The host and CEO of the Impact Achievement Learning Center Community Reading, Tamika Taylor, held the event at the Delray Beach Library on Feb. 3. The main topic of the event was to explore the transformative journey for young kids.
The 3 guest speakers, Felicia Smith, Derrick Hatch, and Megan West, went into different subjects such as dyslexia, the science of reading, and the connection between storytelling and literature.
Taylor set the reading in motion by presenting why the program started and what the goals she had for it.
Finishing with the opening of the reading, she introduced the first speaker, Felicia Smith.
Smith said she is a Dyslexia Therapist and owns the Rise Academy from TX and FL. During the speech, Smith talks with the audience about what she does and how she helps people with dyslexia.
“Today I would like to talk about the sciences of the brain and how I express that to child parents when I am working with them..” said Smith, “Physically, I am talking about dyslexia therapy and what therapy does to help the process.”
Smith proceeded to address why a dyslexic person would use their right brain more and claim that they are creative and problem solvers.
“ …when you’re dyslexic, you’re primarily only utilizing the right side of your brain for the majority of your activities. The right side of the brain is very creative, expansive, and very flowy.” she said, “…typically, that is why you are going to hear a dyslexic person describe their best qualities as creative, a problem solver, and an outside-the-box thinker.”
Right after Smith finished with her discussion, the 2nd speaker of the event, Derrick Hatch, went onto the stage.
Hatch is the founder of a program called All Things Narrative.
Hatch came up to the stage to speak about the importance of reading to children at a young age. He also explains what he does to help younger kids and how to understand them better.
“I am excited to talk to you about the memorizing power of storytelling and what that has to do with reading,” said Hatch.
He proceeds to go into information about himself and his teaching style for younger children to help them learn how to read.
“I started to realize in that class the love for reading can not be separated from the love for storytelling,” said Hatch
Concluding the gathering, Megan West went up as the last speaker.
West is the manager of educational partnerships at the Center for Collaborative Classroom. She chats about the sciences of reading and how exactly to use different techniques for children.
West said she would cover 3 topics during the event. “First, what is the science of reading? Second is why the science of reading is important now and why now?… Lastly, how we can help ALL students?”
She then demonstrated on slideshows different quotes to back up her opinion.
“I’d like to think we are all in the room today trying to prevent this problem,” said West, “We like to catch students before they fall into the water and we need to catch them upstream”
West then showed the audience through a slideshow of the map of SVR (simple view of reading).
“There are two components when it comes to reading,” Said Megan “First is decoding… Second, is Language comprehension”
Megan started using different explains of how she was working with students
a nonprofit brought sandwiches, fruits, and water for the guessed and speakers to eat. Student Adrianna Lizana, an early admission 12th grader brought homemade cookies and cupcakes to sell for a fundraiser.
Student Tamar Jackson, a 12 grader in the TV production, Was invited on stage by Tamika to speak about her journey throughout the years to get comfortable with reading.
“My Spanish she told me that I wasn’t smart enough so I kept it with me, and it impacted me negatively like my social life reading and reading and I wasn’t comforted by what she said”
Around 7 students came by to help Ms.Taylor get ready for the event that would be held inside the library. They went on to help her in the back answering questions the guest had.
