Week 9 - 826 National

This week I wanted to share with you one of my favourite TED Talks. The TED (Technology, Education, and Design) Conferences are essentially a way for people to get together and talk about “Ideas worth spreading”.

One of my favourite literary authors is Dave Eggers. I was introduced to his books and quarterly publication Mc Sweeney's, through a friend. I can't remember exactly how I stumbled on to his talk, but it was inspiring and really stuck with me over the years.



As an aspiring writer and a person interested in the education of young people, 826 Valencia-San Francisco is a fascinating concept. Dave Eggers talks about taking the stigma away from learning, the unconventional pirates shop front leads into the tutoring centre, and the fact that students were running down the street to attend a tutoring is so great to hear. My brief experience with teaching taught me that sometimes the traditional classroom setting does not work, that there are ultimately students who slip under the radar and go un-noticed. Even more than that, the idea of engaging every single student in a class of 25 for an hour at a time for five hours a day gets difficult for a teacher and arguably more-so for the student.

By offering one-on-one volunteer tutoring to students, there is guaranteed learning that occurs. The validation a student gets from getting their ideas heard in this space is tangible. 826 Valencia grew so popular that they had over 1,400 volunteers and began to move to local schools, now there are chapters all over the United States. How did this non-profit organisation get so big? I wonder if it is the simple act of encouraging members of the community to share their skills and expertise to help young people. Dave Eggers mentions that if a volunteer can only offer two hours a month then those two hours were priceless and utilized by the team.

The two hours for each session are broken down into three parts. For the first thirty minutes a student is helped with their homework regardless of the subject, thirty minutes is then spent reading with the tutor, and the last hour is spent writing. This kind of program encourages students to finish their homework quickly and enables them to go home at the end of the day and enjoy spending time with their family.

I'd love to see a chapter of 826 National open in Australia. I can see this type of non-profit organisation working hand-in-hand with libraries and schools to benefit young people and hopefully let them know that their voices matter and need to be heard.