The Community Learning Centre provides learners with positive reinforcement. It honours the achievements of all its learners in various ways, instead of singling out only a few learners, or focusing only on academic achievement. During the year, learners receive monthly awards for perfect attendance, for example. At the end of each academic year, at a special celebration of learning, all learners receive individualized certificates that acknowledge their unique personal strengths or assets. The program also publishes learners’ writing in the community newsletter, or on the NWT Literacy Council’s online literacy newspaper, The Northern Edge, another way of honouring learners. Student writing has also been published in The Hub, the Hay River local newspaper, and shared with local organizations. For example the Drug and Alcohol program has distributed copies of an ALBE learner’s paper on cocaine abuse. As well, staff use good writing, with the author’s permission, to instruct others, thereby honouring the author and inspiring the others.

Best Practice #6: Learning Materials

Learners have access to a broad variety of learning materials in different formats; for example, the program uses multimedia instructional tools, such as AlphaRoute, an online learning environment, and Academy of Reading, a computer-assisted reading and assessment program. Textbooks include the Sightlines series, Inside Stories, the Connections series, the Mathpower series and a variety of northern content or Aboriginal literature. Samples of learners’ writing are used to instruct other learners. As well, newspaper, magazine and Internet articles with current and high-interest content have been very useful. The program also uses a variety of supplementary learning materials, such as The Spelling Toolbox, LitKit, Lessons in Writing Sentences, Vocabulary Drills, Writing Out Loud, More Writing Out Loud. Learners especially like the theme units in Aurora College’s LitKit.