Thinkfinity
Supported by the Verizon Foundation

Verizon has developed a website, thinkfinity.org, designed to aid Literacy Centers with training and other resources. The site provides courses for prospective tutors, tutors, and staff, developed by ProLiteracy International, and offered at no cost. Incorporating these courses into our tutor training enables us to train more often and keep prospective Tutors we may have lost due to time conflicts with our classroom training schedule.

This site is relatively easy to use for those familiar with computers. If you are uncomfortable with this format, you may want to take the course “Succeeding as an Online Learner”, which explains the various features and commands. You can work at your own pace and stop during a course and come back later.

To begin, log onto the website: http://www.thinkfinity.org.

• Select “FREE Thinkfinity Training” at the top of the home page.
• On the next page find “Thinkfinity Literacy Network Offerings” and, at the bottom of the page, click “Register”.
• Next, choose the course you would like to enroll in, by clicking “Enroll Now” to the left of it.
• You must register to enroll in a course, so click “Register Now” and complete form as indicated.
• Click on “Begin” button at the bottom of the screen.
• This will bring you to a course outline; to begin the course select the first heading in the outline and you will be brought to the appropriate page.
• "Next" and "Back" buttons are located at the bottom of each page. Use these to proceed or review pages.

We would like you to complete “Orientation to Volunteering in Literacy” to start with. This course explains what is expected of a tutor and a little of what to expect from tutoring.

If you know which type of tutor you would like to be, you can choose one of the following courses below to begin. If you are unsure of what type of learner you would like to work with, we recommend that you take both courses to get an idea of the different goals and expectations. Remember, in order to be certified all eight courses must be completed. This excludes the two in Math, which are optional.

Complete “Working with Adult Literacy Learners”. This course describes some common characteristics we see in adult learners and introduces some of the techniques Literacy Volunteers uses in tutoring.

Or complete “Working with English Language Learners”, which describes common characteristics of ESL students. It introduces some methods used in tutoring these students. Once you have finished please contact the office for further training.

Thinkfinity
On-Line Tutor Training

ORIENTATION
Orientation to Volunteering In Literacy
Principles of Adult Learning

READING STRATEGIES
Phonemic Awareness for Adult Literacy Learner
Before, During and After- A reading Comprehension Technique

ENGLISH TO SPEAKERS OF OTHER LANGUAGES
Working with English Language Learners
Culture and English Language Learners

WRITING
Writing Without Fear
Graphic Organizers

Helpful if your learner is working on Math skills:

MATH (Optional)
Making Math Manageable
Let’s Read Math