Realising potential... |
About the authorAn educator - passionate about the individual and education - who cut her teeth on the schools of London over many years before moving abroad to develop her craft and find inner peace. |
Realising potential... |
About the authorAn educator - passionate about the individual and education - who cut her teeth on the schools of London over many years before moving abroad to develop her craft and find inner peace. |
The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.” - Dr Seuss, I can read with my eyes shut
Reading for 20 minutes a day equates to 3 600 minutes per academic year, or 60 school days by the time the child reaches Grade 6 (Source: http://r2fn.blogspot.co.za/2015/04/literacy-statistics.html). Yes, you read that right: 60 school days! AND, it is recommended that children read a book every week - at least!
But, for the reluctant reader, 20 minutes a day can be a chore as well as a daily sticking point when it comes to doing homework. How can we as educators and parents encourage those children who avoid reading, to read? 1. Reading aloud at home. Shared reading is one of the simplest and most effective ways to create a love of text while building a bond between parent and child. And the knock-on benefits are huge! Children have a greater vocabulary, a broader experience of characters and plot, improved grammar and better understanding of varied sentence structures when they are exposed to more texts. All necessary components when it comes to their own creative writing. Just as important though, are the ideas they can borrow for their own writing, making the writing process more enjoyable and independent. 2. Find favourites. If your child has a passion for something that interests them, follow it. If they love soccer, borrow library books on that subject - both fiction and non-fiction to extend their experiences of different writing structures. If they enjoy a particular author, hunt down more books by the same author. If they show interest in a series, get the next book. If they find a genre they like (Many children love funny, detective or adventure - so its a great place to start!), browse through more of the same genre to find something that catches their eye. 3. Independent choice. Every child wants to be a grown up. Why? Because they want to have independence and control of their choices. In our role as adults, we make many decisions for them. Choosing books is one area where a child can make their own decisions and take control. HOWEVER, it is really important that their choice of books is monitored. Reluctant readers will aim low, choosing books within their comfort zone. Other children will be influenced by their peers to choose ambitious books which are too challenging - these books are best for shared reading when reading aloud to your child. When monitoring books chosen from a weekly library visit, I allowed the reluctant readers to choose 1 book that was not too challenging and another that was within their reading ability to challenge them. 4. Adult examples. Children are more likely to read - and to choose to read - if they see their role models reading. And it can be anything: newspapers, Kindles, magazines, books. ANY text counts! Frequent readers, as a rule, have parents who read frequently - it's a well-documented fact found through much research over many years. Furthermore, role models who encourage engaging with books through regular library visits, visiting book stores or stalls at a market, using a website like goodreads.com to read or write reviews or discussing books, will develop the value of reading in the child. So, 20 minutes a day could become more quite easily - but only if your child is encouraged to read for fun rather than reading out of duty. This in turn could lead to reading a book a week - even more if they choose to read for longer than 20 minutes. Are you sold? I hope you are! Reading is empowering and, as Dr Seuss says, "the more we read, the more we grow."
Recommended series popular with children (independent reading):
* The 13 storey treehouse - Andy Griffiths * The diary of wimpy kid - Jeff Kinney * Famous Five - Enid Blyton * Geronimo Stilton and Thea Stilton adventures * Captain Underpants - Dav Pilkey * Goosebumps - R.L. Stine * Asterix and Obelix - René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo * Tintin - Georges Remi Recommended series popular with children (shared reading): * Percy Jackson - Rick Riordan * A series of unfortunate events - Lemony Snicket (Great vocabulary used!) * Harry Potter - J.R.R. Tolkien * His dark materials - Phillip Pullman * Artemis Fowl - Eoin Colfer * Alex Rider series - Anthony Horowitz
http://www.scholastic.com/readingreport/Scholastic-KidsAndFamilyReadingReport-5thEdition.pdf
http://kidshealth.org/en/parents/readers.html?WT.ac=p-ra
https://www.commonsensemedia.org/blog/how-to-raise-a-reader
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Dyslexia isn’t chains; it can be wings instead. " -- Dr. Alta Graham--
When children start learning to read and write, it is common for them to reverse or transpose letters, words and numbers, confuse right and left or rely on phonics to spell words. It makes sense, of course, as these are new skills and knowledge that need to be learnt and developed. Some children, wanting to avoid failure, will endeavour to get out of reading aloud - particularly in front of their peer group. Others will struggle to rhyme words and sounds, or to sequence numbers or the alphabet. These traits are common in children around the world in their formative years, and do not indicate a learning need. However, if these issues continue to plague your child, and do not come right with time, they could be indicators that your child has learning difficulties.
If these issues persist, a formal assessment needs to be carried out by a trained professional: an educational psychologist, a school psychologist, a behavioural optometrist. In KwaZuluNatal, there are number of these professionals available, as well as assessment centres, like the Sherwood Children's Centre based in Durban (031-2085117). These assessments are costly; however, an accurate diagnosis and strategies to cope will be given. An alternative to this would be an assessment through the University of KZN, Pietermaritzburg campus (Details can be found in the link at the bottom of the page.) The UKZN service is free of charge; however, there is a waiting list for these assessments. Being diagnosed with a learning barrier is not a stigma, nor is it something that should be ignored. Diagnosing the learning difficulty is the start of being able to develop strategies that will assist your child to overcome these barriers and focus on learning, rather than avoiding tasks they feel unsuccessful at performing.
http://search.info4africa.org.za/Organisation?Id=91584
http://www.childcentre.co.za/
Mary-Jane* was a delightful and bubbly girl with Down's Syndrome who attended a mainstream school from Nursery. Being a one-form entry school, she and her peers had the the same classmates from Nursery through to Year 6 - except for the few who left or arrived in between. This small detail is pivotal to the learning curve I myself had after several years of teaching. I had the pleasure of teaching a particular class twice: in Year 1 and again in Year 5. The children in the class were amazing! They showed levels of compassion and kindness which I had previously never seen in a whole cohort of children. The pupils would support each other with words of encouragement when working collaboratively; they'd ask peers if they needed help and then guide them to an answer or ask an adult to help the struggling child; they took turns carrying out activities so that everyone had a turn to choose a game or do the fun aspect, like writing. (They almost ALL want to be the person who records or works the tech in any group activity!) One cold, blustery day - as they all feel in London - while I was on play duty at recess, I overheard a group of younger children tell Mary-Jane that she couldn't play in the Wendy House adjacent to the Adventure Playground where many of her friends were 'monkeying' around. Her peers' response was electric! The kids, her close friends and classmates, formed a human-chain around her before asking the younger children if they knew that "in our school, we share". Very cleverly, some of the the more street-wise kids, tempted the younger children to vacate the shed to join in a game of football, Year 5 vs Year 3, while those who stayed on were reminded of a basic principle of any community: sharing is caring. I was struck with awe at how these mature Year 5s had not only handled the situation, but also transformed it into an opportunity for the smaller children to learn to share and play together. It was then that I realised why this cohort of children was so kind and compassionate: since Nursery, most of them had attended school with a classmate who was noticeably different and, in doing so, had learnt and taught each other to be accepting of their unique differences and to treat each other equally no matter what. Mary-Jane was loved by her classmates, for her kindness, tenacity and resilience. They loved working with her and she was always surrounded by friends in the playground. And, by including her in mainstream education, 30 children grew up with a greater understanding of tolerance and fairness, compassion and kindness. If I was unsure of inclusive education before, I certainly understood its importance now. *Nope. Also not her real name.... “It's not our job to toughen our children up to face a cruel and heartless world. It's our job to raise children who will make the world a little less cruel and heartless.” It started many moons ago with Pavel*. Pavel was cute as a button with his cheery smile and smudged glasses, thick as Coke bottle bottoms. New to the profession, the country and the curriculum, I was entirely overwhelmed after meeting with the SENCO (Special Education Needs Co-ordinator) at the school who informed me that Pavel had a number of learning needs that needed to be met, and that I would need to work with outside agencies who specialised in the different areas of his needs. I read over his IEP (Individual Education Plan) from the previous year, growing more and more anxious as I progressed through his needs, the contingency plans to enable him to access the class learning as well as his targets. How ever would I do this AND teach the other 29 children, all the while keeping good assessment records, planning lessons for the different abilities in my new class and creating high quality resources???
Actually, Pavel made the effort more than worthwhile! Obviously, a teacher never has a pet or favourite. But if I had to pick one child who made my year... it was this kind, happy boy who could work with anyone. He didn't give a hoot about popularity or street cred which - ironically - made him all the more popular with his peers. Yes, he had a different spelling list for his weekly homework, and his reading level was lower than all the other children in his class (the lowest in his grade of 90 children in 3 classes). Sure, he had an adult who worked with him all the time, and did easier tasks than most of his peers. But he knew something it took you and I years to learn; he knew that we are all different and that there is no need to conform and be alike. That those things that make us different are the things that make us special, unique. And yes, Pavel was dyslexic with a plethora of needs, but he was himself and he allowed his peers, particularly the hardened street-wise kids from the council flats of inner-London, to be themselves and enjoy a minute more of their childhood... It was a great learning curve for me, the newly qualified teacher, and the start of a road which has brought me here. *Not his real name. Of course :) Just in case you were wondering... |
Every child is a different kind of flower. And all together, make this world a beautiful garden... Archives
April 2017
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