As we have talked about the future of libraries, we have mentioned the need to be one of the organizations that the community thinks of when there is a problem or crisis within the community.  Throughout the Panhandle, there is a concern about our children's school readiness and literacy skills.  A childhood literacy program creates an opportunity to form partnerships with other community organizations and become more visible as a community asset.

Sharon Carter will be offering a series of workshops on early childhood literacy.  Sharon holds an MEd from WTAMU and is a recently retired educator with 32 years experience working with primary aged children. For the first 24 years of her career, she was a classroom teacher in kindergarten and second grade. In 1999, she was selected by her school district (Pampa ISD) to become a Literacy Coordinator. She received intensive training at Texas Tech University in Balanced Literacy and began to provide training and support to help K-2 teachers as they do the important job of helping all children learn to read and write. Although Sharon is no longer a full-time educator, she retains her passion for literacy instruction for all young children and is excited about working in conjunction with public libraries in the Texas Panhandle on that common goal.

The first workshop is scheduled for the spring of 2009 (TBA).  It is an introduction and overview of early childhood literacy needs and skills.  Regional workshops will also be held during the spring.  These workshops concentrate on developing literacy-based story hours for individual libraries and finding common ground that will help form partnerships with other local organizations.  Sharon also provides consulting with individual librarians.  She works with you to develop a series of individual literacy-based programs.  She also provides an example of a literacy-based program for caregivers and children in your library.