Tales from a Dilly Bag
--A Literacy Month article submitted by Dir. Maree--
Rotary Partners with another International Organization, the International Reading Association to promote Literacy at the Community and International Level.
The project supports young indigenous students and their classmates as they develop emergent literacy skills. A “dilly bag kit” comes with 55 picture storybooks, craft materials, activity sheets to go with the stories, scrapbooks, a digital camera, and a teacher’s folder donated by a Rotary club to a kindergarten or school where indigenous Australian children are enrolled. A practical resource, the dilly bag kit provides younger students with enhanced opportunities for listening to stories, discussing them with older student mentors, and working together on creative responses to the literature.
A research scholarship awarded by the Australian Literacy Educators’ Association (ALEA) for 2009–2010 provided an opportunity for a class teacher to work with a university partner to investigate how young indigenous students and older student reading mentors engaged with the dilly bag stories in a school setting.
Researchers found that the older student reading mentors reflected deeply on their responsibilities as mentors and clearly saw themselves as role models for younger students. The younger students also enjoyed the story-sharing experience and developed emergent literacy skills. Closer social relationships between the older and younger students were observed both during the mentoring sessions and on the playground.
For further information about the Tales From a Dilly Bag project contact Janelle Young, jyoung14@gmail.com" October 2010, Reading Today, 28(2), 9.