- 注册
- 2002-10-07
- 消息
- 402,219
- 荣誉分数
- 76
- 声望点数
- 0
Even sitting down, Ottawa police Const. Darren Joseph towered over the group of Grade 3 and 4 students listening to him attentively.
But he wasn’t there to lecture the children about their behaviour – he was reading to them from a book called “InvisiBill,” which they loved.
“I like the message because it taught me that everyone has to have equal attention,” said Semah Abdulkader, a Grade 3 student.
Joseph visited the Severn Avenue Public School classroom Friday morning as part of a partnership between the Ottawa police and OttawaReads, a read-aloud program that promotes reading for pleasure to help young children develop strong literacy skills.
Joseph, who’s been a school resource officer with Severn since January, said it’s “always tough” to get children nowadays to pick up a book.
“Especially with social media and technology now, there’s lots of video games and things like that to occupy their time,” Joseph said.
But OttawaReads is facing another problem. Volunteer director Lee-Ann Scott said the program is struggling to recruit enough volunteers to meet demand. She said OttawaReads had almost 500 volunteers following its launch in 2003 but that number has decreased dramatically over time.
“Business were giving their employees time off during the day to volunteer but because the work environment has changed so much in the past few years, we now just have over 100 volunteers,” she said.
Scott said the program also lacks male volunteers; 75 per cent of volunteers are female.
“It’s so important that we get men volunteering because they’re modeling that reading is cool to the boys,” she said.
Lyndsey Jones, who teaches the class Joseph visited Friday, said she agrees it’s important for there to be a gender balance in students’ role models and she’s pleased to have Joseph visit her classroom.
“He’s a big guy and he’s got this big voice and a commanding presence,” Jones said. “I think it’s neat for the kids to see this influential officer who’s having an impact in their community.”
The program currently has volunteers reading at eighteen schools within the Ottawa-Carleton District School board and there are six schools on the waitlist.
OttawaReads accepts volunteers over the age of 18 from both the corporate and public sectors.
Joseph — who grew up in Ottawa and was a well-known and popular player for 13 seasons in the Canadian Football League, including stints with the hometown Rough Riders and Renegades — said he’s happy he has the opportunity to show young students how fun reading can be.
“When you read a book, it takes you into another world,” he said.
“That’s what I love about reading to my kids.”
查看原文...
But he wasn’t there to lecture the children about their behaviour – he was reading to them from a book called “InvisiBill,” which they loved.
“I like the message because it taught me that everyone has to have equal attention,” said Semah Abdulkader, a Grade 3 student.
Joseph visited the Severn Avenue Public School classroom Friday morning as part of a partnership between the Ottawa police and OttawaReads, a read-aloud program that promotes reading for pleasure to help young children develop strong literacy skills.
Joseph, who’s been a school resource officer with Severn since January, said it’s “always tough” to get children nowadays to pick up a book.
“Especially with social media and technology now, there’s lots of video games and things like that to occupy their time,” Joseph said.
But OttawaReads is facing another problem. Volunteer director Lee-Ann Scott said the program is struggling to recruit enough volunteers to meet demand. She said OttawaReads had almost 500 volunteers following its launch in 2003 but that number has decreased dramatically over time.
“Business were giving their employees time off during the day to volunteer but because the work environment has changed so much in the past few years, we now just have over 100 volunteers,” she said.
Scott said the program also lacks male volunteers; 75 per cent of volunteers are female.
“It’s so important that we get men volunteering because they’re modeling that reading is cool to the boys,” she said.
Lyndsey Jones, who teaches the class Joseph visited Friday, said she agrees it’s important for there to be a gender balance in students’ role models and she’s pleased to have Joseph visit her classroom.
“He’s a big guy and he’s got this big voice and a commanding presence,” Jones said. “I think it’s neat for the kids to see this influential officer who’s having an impact in their community.”
The program currently has volunteers reading at eighteen schools within the Ottawa-Carleton District School board and there are six schools on the waitlist.
OttawaReads accepts volunteers over the age of 18 from both the corporate and public sectors.
Joseph — who grew up in Ottawa and was a well-known and popular player for 13 seasons in the Canadian Football League, including stints with the hometown Rough Riders and Renegades — said he’s happy he has the opportunity to show young students how fun reading can be.
“When you read a book, it takes you into another world,” he said.
“That’s what I love about reading to my kids.”
查看原文...
