Volunteer Spotlight: Kathleen Tynes

We are excited to spotlight our new volunteer Literacy Coordinator, Kathleen Tynes.   If you have not yet met Kathleen, you are sure to run into her soon.  She’s at the playhouse several days a week making sure our playhouse is ready to roll-out the new literacy program in 2018!  The Literacy Coordinator role is one of our most time-consuming and that’s before we added a completely new phonics component.   Below you can learn more about Kathleen and our literacy program.

Let’s Meet the Amazing Kathleen

Where are you from and how long have you lived in Chicago?

I am from Saginaw, Michigan and graduated from Michigan State where I met my husband Mike. We moved down to Atlanta, GA right out of college and I started teaching. I taught in the suburbs of Atlanta for 6 years and became a stay-at-home mom when my daughter Clara was born. She is two and a half now and loves coming to GiGi’s as much as I do! We moved to Chicago after Clara was born to be closer to family. We’ve lived her for almost 2 years and love it!

How did you get involved in GiGi’s?

I started volunteering at the GiGi’s in Atlanta about 5 years ago. I was out walking and I just stumbled upon their Playhouse. I was intrigued because I have a brother with Down syndrome, my husband has an uncle with Down syndrome, and I teach kids with Down syndrome among other disabilities. I went in and became a literacy tutor. I volunteered there for a year tutoring and helped them roll out their new math program.

How did you decide to become a special education teacher?

When I was a senior in High School I was a “teacher’s aide” in the Special Education room for an hour a day. The teacher’s daughter was diagnosed with cancer that year so she missed a lot of school due to taking care of her daughter. She would leave lesson plans and explain to me what she’d like done and I would help the sub teacher because I knew the students really well. At the time I wanted to be a 4th grade English teacher for general education students but this teacher I worked with said if I didn’t become a Special Education teacher I was wasting a lot of talent.

You recently attended the GiGi’s National Conference.  What was your favorite moment or biggest take-away?

I was really impressed to see how many people came to the conference. We always see numbers on a chart of how many people are involved in GiGi’s but to see us all set up in one big room was impressive. I really enjoyed meeting GiGi and felt like I was among a celebrity! Never in my wildest dream when I started volunteering at Atlanta did I think I would ever meet THE GiGi behind GiGi’s playhouse! I also enjoyed seeing the individuals with Down syndrome from the different playhouses come out and participate in the conference. It was clearly evident they were so excited to be there and their energy was contagious.

Tell us about Raising Robust Readers (the new phonics curriculum we are implementing in 2018).

Raising Robust Readers is a phonics based approach to teaching literacy. It’s multi-sensory which is key to working with our students. They learn through singing and moving and using items to help them remember the sounds that letters make. The winter session is the first session we will be implementing this program and we’re so excited to introduce this to the students and tutors!

What is your favorite thing about the literacy program?

My favorite part of the literacy program is the appreciation we get from the families. Each season there is a long list of registered students and everyone who gets in is quick to say how much they love the reading program. I remember when I was teaching how my students’ parents would come to me with goals for getting their child to read. We’ve seen through the years how much literacy skills can increase independence and that is a huge goal of ours at the Playhouse.

What do you like to do in your spare time?

I really enjoy knitting and reading. I don’t have a lot of spare time being the mother of a two and a half year old, but luckily she still takes an afternoon nap. During those two hours I usually eat my lunch and read a book. I like to knit when I watch tv so I usually don’t do anything too complicated.

THANK You so much for all you do for GiGi’s!  We are so excited to roll-out the new curriculum in the Winter 2018 session.   You can register your student here — hurry!  deadline is December 15th.