Changing the landscape of reading in Puerto Rico

Dear MRC Friends, 

During February, we celebrated the national Read Aloud Day on February 3rd. 

It has been proven that reading aloud to children helps them create interests in books and reading themselves. Adults can serve as models for this activity. The educational campaign done during the week of February 3rd consisted of 6 educational videos for teachers and parents as well as a live read aloud. The feedback from those who connected was very positive. 

MRC wants to share some of the experiences from the last few months and plans ahead:

• As part of read aloud we want parents and/or caregivers- We intend to foster parents and caregivers to take time to read to their children. Reading 15 minutes a day with your child can expose them to 83 thousand words in a month. Our brains are not born ready to learn to read. Just as you supported your child by lending a hand so they could walk. The reading brain needs you. READ to your child. TALK to your child about BOOKS. It will result in increased language skills; it will make a difference. 

• Coordinating new Teacher Training for Fall 2021- Due to the hurricanes, earthquakes and the pandemic, MRC has not dobe a Teacher Training in the last 2 years. We are excited to start planning the next one for the fall of 2021. We are searching for teachers interested in the program as well as scholarships for them.  

Teachers cannot give to their students what they do not possess (known as the “Peter Effect”). Every teacher, no matter the subject area, teaches reading. Therefore, teachers deserve to be well versed in the Science of Reading and its implications for literacy instruction; only then will they be equipped to address the literacy needs of their students. For such, we intend to do so during our certification program this way impacting more students. 

• New administrative structure. Even with the challenges at hand our organization has grown in initiatives in the past few years. For this reason, we have expanded our administrative structure and have created an academic director position. This will allow the academic director to focus on teachers, reading clinic and teacher training among others. While the executive director will focus on logistics, strategic planning and fundraising. 

• Webinars 
• Our first webinar this year was Motivation in Learning: Challenges Faced Now a Days; Dr. Patricia Landers, Clinical and School Psychologist discussed motivation as well as provided strategies for parents and teachers.
• Our next webinar in March will be on Social-Emotional Learning in school as students re integrate to their school campus and new routines need to be addressed. 

• Reading Clinic | The reading clinic continues providing one-on-one intervention services (virtually) despite the challenges of COVID. Our enrollment during the 2020-21 remains stable. Stories of success from students who received services uninterruptedly between January until June reveal an improvement.
• Summer Program| We have started planning our summer program sending surveys to parents and teachers. We will plan for virtual or on campus pending on the authorizations of school to use classrooms and they return to in class. We have a target of 30 students we wish to fullfill during this summer. 

 

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Attentively,

The MRC Team

Links:

• https://www.mrcpr.org/en/home/