I did not only learn wit the WLF but practiced what I have learned. YAP - Youth Ambassador Program
I remember clearly it was during Covid 19 and it was my birthday, we were writing my exam and I had my last paper for the penultimate year the next day and suddenly I hear federal school had to go on strike coupled with the fact that federal government declared state of emergency in the country. It was unexpected, not planned, and it was like someone poured a bucket of water all over me. It was the longest holiday of my life, and it was one of the most valuable moments I had with myself and my family.
I mean someone would say it was one of the worst moments of their time who would blame them definitely not me. You know, it was the first time I realized what graduate means when they say “prepare yourself for life after school”, and that was exactly what I did. I was curious about Education. One of the triggers was the fact that I grew up in the Ghetto side of Lagos or like some people could call it Ajegunle. It was tough in that area, you see and you must act blind and you hear sometimes, and you must act deaf.
It was a tough time, and I was determined to be different, I will make something of myself by giving out value, being someone of value and staying valuable and what other ways to do that than plan. And plan I did. The internet was my friend, so I took my time researching and I came across the World Literacy Ambassador Program.
At that time, when I came across it, I was skeptical but not paying heed to your mind sometimes pays so. I went ahead to register for it, and it was a wonderful opportunity for me because, at that time, I had apply for YALI West Africa program too with a long application process, so it was fifty fifty for me.
You know that saying ‘do not put all your egg in one basket’ and that was exactly what I did. I was positive, taking my time to learn other things online like Amazon kindle publishing and finally that day the mail came in and I was accepted not just one, but both application process.
I did not only learn with the WLF but practiced what I have learned. There were various meetings online, content and classes held, and it was impactful. I remember during those times we educated the public about the importance of education, why they should value education, the number of out of children in school and how they can contribute their quota.
I was glad that I was one of the Ambassador for one of the united nation sustainability goals which was quality education. I realize everyone deserves quality education, no matter the individual. Who told you education was a scam? Then that individual has not experienced the kind of life changing opportunity education does.
As an ambassador I created content on social media, creating awareness and posting consistently during that period. So, during that period, I learned, unlearned and relearned and eventually the program came to an end and I got my certificate and it was time for me to make good use of what we have been thought in an impactful and organizing way.
So, after that I joined an organization called JCI it stands for junior chamber international, and I decided to take more responsibility and I applied for the position of Executive secretary and then Vice president and I was fortunate to get involved in a project.
The project was titled ‘Back To School’ it was an opportunity to gift the less privilege children school back, note back and uniform not only that but give the little one something to smile about. It was held in kwara state , and the process of the project was a long one starting from Fundraising, partners ,Team work and finally it was a wrap.
So, one thing I tell myself is this ‘you may have a long way going but you’ve had a long way coming too so you are not stopping anytime soon, not because you are where you want yet but because you are a step away from where you want to be.’ So, I keep learning, taking classes, daring myself to do better gaining knowledge and networking with the right set of people.
Recently I became an ALX Virtual Assistant Honor Graduate, Graduate from Leap Africa Leadership and advocacy program and I started my Substack personal development newsletter, and I am not stopping anytime soon.
So here is my question what are you doing currently?
Author: Mariam Isiaka
Country: Nigeria
Age: 23
How Does Writing Fit Into the ‘Science of Reading’?
How Does Writing Fit Into the ‘Science of Reading’?
Tower of Babel
A life Tower of Babel experiencehttps://worldliteracyfoundation.org/ How Does Writing Fit Into the ‘Science of Reading’?
Tower of Babel
read and write
In one sense, the national conversation about what it will take to make sure all children become strong readers has been wildly successful: States are passing legislation supporting evidence-based teaching approaches, and school districts are rushing to supply training. Publishers are under pressure to drop older materials. And for the first time in years, an instructional issue—reading—is headlining education media coverage. In the middle of all that, though, the focus on the “science of reading” has elided its twin component in literacy instruction: writing. Writing is intrinsically important for all students to learn—after all, it is the primary way beyond speech that humans communicate. But more than that, research suggests that teaching students to write in an integrated fashion with reading is not only efficient, it’s effective. Yet writing is often underplayed in the elementary grades. Too often, it is separated from schools’ reading block. Writing is not assessed as frequently as reading, and principals, worried about reading-exam scores, direct teachers to focus on one often at the expense of the other. Finally, beyond the English/language arts block, kids often aren’t asked to do much writing in early grades.
“Sometimes, in an early-literacy classroom, you’ll hear a teacher say, ‘It’s time to pick up your pencils,’” said Wiley Blevins, an author and literacy consultant who provides training in schools. “But your pencils should be in your hand almost the entire morning.”
Strikingly, many of the critiques that reading researchers have made against the “balanced literacy” approach that has held sway in schools for decades could equally apply to writing instruction: Foundational writing skills—like phonics and language structure—have not generally been taught systematically or explicitly. And like the “find the main idea” strategies commonly taught in reading comprehension, writing instruction has tended to focus on content-neutral tasks, rather than deepening students’ connections to the content they learn.
Education Week wants to bring more attention to these connections in the stories that make up this special collection. But first, we want to delve deeper into the case for including writing in every step of the elementary curriculum. Why has writing been missing from the reading conversation? Much like the body of knowledge on how children learn to read words, it is also settled science that reading and writing draw on shared knowledge, even though they have traditionally been segmented in instruction.
“The body of research is substantial in both number of studies and quality of studies. There’s no question that reading and writing share a lot of real estate, they depend on a lot of the same knowledge and skills,” said Timothy Shanahan, an emeritus professor of education at the University of Illinois Chicago. “Pick your spot: text structure, vocabulary, sound-symbol relationships, ‘world knowledge.’” The reasons for the bifurcation in reading and writing are legion. One is that the two fields have typically been studied separately. (Researchers studying writing usually didn’t examine whether a writing intervention, for instance, also aided students’ reading abilities—and vice versa.) Some scholars also finger the dominance of the federally commissioned National Reading Panel report, which in 2000 outlined key instructional components of learning to read. The review didn’t examine the connection of writing to reading. Looking even further back yields insights, too. Penmanship and spelling were historically the only parts of writing that were taught, and when writing reappeared in the latter half of the 20th century, it tended to focus on “process writing,” emphasizing personal experience and story generation over other genres. Only when the Common Core State Standards appeared in 2010 did the emphasis shift to writing about nonfiction texts and across subjects—the idea that students should be writing about what they’ve learned.