DETROIT – Teach For America (TFA) Detroit wrapped up its Detroit Summer Learning Institute, Fall Warm-Up, which is a three-week virtual summer enrichment program.
The free program started on July 20 and ended on Aug. 4.
“We want to make our program as easy as possible to access, which is why the sessions are short and designed to fit parents’ schedules,” said Dezmin McCoy, summer enrichment director, in a press release.
“As a parent, I can understand the challenges other parents need to manage during COVID-19, and so we want to make sure to support them through this.”
The program offered academic support to families and students from kindergarten through 12th grade. The K-3 program focused on literacy and offered families 30-minute phonics instruction lessons each week as well as workshops for students using the Springboard Collaborative curriculum.
The program’s secondary STEM pathway was a collaboration between TFA Detroit and CODE313, providing coding and math workshops for students.
“CODE313 is proud to work with Teach For America Detroit for our Virtual Summer eXperience, and continue to help break down barriers between technology and young people in our region, said Bartel Welch, executive director of CODE313, in a press release.
“We have been able to help over 20,000 students learn, thrive, grow and create by exposing them to technology instruction and resources over the past year and a half. We know that with instructors from TFA, CODE313′s mission to serve the community will be expanded and will enable us to make a greater collective impact.”
Fall Warm-Up also informed the best teaching and family engagement practices that moved virtually during the COVID-19 pandemic.
TFA Detroit launched the Detroit Summer Learning Institute in 2019. This year’s Fall Warm-Up included nine educators who previously worked with Teach for America, as well as three TFA Detroit educators and nine pre-service Detroit educators.