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1. Teachers are not acquainted with international children’s literature and are not trained to implement reading promotion activities. They consider reading a valuable, but non-essential activity. Changes in teachers’ perceptions after the training indicated teachers awareness of their shortcomings. Specifically, they recognized that they had been unaware of the richness of important topics which could be selected for discussion from good books, the potential richness of a range of activities and the extensive benefit, in language skills or values offered through these activities. 2. Teachers lack the necessary skills to design creative and personal activities with their students. Untrained teachers, when asked to design activities with a book, usually limit this activity to asking the children direct questions related to the morale of the story. Books are still directly linked with studying and memorizing. Often teachers don’t even imagine that a book could be the source of creative activity. 3. In time of crisis, during closures and school closures, children who are not readers are less able to develop their learning and life skills. Readers have better developed the mental operations involved in the reading process, such as imaging, linking, empathizing, speculating, predicting, evaluating, critical analysis, contemplating and comprehension than non-readers, and these mental operations are the natural pre-requsite for any learning process. 4. In time of crisis, teachers lack the skills and supportive material (stories dealing with similar issues and situations) that allow them to raise issues that trouble their children, like the death of beloved ones, dealing with “the other”, poverty…. 5. It is more difficult to achieve high standards of literacy which are attained through creative reading, in non-readers. 6. Children who are not readers lack the opportunity to identify themselves with different aspects of diversity, and diverse situations, and to accept the “other”. 7. The need to read children’s literature is not yet recognized; some parents still believe that reading means studying school manuals. 8. Children’s needs and tastes concerning books are not defined or respected. Books are usually chosen according to educator’s values and criteria. Children are only encouraged to read books that preach or have a direct moral message, rather than those which develop creativity or critical skills. 9. The absence or limited availability of school libraries led to the absence of story and literature reading activities in schools, and also led to a community of poor readers. 10. There is a dramatic lack of books in Palestinian society. Despite extensive efforts and the development of 60 libraries by MOC, books are not yet adequately available to all Palestinian children 11. There is a vicious circle between the lack of readers and a lack of high quality books in the Palestinian market, which in turn makes it difficult to create spontaneous readers. 12. Kindergartens and school budgets cannot cover all needs of developing libraries, and activities related to books. Overall goal: · Reading Children.
. * Develop creativity, life skills and positive values and attitudes in our children . *Develop the human resources in the educational system *Improve the learning environment . *Develop community awareness of the importance of reading.
- Develop children’s Palestinian identity as well as their identity as children of the world - Enhance the development of positive values and life skills in Palestinian children (particularly creativity, tolerance, democratic and respectful discussions on differences of opinion, effectiveness in teaching the mother tongue, comprehension and criticism, broadening of mental and educational horizons and dealing with diversity) - Encourage reading - Improve teachers skills - Improve the learning environment - Develop an integrative approach to teaching through children’s literature - Develop decentralization of educational activities and decisions. - Develop the local community’s participation in activities concerning reading promotion and providing books. Teachers, supervisors and head masters: Language, classroom and social studies teachers in public schools in Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), and related supervisors will be targeted in the first stage. Science teachers will also be targeted in a second stage. Arabic teachers in other countries are also possible targets of this project.
StudentsChildren between grades 1-10; all the boys and girls in the MOEHE schools of OPT. At many occasions (Children’s Conference in Gaza 1995, Meryland Hotel Conference 1998 about Children’s Rights, Symposium on Child Rights at al Bireh 1995) children have expressed their need for attractive and available books, and the importance of reading. But great numbers of children are very poor readers. Experience has shown that reading is not a spontaneous reflex, but needs to be encouraged and taught. The survey conducted by the Tamer Institute on reading habits indicated that children consider reading a positive action and something to be proud of. Concerning the choice of the books and the level of designed activities, this project considers three age groups in the student population. - First: 1st grade to 4th grade - Second: 5th grade to 7th grade - Third : 8th grade to 10th grade Parents/Local Community Many of the activities children experience through children books facilitate the organization of exhibits, festivals, class magazines…. Activities which require the presence of parents and the local community. These activities will raise the interaction between schools and parents and help parents realize that through reading, critical life skills are developed. Parents will be targeted to enrich school libraries. |
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