Nootka elementary School project.
It is always gratifying to receive positive feedback from those whom we endeavor to assist, and today we welcomed Monika and Tyson from Nootka Elementary School. For some years the Club has been providing monies to the school to assist in its Learning Assistance program, and to this point has sent some $51,000 (part of which was a benefactor’s individual donation) to provide material assistance to an immensely necessary benefit to children who struggle with words and structured tuition.
Monika is the school principal, and after an expression of thanks to the Club, she introduced Tyson, the architect and engineer of the ‘course’. He, obviously an enthusiastic and motivated teacher, described how the LAP for grades 3 to 11 actually operates and utilizes the funds that are received. He has generally been involved in these activities for 17 years and part of his dedication is shown by his regime of arising at 4am to prepare individual instruction for each pupil, the target being the obverse of the usual technique of only getting into action on the ‘wait to fail’ basis : this, as he said, is entirely the wrong way around for providing such assistance. Virtually all of his pupils go on to graduate, a target which initially many would not believe to be possible. These are often students whom he characterized as ‘angry and frustrated’, in part because of a complete inability to read by the time they reach grade 4. They are not, he emphasized, of low intelligence, it being a blockage of some sort that is holding back the learning process. It is his job to break that intellectual logjam, which is why his skills are so individualized.
We were shown two brief films that his students created and in which they appeared. The first, entitled “Welcome to Thrive” was a moving demonstration of practical biodiversity, and indeed of practical film-making : an opportunity to observe a wise-looking barn owl was grasped when it unexpectedly appeared outside the school. It presented a powerful image. The second film was in reality a thanks for the Club’s having provided so much assistance. We were shown some examples of demonstrative mathematics teaching, an example of assistance that could not have been effected without the help of Rotary.
The world’s learning problems are, it would seem, profound. Of all children, Tyson said, 20% are illiterate, and of the balance, 20% are functionally illiterate. These are sobering thoughts.
Monika is the school principal, and after an expression of thanks to the Club, she introduced Tyson, the architect and engineer of the ‘course’. He, obviously an enthusiastic and motivated teacher, described how the LAP for grades 3 to 11 actually operates and utilizes the funds that are received. He has generally been involved in these activities for 17 years and part of his dedication is shown by his regime of arising at 4am to prepare individual instruction for each pupil, the target being the obverse of the usual technique of only getting into action on the ‘wait to fail’ basis : this, as he said, is entirely the wrong way around for providing such assistance. Virtually all of his pupils go on to graduate, a target which initially many would not believe to be possible. These are often students whom he characterized as ‘angry and frustrated’, in part because of a complete inability to read by the time they reach grade 4. They are not, he emphasized, of low intelligence, it being a blockage of some sort that is holding back the learning process. It is his job to break that intellectual logjam, which is why his skills are so individualized.
We were shown two brief films that his students created and in which they appeared. The first, entitled “Welcome to Thrive” was a moving demonstration of practical biodiversity, and indeed of practical film-making : an opportunity to observe a wise-looking barn owl was grasped when it unexpectedly appeared outside the school. It presented a powerful image. The second film was in reality a thanks for the Club’s having provided so much assistance. We were shown some examples of demonstrative mathematics teaching, an example of assistance that could not have been effected without the help of Rotary.
The world’s learning problems are, it would seem, profound. Of all children, Tyson said, 20% are illiterate, and of the balance, 20% are functionally illiterate. These are sobering thoughts.
