The results were so positive that ICCS is using the program for all students for the 2022-2023 school year! Listen to what the ICCS teacher has to say about her experience with the program.
Nic Antoine, Superintendent
I'm here with Ms. Deidra Seymour, our Readable English teacher. And she has been with Immaculate Conception for six years and in the diocese since 2005. Ms. Seymour, tell me about the evolution of student reading here at Immaculate Conception, especially integrating such items as an accelerated reader for the students beginning in preschool.
Diedre Seymore, Middle School Teacher
We have an accelerated reader that we use for our students beginning in kindergarten. We set individual goals for each student each quarter of the school year. It's exciting for us when they achieve those goals! As we move on, we expand their goals each semester for the AR.
We were using Readable English in the fifth and eighth grades as well. We still read books here! We don't just read excerpts; we read the entire book. Right now, we're reading a class story in the fifth grade. So, the kids have independent reading and class reading. For our struggling readers, we're using Readable English, a program we are piloting in the Mid-South.
Readable English is a glyph-based innovative program with 21 glyphs. The students learn them and the glyphs make a sound. And so when you convert any reading to Readable English, it helps the students read, helps them decode, and helps them with their fluency.
Nic Antoine
So Ms. Seymour, tell me about the students who might not have English as their primary language or struggle with English fluency. How does Readable English help them?
Diedre Seymore
I stay after school with the middle school students a few days a week and help them learn Readable English. Because right now, since we're piloting it, we're learning it from the younger students all the way through middle school. I have some students in the older grades where we have a few key students; maybe they're English learners or students who struggle with a learning disability. And they can take a few minutes out of the day at the end of the day, and we really hone in on Readable English.
Nic Antoine
I can't thank you enough for your dedication and for taking your own private time to help students who have that need, but it's obvious Immaculate Conception Catholic School is the place to be. Wouldn't you say?
Diedre Seymore
I would say so. Absolutely!
