Embedded Files
Literacy Project
Phase 1
Identifying obstacles
To have an overview of the teachers’ needs, a form was sent to professionals teaching across the 9 English school boards of the Province of Québec. Thirty-four teachers participated in this online survey. The results show that close to 85% of the teachers observe students struggle when reading, writing, speaking or understanding English, while almost 45% of the teachers noticed the same type of problems in French. As for numeracy, almost 45% of the teachers have noticed students struggle with mathematical concepts. Finally, 15% of the participants have remarked students encountering problems to understand concepts and acquire vocabulary.
To break down this survey, fourteen Health professionals teaching the Health, Assistance and Nursing Program and/or the Institutional and Home Care Assistance Program participated in the survey, encountering problems as it follows:
Other twenty professionals teaching the Accounting Program and/or the Secretarial Studies Program took part in the survey, noticing the following problems:
Participants also named some specific modules or competencies they encounter to be difficult for their students. The problems observed differ from center to center, but some of them repeat, i.e. organizational problems among students and retention and concentration difficulties.
Although needs over the vocational training centers in the province are different, some demands repeat. Teachers believe that a language test should be a prerequisite to join the different programs. They also believe that the number of teaching hours in the different modules should be reviewed, as well as the weighing in some evaluations.
Different educational consultants, head department teachers and other professionals were met in order to know the different realities and needs in the vocational training centers across the province who offer one or more of the studied programs.
To continue identifying needs, teachers were contacted and asked to answer a second form. Different points were addressed in this last survey. Teachers were asked, among other questions, about the strategies and tools already in place in their classes, professional support offered in their centers, material used and desired workshops for professional development.
A total of 26 teachers participated on the second form. Answers show different tools or strategies used by teachers among the English school boards. Different learning management systems (LMS) are used not only for online teaching, but to reinforce study, such as videos, PPTs and other documents developed by teachers. Different language learning sites are offered to students in some centers, as well as language courses in person or online. It was important to know the type of strategies teachers use and tools offered to students to have a portrait of the needs around the school boards.
As for professional support, it varies among the different centers and school boards. Teachers count with different personnel to help, such as guidance counselors, specialists and tutors. Some teachers state having appropriate support at their centers, while others are in need of the right guidance to help struggling students achieve their goals. It was important to know the type support teachers have in their centers to have a portrait of the help they get with struggling students and the help that can be provided.
Depending on the center and class, teachers find themselves working alone or with a big group of professionals around. Teachers working alone had questions about the material used in other centers. To address the question, a list of the material used around the different boards has been created and shared with teachers. It is important to mention that a big number of teachers create their own material and are willing to share with others. Creating a sharing platform will be one o the projects to come. This was important to address not only because of teachers’ questions, but to foresee a solution to teachers’ time investment. If teachers have a bank of material to use, they will spend less time looking for it and more time will be invested in supporting struggling students.
As for professional development, teachers are interested in knowing more about literacy strategies and tools to use in class. They have asked for concrete and pertinent examples to help students. Among other needs, classroom management, language support for students and teaching techniques were named. It is important to notice that some teachers state not having time to attend workshops. This will have to be addressed. It was important to know if teachers are willing to take workshops and invest time in their professional development in order to prepare meaningful workshops.
Phase 2
Develop strategies, teaching methods and tools to be used in class and in Individual Educational Plans.
One of the biggest challenges teachers encounter is reading comprehension among their students. Reading comprehension is a basic and needed competency in the four vocational programs targeted in this project.
Different ready to use active reading activities have been developed to be used by the teacher in class (online or in person). The strategies are:
Modeling how to annotate and take notes will show students how to do active reading and improve their reading skills. By using a text to speech tool, students will improve their vocabulary and spelling.
It is important for teachers to use one or more of these strategies early in the program, not only to help all students, but to be able to identify those who continue to struggle despite the use of the strategies. If students continue having difficulties with reading comprehension, an intervention by a professional (pedagogical consultant, counselor, specialist, tutor, etc.) would be necessary to support the teacher and help the student succeed.
Please see STRATEGIES AND TOOLS for a description of the material developed.
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