September is Basic Education and Literacy Month!
And as we conrinue to advance this cause, Past President Denise Armstrong presents a one year subscription of Raz-kids to the Literacy Specialist Teacher, Mrs. Marcia Chatham and Principal, Mr. Ashworth Azille of the Clare Hall Secondary School!
Kids raz-kids.com reading programme is an online system where students have access to ebooks at varied levels with allowance for the teacher to monitor student's progress throughout the process.
Up to 30 Students can access these books anywhere that they have an internet connection.
The Rotary Club of Antigua today made a donation of various supplies and equipment, to assist with the further development of the Literacy Programme at the ClareHall Secondary School.
President of the Rotary Club of Antigua, Kevin Silston, indicated that the Club is very pleased to support such an initiative. He added that education is one of the key areas of development for the Club and that improving literacy across the island is of significant importance.
“This is a very meaningful project, with life changing potential. We are all aware of the challenges faced by some students who transition through the Universal Secondary School system and a programme like this will assist in improving literacy skills. After looking at this, I am of the opinion that such a programme can be launched in other schools, and as a Club we are willing to partner with other organizations in making this a reality. It has tremendous value for a lifetime”, President Silston expressed.
He added that the Club will continue to support the programme as necessary. President Silston also expressed thanks to Rotarians, Paper Clips, Hadeed Motors and ACT for their respective assistance in making the contribution possible.
Principal of the Clare Hall Secondary School, Ashworth Azille, expressed thanks to the Club for its consideration and investment in the programme.
“We are indeed thankful for this. We can look to see how we can actually use this programme to address the overall issue of literacy among our students. The equipment and supplies will go a long way and it will lessen the resources that I would have to find to maintain the quality of the programme. There are so many students who transition through school without the requisite literacy skills to successfully navigate their course of study. We are very thankful that we are able through this programme to help them reach some level of growth and success”, Azille explained gratefully.
Literacy Specialist Teacher, Mrs. Marcia Chatham also expressed her profound gratitude to the Club for answering the call for support.
“I am very elated today and very grateful to the Rotary Club for making this possible. You are doing an excellent job in supporting education and literacy development and you can be rest assured that all of this will be put to good use in the further advancement of the programme”, Chatham joyfully expressed.
The Clare Hall Secondary School’s Literacy Intervention Programme aims to provide literacy intervention for struggling students. The room dedicated to literacy intervention, presently caters to students from Forms 1, 2 and 3 for intervention and remedial English classes.
The Clare Hall Secondary School has a Literacy Intervention Programme that aims to provide literacy intervention for struggling students. The room dedicated to literacy intervention, presently caters to students from Forms 1, 2 and 3 for intervention and remedial English classes. At the beginning of each year the students classified as Level 3 and 4 based on the Grade Six National Assessment (G6NA) are assessed by the literacy specialist using the Diagnostic Assessment of Reading (DAR). Based on the results for the Form 1 class of 30 struggling students, 65% percent of the students’ oral reading results ranged from a Grade 1-4 level. Many of the students assessed were operating at a Grade 2-3 level of literacy. These findings indicated that majority of the students in that class ranging from ages 11-15 would be unable to read a grade level (Form 1) text independently. Although the ideal would be for all struggling students to benefit from remediation, the present programme only selects the students who are in the direst need of literacy intervention. As a result, a total of 28 students from Forms 1-3, ranging from ages 11-16 benefit directly from classes with the literacy specialist. These numbers are broken down as follows: 16 Form 1 students in Literacy Intervention and remedial English Classes, 7 Form 2 students and 5 Form 3 students specifically in Literacy Intervention Sessions.
The vision is for the students who access the support in the literacy centre to develop in their reading, writing, comprehension and oral language skills over the years. The growth in literacy may not necessarily be evident immediately and students will vary according to their development and underlying learning difficulties or disabilities. Nonetheless, with the adequate resources, all students can learn and achieve, given the support in their literacy development. The main concentration is for the students to work with the literacy specialist in small groups of 5-7 at a time, so as to adequately cater to their needs. Due to the severe need for literacy intervention at the Form1 level there are a total of 16 students accessing the remediation programme. The students’ sessions would be for 3 ½ hours long per week, per grouping for 4 different groups of students. Additionally, approximately 90 struggling students from Forms 1-3 will have access to the room and its resources to also aid in their literacy development during their scheduled English classes.
The Centre received 2 fully loaded computers and the following:
1- Printer/Scanner/Copier - HP Color
1- Laminating Machine
2 Desktop Computers
Projector
Stationery: 1 pack Printing Paper (plain and coloured),
Cardstock Paper
3 dozen pens
2 dozen pencils
2 dozen dry erase markers
3 dozen permanent markers
3 dozen Exercise Books
Index cards
Laminating sheets
Velcro
Mounting tape
Book/magazine holders or book shelves
Magazines (Any appropriate used/new magazines with varying topics)
10 English dictionaries
10 Thesauruses
1- Laminating Machine
2 Desktop Computers
Projector
Stationery: 1 pack Printing Paper (plain and coloured),
Cardstock Paper
3 dozen pens
2 dozen pencils
2 dozen dry erase markers
3 dozen permanent markers
3 dozen Exercise Books
Index cards
Laminating sheets
Velcro
Mounting tape
Book/magazine holders or book shelves
Magazines (Any appropriate used/new magazines with varying topics)
10 English dictionaries
10 Thesauruses
