Saturday 1 September 2012
Back to the Basics with Learning Literacy
The Lieutenant Governor's Aboriginal Summer Literacy Camp is a great program led by Frontier College to support the development of literacy skills among First Nations children and youth living on isolated fly-in only reserves in northern Ontario.
With a solid week of training in Thunder Bay regarding what we might or will expect when living and teaching in a First Nations community, my team was anxious and eager to get started.
After flying in on a small propeller plane, settling in, exploring the community, introducing ourselves to the community, and beginning registration, it was time to get started. The First Nation reserve that I was placed in has a population of approximately 300 people. Although the reserve is small, there was definitely a good number of children aged 4-16 who were eager to be involved in the literacy program throughout the summer.As expected, there were setbacks when planning and implementing a program in any community. One of the challenges that I came across (considering I was looking forward to using technology as much as I could in the classroom) was the lack of reliable internet available to support literacy lessons in the school. Not letting that stop us, our team did an incredible job at going back to basics with picture books, novels, journals and basic supplies. We planned and implemented creative and collaborative literacy activities that engaged students and got them continuing to develop their literacy skills throughout the summer.
My top learning experiences;
Accommodating lessons, activities, and assessment for a variety of learners has to be the foundation for success in this program. No matter how engaging activities are, cultural differences require your flexibility in the way one plans, delivers and assesses the program and students. Daily team reflection is key!
Collaboration with your team, other summer programs and community members is the most effective way to obtain community involvement that supports literacy in the community. With parents, teachers and community members willing to support the program, but may not know how, obtaining their support in any way they are able to provide it, increases the chances that children can look up to role models in the community.
Our assessment data showed improvements in reading levels for consistent attendees to the program. Small gains can make a difference. With overall success in the program, I can honestly say that this was a challenging yet overall worthwhile teaching and learning adventure!
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