Nanaimo Aboriginal Centre
Draft Action Plan: “Growing Up to Read”
Spring 2014
VISION:
Young children and their families will
participate in positive, culturally rich, research-based early literacy
activities.
The program will reflect the NAC vision for
providing “wrap around services” while families participle in quality early
learning opportunities.
Children from all socio-economic groups
arrive at formal schooling with strong language & literacy competencies.
The
implementing of quality strength-based, elder guided, culturally relevant early
learning, will significantly improve graduation rates for Aboriginal students.
FOCUS:
What area or issue do you wish to explore?
Raise awareness and participation for
our community early literacy projects.
Provide direct modeling for language
support through read-alouds and for the very young.
Parents will be provided with resources to help them promote
strong language and early literacy skills.
Provide age appropriate books, pre-
writing materials, and interactive toys for the very young.
Investigate providing a family and
educator friendly immersion in the foundation document “Qeq College Curriculum
Framework”.
QUESTIONS:
1. Can we provide a forum for promoting family literacy?
2.
Can
we facilitate strategies known to enhance young children’s language &
literacy development?
3.
Can
we provide young children with books & resources that promote an early love
of reading?
4.
Will
parents feel confident to use quality books as a way to support language
development?
5.
Can
we promote inter-agency teamwork so that important interventions are made
available to all families?
6.
Can
we work to promote Assessment For Learning that is strength based and reflects
aboriginal Elders input and guidance?
7.
Will
the NAC vision statements for the Aboriginal Learning Centre, the Qeq College
Curriculum Framework, the Building Success for Aboriginal Learners/Aboriginal
Enhancement Agreement- 2011-2016
documents ,provide the structures and guidance
needed to provide strong community based education that results in
improved graduation rates for Aboriginal youth?
8.
Can
we recruit and train community volunteers to support literacy learning?
RESOURCES:
- Location:
Possible sites to
investigate:
Nanaimo Boys and
Girls Club,
Bayview
Elementary Aboriginal Family Welcome Centre
Yet to be
determined site/home for the NAC Learning Centre
- Materials:
Early
Literacy Activity Stations
User
Friendly handouts and posters that support early literacy/language development
Building
Foundations Rubric checklist
Parent
Friendly checklists to help direct positive early literacy learning
activities
Comfortable
and welcoming furniture that lends itself to adult-young person reading
together
Book
bundles or Theme Baskets that support Aboriginal cultural content and outdoor
learning
Take
home baskets that provide age appropriate resources for each participating
family
Copies
of all “Foundation Documents” available for viewing
Support
materials that might be used for the professional learning opportunities for
early childhood educators
- People:
Chris
Beaton, Executive Director
Nanaimo
Learning Centre’s Curriculum Advisory Committee
Donna Klockars /Project Leader
Danielle Alphonse and others interested in promoting
the professional learning and collaboration
Mariah Robertson, poster creation
Advertising/ Community Outreach group
Volunteer
Community Readers to lead each station
Elders/storytellers
Public
Health \Nursing ,
Community
volunteers who put Literacy Baskets and Theme Bundles together
Speech and Language and Audiology participation
Early
Childhood Education student participation
Child
and Youth student participation
Nanaimo/Ladysmith
SD68
- Support System: What additional strategies might support your project and help ensure success:
Newspaper, T.V. Strategy developed for advertising of the
event.
Consider
placing poster or article in paper
asking for volunteers who are interested in supporting this project. Criminal
Record checks and a training session date might be considered.
PLAN:
1.
First
planning meeting: Friday, Nov22, 2013. January 2014 and February 2014. Try
for early or mid-March start up.
2.
Fund
raising efforts to support Early 2014 start date.
3.
Poster
created and distributed
4.
Books
and Resources for Kids… (Donna’s Alphabet Stations and Literacy Baskets
created for take home.)
5.
Have
brochures that promote early language and literacy available for all
6.
Identify
those who will read aloud on a one to
one basis promoting the “Three Stories a Day” Song
7.
Use
this mini-project to shape bigger ideas such as Hippie model implementation,
Training the trainers and meet with sub group to brainstorm Hippie model.
8.
Investigate
“Literacy on Wheels” and Pop Up Library for Story Read-Alouds by
late spring.
9.
In-service
opportunities for early childhood educators.
Explore idea of providing professional collaborative learning teams
that use the Curriculum Foundation Document as the anchor. We believe this will be a powerful way to
promote academic success for our Aboriginal students.
10.
Where: Sites to be determined by end of Feb 2014
11.
Visit Boys and Girls Club and Chris to introduce
Donna
12.
Connect with Laura (SD68) re: possible Bayview
location in February.
|
|
13.
Support
Chris in effort to provide all necessary information for fund raising
efforts.
14.
Promotion:, Donna available with Chris and Working
Committee to provide information or interviews .
15.
Complete the physical set up so that the event is
welcoming and friendly for Aboriginal families.
16.
Make sure food/refreshments are taken care of.
(Thrifty’s to be used as per request of Rotary)
17.
Plan to provide acknowledgement, feedback etc. for
all funding sources and recognize work of volunteers
18.
Make sure all protocols are addressed. Elders gifts, acknowledging territory etc.
|
RESULTS: Indicate how you will monitor your progress, what kind of
feedback you might collect, and how you will evaluate the results.
- Monitoring Strategies:
Video, photos and anecdotes to
create story or book about our Community of Readers
Feedback
form collected from participants and planners
Follow
up conversations with Chris regarding highly skilled individuals keen to offer
support and or guidance. (Lynne Hannay
and program evaluation early childhood specialist)
- Feedback: Criteria for Evaluation:
Did we
provide evidence that address the set of inquiry questions?
How
many families were directly involved?
Did the
project provide relevant information to support creation of more Literacy
Outreach programs?
Did the
project identify and direct families who might be interested in supporting the
Nanaimo Aboriginal Centre organization and the vision for Aboriginal education.
CELEBRATION: What
is the most appropriate way to celebrate your learning and the completion of
this project?
Acknowledge and thank the agencies and individuals who
provided financial or personal support for the project.
Provide literacy resources such as
books, paper etc. for families to keep.
Collect stories and experiences that
provide real examples of positive education experiences. This is what is needed to address the legacy
of fear and mistrust around education and education institutions.
Create or share resources created as
a result of this project. These
resources will serve as useful tools that educators can use to address and
reflect Aboriginal language, culture, history and contemporary issues.
Reflect and build Nanaimo Aboriginal
Centre’s presence in the community.
Thank Elders and Committee members for their
generous support and dedication
Respectfully submitted by,
Donna Klockars
No comments:
Post a Comment