#projectread

[dekalbkidsproject-blog]

DeKalb Kids Project, Inc. had a great time reading with the youth today at Shadow Rock Elementary for their Project Read! We are excited about Book Character Day and the importance of creative learning and promote literacy through donating 500 books to help assist! Thank you for the invite and we can't wait to come back! October 31st Book Character Day, Project Read! #dekalbkidsproject #shadowrockelementary #projectread

[dekalbkidsproject-blog]

Testimony!! “On Saturday October 28th me and three other Students from Kennesaw State University teamed up with Dekalb Kids Project at Redan High School for a book drive. While cleaning and packaging the donated books we advised a few young men on some things that they’ll face as they move forward through high school. DeKalb Kids Project’s events like this are of the upmost importance to the youth in the city, as it provides kids with positive character building activities that will impact them as they move forward in life.” - C. Johnson #dekalbkidsproject #volunteer #KSU #impact #Projectread

[dekalbkidsproject-blog]

DeKalb Kids Project, Inc. had a great time reading with the youth today at Shadow Rock Elementary for their Project Read! We are excited about Book Character Day and the importance of creative learning and promote literacy through donating 500 books to help assist! Thank you for the invite and we can't wait to come back! October 31st Book Character Day, Project Read! #dekalbkidsproject #shadowrockelementary #projectread

[dekalbkidsproject-blog]

Special thanks to our young men who dedicated their Saturday morning volunteering with DeKalb Kids Project, Inc. for Book Character Day at Shadow Rock Elementary School on Tuesday, October 31, 2017. This event helps the youth in providing books to every student in building their own libraries within the home. #dekalbkidsproject #projectread

[projectgirlspire-blog]

Project GirlSpire wants to let the world know that it is the right of every girl and woman to feel safe, no matter who you are or what your situation is! So we would like to know where you feel safe! It could be with your friends and/or family, taking a hot bubble bath, or walking around your favorite park! So this is what we are asking you to do:

1. Take a picture of yourself.

2. Add text to that picture (or write it on a sheet of paper and hold it in your photo), declaring where you feel safe… (Example: “I feel safe when I’m on the field, playing soccer.”)

3. Like us on Facebook and Follow us on Twitter

4. Upload it to social media with the hashtags, #GiveGirlsWings #IFeelSafe

5. Tag us and spread the word!

[theenglishclinic]

project read day one

project read has officially kicked off! It is a learning curve for all of us, but it sure was a promising start. Four mentees didn’t come, because they could not find transportation (one of the biggest issues we are facing so far- but the Cikgu Rachel literacy taxi has taken care of it) but the mentors and mentees who did come, 36 in all, had a really fun and productive session.

It’s so interesting to see my normally cheeky or quiet mentors really come out of their shell when given the responsibility of someone else’s education. They set a fantastic energy and the mentees adore them to bits. One girl brought a special ‘tracker’ book for her mentee and puts a sticker in it every time she masters a phoneme. Another one used kinaesthetic hand movements to teach new words so the mentee could associate it with meaning. A few of them thought up really creative, engaging games for their mentees to remember alphabets and words (took pictures of some below!). Every time I come over to check a child’s reading, their mentor holds their breath as their mentee reads and upon successful reading, has the biggest, proudest smile ever.  I have also told them during periods when their teachers are absent or not in class, they can seek out their mentees for additional sessions- which several of them promptly did today, especially the ones who’s mentees didn’t turn up. 

In terms of my reader mentees, I have a mixed bag of totally illiterate students, to semi-literate ones. The semi-literate ones are breezing through the phoneme and basic sight word stage, with some finishing up to 10-12 alphabets today. On the other hand, there are a few who are struggling heavily with even one alphabet and I have gone back to the drawing board in trying to rethink how better to support both them and their mentor in this literacy journey. The next session will be telling in terms of how much they remember and how much drilling we are going to need to keep doing- but I’m currently working on creating take-home kits and readers for them to keep practicing on!

The mentees are really invested and engaged and one of them even warned his mentor that she had better come next week. Many of them have never read short sentences before and it was a really empowering experience for them; I will be posting a few videos shortly of them working their way (sometimes not very successfully, but with maximum effort, which is the most important thing!).

I think teaching literacy to older students (by ‘older’ I mean past the average reading age) can be tricky because many of them have learnt to effectively ‘memorise’ words, or have some basic level of sight word reading- which can be deceptive for a teacher who could mistake it for literacy. My mentors and I are trying to overcome this by introducing new words frequently. That said, I am not discounting the importance of learning sight words too! A fellow TFM Fellow shared really valuable advice that the two go hand-in-hand and we are trying to incorporate that into our sessions.

We ended on a great note- the kids went ‘yaaaaay!’ when I said that it was time for lunch- and the mentors and mentees sat together and chit-chatted happily all the way through. At the end of the session, the mentors gave the mentees their badges, which they are all wearing proudly now- 26 more weeks to go!