By Emilie Hackett
Special to the Record
The Bishop’s University campus was home to the Joyful Literacy summit last week thanks to a Heritage Canada Grant awarded to the Eastern Townships School Board (ETSB). Over 60 teachers from the province’s nine English-language school boards attended several keynote speeches and workshops on Thursday and Friday May 30 and 31.
Dr. Janet Mort is the mastermind behind the Joyful Literacy project. After a fulfilling career in education as an elementary teacher, school principal, and superintendent of innovation in British Columbia, Mort went back to university in her late 50s to complete a PhD in language and literacy, where she studied the concepts that eventually became the premise for Joyful Literacy.
Joyful Literacy considers the self regulation and social emotional development of vulnerable readers and observes the foundational literacy skills and experiences to ensure that children reach grade level reading, all thanks to a play and inquiry-based classroom environment.
