Share your Love of reading with High School Teens!

Save to Favorites

Do you want to make a difference in a teen’s life? Share the joys of reading with at-risk youth!

The Words Alive Teen Services program supports approximately 250 at-risk youth within the San Diego county Juvenile Court and Community School system each month through our Adolescent Book Group (ABG) program. Many of our students have experienced incredible hardships including homelessness, familial violence, and teen pregnancy but with the help of ABG are now on a path to success.

ABG volunteer teams provide monthly, bi-monthly, or weekly in-class book discussion, writing, and project-based learning sessions as part of the school’s language arts program. Curriculum guides will be provided to support volunteers in preparing for their sessions.

We are looking for enthusiastic volunteers to team-facilitate discussion and writing sessions in JCCS classrooms. Volunteers will alternate responsibility for leading sessions with their team members.

Goals and outcomes:

Volunteers provide engaging conversation and focused writing exercises, encourage student participation, cultivate critical thinking and literary analysis, offer opportunities for world exploration, and help students develop healthy self-expression. Volunteers act as positive role models, offering students support and encouragement with educational and career goals.

Ideal volunteers should:

• Be at least 18 years old
• Enjoy reading
• Be comfortable working with adolescents
• Be willing to engage in deep conversation covering a wide variety of discussion topics in a classroom setting
• Be culturally sensitive to the diverse backgrounds of our students
• Be a positive and consistent role model
• Have reliable transportation

Hours and location:

Volunteers can expect to spend 10-30 minutes prepping for each session in addition to reading the assigned book on their own. Volunteers work remotely at a specific school site for the academic year (October to May). Commitment varies by site; most sessions range from 60 to 75 minutes. Sessions are weekly, bi-monthly, or monthly.

If you are interested in this program or know of someone that may be interested, please contact Erin Rexin at Erin@wordsalive.org at your earliest convenience.