West Los Angeles College: We’ve Got RA!

By Nancy Sander

The West Los Angeles Reading Apprenticeship Faculty Inquiry Group started one and a half years ago.  The students can tell the RA story best.

Siddiga Garushi is an ESL student from Sudan who began to use Reading Apprenticeship two levels below English 101.

Her ESL course at that time was paired with Art History 102 (Humanities) which was an online course format.  Her ESL professor and her Art History professor teamed up and embedded RA routines into both courses.

Siddiga Garushi is now tutoring in the tutoring center in RA!  She and her peer Gloria Guzman ‘starred’ in a ‘Talking to the Text” film for ESL students in an online course so that the students could see other students in action. 

Gloria Guzman is a student who was stymied by English, even though she had been a successful architect in her native country of Columbia. Through the social interactions in the classroom, Gloria gained confidence and reading skills. She too is now a star in the ‘Talking to the Text’ film.[youtube]http://youtu.be/QvrdvvgnaOc[/youtube]

Not only are Siddiga and Gloria succeeding in ESL, they are succeeding in college transfer courses because of Reading Apprenticeship.  They are also giving back to the community.  Both Siddiga and Gloria donate time to support RA.

Yvette Sandoval is a tutor/mentor in the college Learning Center. She has participated in the RA FIG at West and she has taken RA 101.  Yvette is at the front line of assisting students with RA techniques even when the professors may not be aware of Reading Apprenticeship.

Yvette is enthusiastically engaging students into the social and cognitive aspects of learning through metacognitive routines in the Learning Center.

Finally, Traci Hayward from Thailand has been practicing RA routines for one year.  Traci has also given back to peers. She was filmed for online students. Traci explains a writing prompt for an English 101 course she is currently enrolled in. She does a ‘think aloud’ for the camera to show her process for understanding the writing prompt.[youtube]http://youtu.be/pVbap2NDbGY[/youtube]

Not only have these students benefitted from RA routines and succeeded in transfer college courses, they have given back to other students and they have connected with their community through the gift of Reading Apprenticeship.