‘It takes a village to care for a child’....but it only takes one
person with a passion to galvanize that village.
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Monday. 8:15am. Augustana Campus, Alberta University. Camrose, Alberta. 1st week of July, 2009. A revolution is about to take place…
Buses keep bringing them. Wearing their bright yellow uniform. The few summer students present on Campus watched the buses unload with their mouths gaping.
73 grade 3 children. Wearing t-shirts spelling “Reading University” across their chest! A more than unusual deployment. But what brings them to the campus?
Back in their Grade 3 class, these children were part of the 30% of the class who have fallen below the standard reading level. At risk of not making it through high school! But, in four weeks, Reading University would create a miracle. Turning 73 children labelled as “potential losers” into 73 real winners.
How? Very simply. By incorporating the talents of the community! Assistants and Mentors. Teachers and Community Funding. Innovations that open up a new world in education.
And this self-image of being a winner starts developing even before the children begin classes: The wearing of the T-Shirt: Reading University. “Look Ma, I go to University!” The camaraderie in the bus where the bonding of being special among other ‘specials’ starts.
Free food. The children run from the bus into the Augustana campus cafeteria, just in time for their first breakfast at 8:30 am before classes begin. All through the 4 weeks: no limits to the amount they want to eat: breakfast, lunch and two snacks a day “You can’t have great scholars on empty stomachs!” Not to mention going into the kitchen behind the cafeteria during class to bake muffins.
A powerful message: The community believes in them.
Blain Fowler, publisher of the Camrose Booster, and highly respected community leader, had been galvanized to create Reading University by the Australian Report which had been circulated in the English speaking countries. The Report painted a bleak picture of the future of children with below grade 3 reading skills. Since all future learning skills are built on them these children would eventually drop out of high school. And everybody knows what the fallout would be: unemployment, mental health problems, crime, prison...
Blain mobilized three allies in the Camrose Community: The Battle River Community Foundation to fund 50%; the Battle River School Division to create the curriculum, provide teaching staff, busing as well as providing the remaining 50% of the funding; the University of Alberta to provide classroom space and access to their cafeteria. The parents would have no costs to shoulder. No transportation and no lunches. G r a t i s.
From conception of an idea to the children jumping off the bus – 4 months!
Innovations open up a new world in education. An adult/student ratio of....1.5!
By teaming up teachers with assistants from the Camrose community, Reading U creates a 1.5 student/adult ratio that enables the children to grow at their own pace.
The striking student/adult ratio is a key element to the success experienced. No longer the tyranny of one goal for all!
Learning at the student's own rate. The key that
unlocks the children's actual academic success at the camp.
And the confidence that it engenders cannot help but give a self-image of success to these children.
Blain Fowler, the pioneering force behind the creation of the Reading University, comments:
“Structure for the necessary formal instruction is typical of a normal classroom experience. However there is minimal structure at most other times. Everyone will be engaged in some sort of reading or writing activity but not know it. The process is beautiful to behold.”
The 1.5 teacher/ratio was just the beginning... Reading U. had a powerful secret weapon - a most innovative frame for learning and reading:
part 2
THE WEEKLY THEME.
BRING IN THE MENTORS FROM THE COMMUNITY!
Reading University brilliantly knocks down the walls between learning in the classroom and learning in the outside world. Mentors are brought in from the community to lead the learning in the outside world.
Weekly reading activities are defined by different themes and culminates in the adventure of the Field Trip, “The trips serve to tie the learning of the previous week together and give it purpose”, comments Blain.
A groundbreaking concept which creates a highly anticipated excitement of the ‘new’! Boredom replaced by the freewheeling joy usually reserved for the playground. Every week for four weeks!
Animal week,
Transportation week:
Drama Week....the possibilities are endless! And always changing, in accordance with new ideas and opportunities!
“My daughter can’t wait every morning for the school bus!”
Graduation is a glorious day. All the children deservedly graduate with honors.
After four weeks as Reading University Scholars, their reading has gone up 3-levels – the equivalent of one year. And some students 6-levels!
As their names are called out, each “graduate” proudly walks up onto the stage where the Dean of the University, dressed in full regalia, hands each one a certificate as the beaming parents and audience, clap wildly…right to the very end!
And all the people who have been instrumental in making this possible are there. All choked up with tears of joy, overwhelmed with the significance of what they have accomplished in changing the lives of these young graduates.
The acknowledgments flow in.
“There is no doubt in my daughter’s mind that when she is done Grade 12 she will go to Augustana University. She has even asked exactly how much money we have saved for University. What a goal for a little girl in grade three. We will nurture that goal every day of her life. I sincerely thank you. All the organizers, the financial supporters, all the staff and helpers.”
part 3
READING U. THE GIFT THAT KEEPS ON GIVING.
The gift that wasn't anticipated.
The children returned to their schools in the fall brimming with confidence, self esteem, and motivation, which they carried over into everything they did. A self-esteem and confidence which professional studies projects they will carry with them all through life.
“Last year at her Christmas concert, my daughter stood on the stage to sing her song with her fingernails in her mouth. This year she had one of the strongest voices, and was one of the best players! She also took part in the ChurchMice production Miracle on 34th street. Something I never dreamed she would want to do. Now she will take a book and lay on her bed or the couch and read. What a sight for a mom to see. A child wanting to read…. Simply WOW!!!!”
When it is possible to eliminate the pressure of one set of goals – one size fits all - and to unearth the genuine excitement which characterizes all learning, we have made true learning a part of the lives of each and every student.
Postscript:
Reading U in Camrose is now in its 10th year, including Grade 2 students. The Community Foundation has created a sizeable endowment fund to ensure it's continuity.
The Reading U concept has spread to other Alberta communities and keeps on spreading.
Reading University showed how the regular school system could be changed to produce winners by incorporating the talents within the community… assistants and mentors….without adding any extra cost!
