Return-Path: <nifl-family@literacy.nifl.gov> Received: from literacy (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.10.2/8.10.2) with SMTP id h2M27KH05201; Fri, 21 Mar 2003 21:07:20 -0500 (EST) Date: Fri, 21 Mar 2003 21:07:20 -0500 (EST) Message-Id: <5.0.0.25.0.20030321174913.009e22b0@mail.aracnet.com> Errors-To: listowner@literacy.nifl.gov Reply-To: nifl-family@literacy.nifl.gov Originator: nifl-family@literacy.nifl.gov Sender: nifl-family@literacy.nifl.gov Precedence: bulk From: Sylvan Rainwater <sylvan@cccchs.org> To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-family@literacy.nifl.gov> Subject: [NIFL-FAMILY:1474] Re: HELP!!!--Motivating young X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Version 5.0 Status: O Content-Length: 4243 Lines: 69 At 12:32 PM 03/20/2003 -0500, Virginia Tardaewether wrote: >Tamika >I would add to the comments, that it is important to let young people, Men >in your case, know what an important role they can have in the life of a >child. Men are often left out of our language of literacy discussions, yet >the way they talk and play with children is important to a child's >development. (Women are important too, don't get me wrong here, but we so >often omit the ways of men with children) Men tend to play in a different >way than women and I think every well rounded child benefits from >experiences with adults of all ages and of both sexes. This is so true. In Head Start we're working on a male involvement project. Some parents are planning activities that predominately involve men and children -- gardening, maybe fishing or camping, making things, etc. In our family literacy program we have some men as teachers, and it makes a big difference in allowing fathers to come in and feel like they can be part of our program. Our program is really geared toward women, just in the time of day we have it. I thought about that, but there are lots of classes in the evening already, and they are predominately men. So it's important to have something that meets the needs of women. Still, having some men involved enriches the program. There are tradeoffs no matter what we do (for example, in this case, it's trickier dealing with abuse issues if we see them, when the dad is also involved in the program). In the Hispanic community, at least with most of the families we work with, it seems the men are likely to be involved with their children to a greater extent than what I often see with Anglo families. It's really nice to see. We encourage men to be involved as much as they can -- even if they can only come to lunch with us once in a while, that's valuable. Some dads arrange their day off so they can come and participate in our program one day a week, and that's great for the family. Head Start is also doing a youth initiative project where teens from a local high school and from an Early Childhood Education center come to read to pre-school children. So far it is a huge success all around -- the pre-schoolers are thrilled with their mentors, and the teens are very proud of their young buddies. The little ones get books to take home. The cost to us is not all that high (it's covered by a grant), but the coordination of it all is very time-consuming. Still, the results seem to be worth it. I think this also addresses some of the many facets of family literacy. To me, family literacy is about an intergenerational exchange that builds on the strengths of everyone and multiplies the resources and learning experiences as a result. And so, yes, the literacy of young school-age African Americans has huge implications to family literacy in that community. We had a very eloquent address on that very subject at the National Even Start Association conference in Washington, D.C. I don't think anyone objected that that wasn't an appropriate topic for that conference. If family literacy isn't about children's experiences in school, I'm not sure what it's about. That is, there's much more to it than that, but literacy has to include that. What we see working with pre-school children is that experiences in the home starting at birth make a huge difference to later school experiences. That's why it's so important to work with parents and children -- the earlier the better. I've come to believe that 0-3 is maybe even more important than 3-4, though there's much less funding out there for that age group, and the emphasis is on the 3s, and even more, 4s to prepare them for kindergarten. But if you don't start early on, you miss huge opportunities to establish that relationship that includes rich literacy and education activities, and that builds an orientation for the parent to be actively involved in their child's education all the way up the line. -------------------------------------------------------------- Sylvan Rainwater . Family Literacy Coordinator Clackamas County Children's Commission / Head Start Oregon City, OR USA . mailto:sylvan@cccchs.org
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