent corresponding with strong role models.

At the heart of this program are the core skills of reading and writing, which comply with the New York Common Core State Standards. Students work together to develop such Common Core literacy skills as close reading, making logical inferences, developing tools to comprehend complex readings, asking and answering text-focused questions, and developing evidence to support an interpretation.

As post-Regents level Honors students, these mentors are a selective group specifically chosen for their academic achievement and diversity, and are developing themselves as tole models for Fostertown students. As young adults themselves, the mentors are able to relate to the students in ways that differ from t
he way teachers and other adults relate to them.