Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Motheread Program
It’s Graduation day! Fourteen young women – new mothers – will receive their certificate for completing Motheread, a Pima County Public Library GED-training program that is held all over Tucson, this time in Las Vistas neighborhood.
Motheread is designed, at this site, to support young mothers, many who have come from difficult situations, strengthen their literacy skills and confidence. Motheread groups are small and can become very close-knit, as new mothers support each other through a curriculum of learning and parental growth.
“By reading a book out loud in a group setting, the parents discuss viewpoints at how they perceive the book and how real life and reality connect,” said Motheread instructor Frederica Leonardo-Torres after the graduation. “The mothers also look at how they can interpret life skills for their child.” Leonardo-Torres coordinates and leads the Motheread/Fatheread program and is also a certified teacher in the South Tucson Library’s Youth Outreach Program.
Motheread is not only for mothers to attend, it is for families as well. One of the goals is for parents to be able to take what they learn so that they can educate their families and provide a foundation of literacy to support all future learning. Fifteen children were reached through their mothers attending this series.
Students in the Motheread Program are welcomed into a positive environment that allows them to feel comfortable and to share their experiences in a non-threatening setting. Frederica and Ella Gomez, Outreach Librarian who teaches for the Joel Valdez Library’s Youth Outreach Program, are positive role models who not only educate the parents on life skills for their children, but life skills for themselves.
During the book discussion, a student raised her hand and shared her connection to the book through her own life scenarios and how these books have taught her how to handle different situations she has faced.
“The Motheread curriculum is based on books that identify certain strengths even with any dysfunction that the family unit may be experiencing,” said Leonardo-Torres. “A collective writing, which supports the GED essays, helps these women express themselves on paper as well as in front of their peers in the class.”
Ella Gomez, who is a team leader with Leonardo-Torres, also promotes literacy in Tucson through the Pima County Main Library as part of the Youth Outreach Program.
Gomez says parents who have been through her class will tell her that she was the person who gave them their first book. “It is so important that they are given the books so that they have something to reflect on, Gomez said. “We are encouraging them to read to their child, but if they have never been read to, or do not have the materials to read to their child, then helping them create a library will get them started. Literacy is more than just acceptance, what you do know makes you stronger.”
During each session of the program the students will each be given a book, and at the end of the program the students receive all of their writings so they can start their own library.
To learn more about bringing the Motheread program to your community, please contact Federica Leonardo-Torres at 520-594-5418.
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Thank you for sharing this wonderful news, Frederica.
ReplyDeletePlease give my best to all the graduates and their families.
Sincerely,
Judi Moreillon, Author, Read to Me/Vamos a leer