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Assists teachers by providing individual attention and literacy support to children struggling to read.
Builds children’s self-esteem & reading skills.
Provides role models & underscores the place of schools in the community.
A professional, trained and motivated volunteer base.
“Individual attention. I think that’s one of the most valuable things. As a teacher we can never give time one to one with each child. They are really at the stage where they need the one to one attention.” Teacher
“They loved it. They love their buddies. It’s really good to see them get excited about reading. Mine are all boys so it’s quite hard to get them motivated. Knowing that they had their buddy coming, they were always excited. They’d go and get a book.” Teacher
Reading for Life is designed to achieve positive results for schools by supporting them as they try to cater for the diverse range of learning needs of children.
Providing children who have difficulty learning with individual attention and literacy support is not easy for teachers given the size of classes. Reading for Life’s goal is to add value to schools by providing a targeted resource for a group of students in need who in all likelihood may not access individual literacy support.
Specifically, the goals for schools and children are to:
- increase children’s reading skills;
- build children’s self-esteem and aspirations;
- provide children with positive role models from business and organisations; and
- underscore the place of schools within the wider community.
Feedback from teachers and principals involved in Reading for Life reveals that they:
- perceive the intervention material and process as professional and of great educational value;
- were especially appreciative of the one-to-one support offered to these children as the schools were unable to provide this resource;
- believed the children enjoyed the program and this was an essential part of its success;
- witnessed improvements in children’s reading skills, approach to learning and self-confidence; and
- were impressed by the professionalism and friendliness of the volunteers.
The value for schools and education departments extends well beyond the program and primary school.
The effects of poor self-esteem and learning difficulties on children’s behaviour are widely known and the flow-on effect of improvements in children’s self-esteem and ability to learn in the classroom cannot be under-estimated.
Improvements in children’s reading skills, approach to learning and self-confidence will have enormous benefits in the future as children progress to secondary school and into the workforce.
“Prior to them going on the program they were getting bored and restless, but now when we go to the library, they get out then chapter books and they are all into it. I’ve noticed a change in attitude about reading. They want to read in class and when it’s silent reading time they’re actually reading as opposed to mucking around and looking at the pictures.”
Teacher
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