Parkview School Participants

Principal: Robin

Robin clearly positions herself as a leader for literacy for all her students and staff at Parkview School. In order to succeed in today's society, she believes that students must be able to access meaningful employment. Robin emphasizes that students need to understand the importance of staying in school and she takes every opportunity to give the message to not drop out of school, not only to her present students, but also to former students who may return to visit when they are in high school.

Robin created a program to promote literacy in both her students' homes and the school, modeled around a national environmental program. This literacy program has become the driving force behind a major initiative at her school. Robin's thirst for knowledge is closely aligned to her many practices that are reflected in the sorts of learning tasks she has set out in her school's literacy program and the encouragement and support that she provides to her staff. The tasks are highly practical, promoting students working with their families and giving credit for activities occurring outside of the school.

Even with limitations in financial and human resources, Robin shows that it is possible to make literacy learning meaningful, engaging and highly successful with very little cost. She aims to connect the content and processes to the lives of the students. During my observed classes, students brought a variety of literacy projects to school, completed either individually or with their families. When their project is finished they must document it on a page outlining the names of the participants and what was involved. This page is then added to one of the large white program binders in the office. The students who participate receive personal praise from the principal for the achievement of their project.