Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Monday, November 15, 2010
Literacy director put TLC into everything she did
Posted Online: Nov. 14, 2010, 6:44 pm
If you can read this, take a moment and thank those like Joyce Dobbins.
Joyce might not have taught you to read, but she had a hand in countless young people learning to love the written word. She left us last week at age 60, after a fight-to-the-last-second scrum with cancer, a battle she waged with courage and grace.
Joyce taught for 37 years in Moline, mostly first grade, maybe the most trying and awkward of years along the educational highway. With a soft spot for young people and a burning desire never to let a student slide through an educational crack, she had found the perfect calling.
Joyce was No-Child-Left-Behind years before it became politically fashionable.
In addition to her classroom work, Joyce guided Moline's The Literacy Connection, a one-on-one tutoring program for at-risk readers (the lower 20 percent of their class) at Moline's Washington Elementary.
For the past 20 years, more than 20 first- and second-graders partnered with a tutor from 2:40 to 3:45 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays at Faith Lutheran Church, Moline. It was something the children, tutors and parents of tutored students looked forward to.
The obvious is that guiding first graders for nearly 40 years showed patience, heart and spirit on Joyce's part. But The Literacy Connection took that love, passion and hope to another level. The Literacy Connection, with Joyce's iron will, gritty determination and some amazing tutors, made reading became a priority for many children. It opened a door many had struggled to open.
Joyce was a "pusher' and "nudger'' when it came to The Literacy Connection's success. She enlisted outside help from Faith Lutheran Church members and Moline Rotarians to serve as tutors and mentors to the students.
In conversations with the adults involved, I found they enjoyed sharing reading time with the young people as much as the students enjoyed bettering their reading skills. Joyce took great pride in making positive reading matches between students and mentors.
Since Joyce passed, my inbox has been flooded with e-mails from former students, fellow teachers, friends and parents of children who benefited from The Literacy Connection.
The notes relayed how kind Joyce was to her students, how easy she was to work with and how many lives were better because of the extra effort she gave.It is nice to have concrete evidence of what you thought about someone.
Joyce Dobbins was a treasure who will be remembered for her never-ending devotion to the many she served and the lives she affected in a positive fashion. She truly put TLC into everything she did.
Columnist John Marx can be reached at (309) 757-8388 or jmarx@qconline.com.
Joyce might not have taught you to read, but she had a hand in countless young people learning to love the written word. She left us last week at age 60, after a fight-to-the-last-second scrum with cancer, a battle she waged with courage and grace.
Joyce taught for 37 years in Moline, mostly first grade, maybe the most trying and awkward of years along the educational highway. With a soft spot for young people and a burning desire never to let a student slide through an educational crack, she had found the perfect calling.
Joyce was No-Child-Left-Behind years before it became politically fashionable.
In addition to her classroom work, Joyce guided Moline's The Literacy Connection, a one-on-one tutoring program for at-risk readers (the lower 20 percent of their class) at Moline's Washington Elementary.
For the past 20 years, more than 20 first- and second-graders partnered with a tutor from 2:40 to 3:45 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays at Faith Lutheran Church, Moline. It was something the children, tutors and parents of tutored students looked forward to.
The obvious is that guiding first graders for nearly 40 years showed patience, heart and spirit on Joyce's part. But The Literacy Connection took that love, passion and hope to another level. The Literacy Connection, with Joyce's iron will, gritty determination and some amazing tutors, made reading became a priority for many children. It opened a door many had struggled to open.
Joyce was a "pusher' and "nudger'' when it came to The Literacy Connection's success. She enlisted outside help from Faith Lutheran Church members and Moline Rotarians to serve as tutors and mentors to the students.
In conversations with the adults involved, I found they enjoyed sharing reading time with the young people as much as the students enjoyed bettering their reading skills. Joyce took great pride in making positive reading matches between students and mentors.
Since Joyce passed, my inbox has been flooded with e-mails from former students, fellow teachers, friends and parents of children who benefited from The Literacy Connection.
The notes relayed how kind Joyce was to her students, how easy she was to work with and how many lives were better because of the extra effort she gave.It is nice to have concrete evidence of what you thought about someone.
Joyce Dobbins was a treasure who will be remembered for her never-ending devotion to the many she served and the lives she affected in a positive fashion. She truly put TLC into everything she did.
Columnist John Marx can be reached at (309) 757-8388 or jmarx@qconline.com.
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