Adult Literacy tutor Tim Gailey has a storied past. As a young ROTC recruit at Davidson College in the 1960s, Tim aspired to be a professor, “wearing a tweed jacket with patches on the elbows and teaching literature or theater at a small gorgeous liberal arts college.” When that didn’t work out, he joined the Army, returned safely from Vietnam, married a ballerina, bought a studio, and taught beginning classical ballet.
But words had always been Tim’s medium. After a divorce, he went on to spend decades in the corporate world writing employee communications and executive messaging for various industries. Upon retirement, he says “I went to MARS, the Mountain Area Radio Reading Service in Asheville” where he read the news out loud over the radio for blind listeners. Audio technology evolved, making MARS obsolete, so Tim went in search of other volunteer work where his skills with reading, writing, and speaking would be valuable.
It’s been four years now since Tim opened The Mountain Express to an itty-bitty blurb seeking volunteer tutors for Literacy Together–an opportunity where he could use his penchant for words and teaching. It was serendipity both for him and for the students he teaches twice a week, every week, at the College Street campus. Becoming a Literacy Together tutor for adults on the basic skills and GED tracks shifted Tim’s focus.
Now he’d much rather tell you about his students’ dedication and perseverance for improving their literacy than about his own journey. “It’s the teacher who learns at least as much as the student,” he says, pivoting to praise his students. When students’ skills improve and they’re able to cross over new horizons in work and life, that can be truly life-changing, even transformational. Likewise, the benefits received by the teacher, such as appreciation, wisdom, and perspective – well, that can be equally dramatic and fulfilling.”
“From Karima, I’ve learned grit, determination, devotion, humility, and kindness. Karima is just a walking, living, breathing manifestation of commitment, the real kind that comes when you have setbacks, one right after the other, and the worst circumstances, a near miss for a life goal again and again. And after all that, you still have a sense of humor. Many of us would get bitter or cynical, but Karima still has a smile on her face. That’s persistence. Karima demonstrates it’s possible to achieve what at first appears unattainable. That’s what I’ve learned from her.”
Tim tries to bring that same persistence, enthusiasm, and humor to his own instruction. He’s recently taken on a second student, Bobby, who is in his mid-40s and wants to improve his literacy skills so that he can obtain better employment, increase his income, and eventually get his driver’s license. “Bobby is quite incisive as well as industrious. In addition to caring for his disabled mother and 10-year-old niece, he’s managed to earn a Certified Nursing Assistant license and a Medication Aide credential, all on his own. But he wants more than a piece of paper to prove his knowledge. He wants to improve his pronunciation and spelling as well as expand his vocabulary. He wants to polish his confidence, and he wants to get that driver’s license. Those are the goals we work toward every lesson.”
To help Bobby reach his goals, Tim uses a variety of materials to teach phonics and word decoding, as well as spending time on the North Carolina Driver’s Manual in each lesson. He also uses Megawords, a text designed for students with learning challenges that teaches how to spell and understand multisyllabic words. Above and beyond workbooks and other resources, says Tim, the abundant support of Adult Literacy program director Rebecca Massey has been invaluable, timely, and exceedingly welcome.
Over time with Tim’s support, his students are making remarkable progress. For example, Bobby has set a goal to learn how to adjust familiar urban dialect into standard pronunciation that’s common in clinical, academic, and business settings. He’s learned how to identify digraphs, consonant blends, and schwa sounds, and with a lot of practice, how to say the “th” sound in birthday. “It’s actually hard work with a ton of repetition,” says Tim. “But oh, when I finally heard the correct pronunciation, the heavens opened up and the sunlight came down.”
While the angels-are-singing moments are the big payoff for teachers and students, Tim offers this wisdom for new literacy tutors. “Don’t expect students to come in with a fine-tuned aptitude for learning. They may not have it; that’s why they need what Literacy Together can provide. You might be doing everything right, teaching every component of a lesson plan, and the student just isn’t getting it. You have to remember that outside of the one or two hours a week you spend with them, they’ve got all these voices telling them they’re not smart, they’re stupid or fake. They are bringing a whole set of circumstances with them every time they come through the door, and it’s a miracle that they come back to learn week after week. When you respect that, when you understand the challenges your student is trying to overcome year after year, then you see how each small step is a prize hard won. You see their humanity. You see them shine. That’s the real reward for both of you.”
