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DENINU KU'E/FORT RESOLUTION - Bernice Odeen said she believes a new focus on literacy is making a big difference at Fort Resolution's Deninu school.

Odeen, who is in her seventh year at the school, took on the role of literacy coach last year.

Bernice Odeen is the literacy coach at Fort Resolution's Deninu school. - Paul Bickford/NNSL photo

"A literacy coach supports the teachers in all classrooms with ensuring the literacy needs of all students are met," she explained.

Odeen said as of last year, the South Slave is the only region in the NWT with literacy coaches in all schools.

The focus on literacy uses five major strategies - reading aloud, shared reading, guided reading, independent reading and "word work."

Odeen explained word work is based on research which shows students in the lower grades need help with high-frequency words.

"We have lists of words," she said, noting there are about 1,000 high-frequency words in the English language.

In the higher grades, she said 'word work' focuses on tricky words, such as their, they're and there.

Odeen said before the renewed focus on literacy, teachers would learn about reading and comprehension strategies at in-service conferences and would implement them but would not explain the concepts to students because it was not believed they would understand them.

Now, the concepts are explained to students and they are incorporating the terminology into their learning.

Odeen said one kindergarten student told a teacher last year she was "activating background knowledge" by seeing pictures in her mind.

The literacy coach said a Grade 2 student told her one story reminded her of another story.

"I was reading to her and all of a sudden she said, 'I made a text-to-text connection,'" Odeen recalled.

She said the literacy strategy is to help students not just to read words, but to better understand what they're reading.

"It's asking them to think about their texts and what they're reading," she said.

Odeen said when she first arrived at Deninu school, she would often see a student pick up a book, flip through it and put it down during reading time. Now, she sees students sitting down reading novels.

"I'm really excited because when I first came here, the students were not excited about reading," she said.

Odeen said she has seen improvements at Deninu school and noted there was a six per cent increase in reading levels over the course of last year in all schools under the South Slave Divisional Education Council.

"I know I can see the improvement," she said, noting most students have gained a grade year in their reading ability and some gained more than a year.

"If you talk to the teachers, they're always impressed by how much the kids love to read," she added. "It's not a chore. It's something they like to do."

Odeen, a 54-year-old originally from Barrhead, Alta., has been working in education for about 18 years.

She initially worked as a teacher at Deninu school and then became a program support person before becoming the literacy coach last year.

She also fills in as acting principal when the principal - her husband, Moh Odeen - is away from the school.

Odeen and her husband had planned to leave Fort Resolution at the end of the last school year, but returned for another year.

She and her husband have an emotional attachment to Deninu School, she said.

"I don't think we ever stop talking about the school."