Vilenti Tulloch’s book, “Engage to Excel: Building Trust, Belonging and Success in the Middle School Years,” is available on Amazon.
Reminder Publishing submitted photo
SPRINGFIELD — For several years, Vilenti Tulloch has been training teachers and working with schoolchildren to learn vital lessons about creating environments in which children can learn. Now, Tulloch has authored a book, “Engage to Excel: Building Trust, Belonging and Success in the Middle School Years” to spread the core lesson that “care, trust and togetherness build connection.”
Tulloch began his career as a social worker after graduating from Westfield State University. He went on to earn his master’s degree at American International College and became an adjustment counselor.
“Working in classrooms opened my eyes to the needs in the classroom,” Tulloch said. He explained the concept of the “invisible backpack,” and said students often come to school carrying the weight of stress, trauma and emotions from their everyday lives. Understanding the effect that it has on their ability to learn was foundational to Tulloch’s mission as an educator.
Tulloch began the Academic Leadership Association of Greater Springfield. The organization’s mission is to have “caseworkers serve as school-based mentors and advocates” to “bridge the gap between school, family and the community” through mentoring and teaching literacy and self-advocacy.
Speaking about the organization, Tulloch said, “We really grew over the years.” About two years ago, ALA began training teachers in Western Massachusetts, Maine and Connecticut to make authentic connections with students. The training encourages teachers to ask themselves, such as, “How am I showing up every day?” and “Am I fostering a space where everyone feels they belong?”
Tulloch said, “A lot of the great work we’ve done has been in East Longmeadow, mostly with students of color, teaching them how to feel like they belong, how to feel a sense of connection.” He particularly focuses on middle schoolers, and explained, “Middle School is a really hard time. I just want to give people more tools in the toolbox.”
“Students don’t learn from teachers they don’t like,” Tulloch said, adding that students cannot learn if they are “in fight or flight every time they walk into the room. It’s science.” However, “when students feel like they’re welcome, when they have a trusted adult, it allows them to let their guard down. Kids just want to feel a connection. If a student feels connection, they’re willing to take academic risks.”
LaTonia Monroe-Naylor, a friend of Tulloch and member of the Springfield School Committee, encouraged Tulloch to write a book based on the work he had done with ALA. Following that suggestion, he wrote “Engage to Excel.” The book expands on Tulloch’s work and makes it accessible to teachers outside the geographical reach of ALA’s professional development seminars. It also opens the topic up for families to learn about.
Tulloch will be signing books at Olive Tree Books-N-Voices, 97 Hancock St, in Springfield on Feb. 21 at 1 p.m. More information about the Academic Leadership Association of Greater Springfield can be found at academicleadershipassociation.com.
