Colegio Madre Teresa provides free of charge quality education for children living in vulnerable contexts on the outskirts of Buenos Aires. Each year, 60 kindergarten students begin school with scarce literacy, a small vocabulary, and basic oral comprehension. This project aims at providing a personalized learning plan for each student; by building foundational skills so they can develop reading, writing, and language abilities that will allow them to continue a successful educational journey.
Every year we conduct a diagnostic evaluation to understand the starting point and development of each student entering kindergarten. This diagnosis showed that 43% of them are unable to engage in a conversation (comprehension and oral expression), 30% are unable to follow instructions -indicating challenges in activating cognitive processes such as memory, attention and reasoning-, and 67% do not have an age-appropriate vocabulary and are unable to comprehend and express their ideas.
The project aims to identify the reality of each student, understanding their individual performance, and develop better teaching interventions that will improve their learning outcomes. By being mindful of the complexities involved in supporting students from vulnerable contexts, we explore different strategies and support students by setting realistic, attainable, and gradual goals. This will enable them to start elementary school with foundational literacy skills.
Our students do not have access to a literacy-rich environment; on the contrary, they are surrounded by an environment lacking in interactions and vocabulary, with limited use of verbal communication for both dialogue and conflict resolution. Our main goal is that every student can start their educational journey with reading and writing skills that will allow them to thrive in their educational journey, and allow them to break with the cycle of poverty they were born in.
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