Primary Education Support Project

LitKids Competition 2004

The Role of LitKids

The LitKids competition is a support activity to the literacy sub-component of the Primary Education Support Project (PESP). This project, through the Ministry of Education, Youth and Culture (MOEYC), used the competition strategy to stimulate interest in the acquisition of literacy skills by children in Grades 1 to 3.

This year the competition was opened to students of Grade Two in primary and preparatory schools island wide. The competition activity was designed to secure involvement and to showcase the talents of Grade two students who were encouraged to participate.

Objectives

The objectives of this year’s competition were:
• To promote and support the PESP Literacy Intervention Strategy
• To stimulate an interest in the acquisition of literacy skills among children in Grade2
• To garner public support for the literacy initiatives being implemented by the MOEYC through PESP.

The competition

The competition commenced on Tuesday, June 1, 2004 and closed on Wednesday, June 30, 2004. The given task was in keeping with themes and content stated in the Revised Primary Curriculum. It was based on the entrant’s ability to read, write, and interpret and to express himself/herself through illustration. The instruction to the competitors is shown below.

All Grade 2 students are invited to enter the LitKids competition by doing this activity.
Here is a picture with a story entitled “When it Rains”.
1. Look carefully at the picture.
2. Read what is written about it.
3. Now write your own story about what happens when it rains. Make your story ten (10) sentences or more. Start your story with “When it rains, I………..”
4. Then draw and colour a picture to show what happens when it rains.

The response

All regions participated in the competition. The following reflects the number of schools that entered from each region.

Region Number of schools Number of pieces

The Judges’ report

The following report is presented in fulfilment of the assignment given to the team of judges to identify the winning LitKids entries at both the regional and national levels.

The judging of the competition took place on December 1 & 2, 2004 in the auditorium and the library at the Caenwood complex. Entries from the six regions were carefully viewed and evaluated by the panel of judges that included.
The members of the judging panel were:
• Mrs. Beverley Harris, Literacy Specialist, Caribbean Centre of Excellence for Teacher Training, Mico Teachers’ college.

• Dr. Clement Lambert, Lecturer, Literacy Studies, UWI

• Mr. Ewan Peart, Head of Visual Arts Division, Mico Teachers’ College

• Mrs. Ann Marie Hall, Education Officer and Trained Visual Arts Educator presently engaged in literacy research

• Miss Beatrice Wilson, Mathematics Specialist, New Horizons Project

• Mrs. Faith Livingstone, Culture Division

• Mrs. Evene Bell, Vice Principal, John Mills Primary and Junior High School

• Mrs. Sonia Dobson-Walters, Quality Assurance Officer, PESP

• Mrs. Dolsie Townsend, Literacy Materials Development Officer, PESP

Mrs. Beverley Harris was nominated Chief Judge for the exercise.

The Judging Process

The judging exercise included the following activities:

1. Auditing of the entries according to regions of the MOEYC
2. Establishing parity among judges to ensure commonality in the marking pattern
3. Conducting of a pre-selection process to shortlist the qualified pieces
4. Judging of the pieces by region to select the best three pieces from each region
5. Selection of three national winners

Criteria for judging

The scoring guidelines were as follows:
• Understanding and interpreting the activity
• Use of Standard Jamaican English Language structure
• Relevance of drawing/illustration to the topic

Overall features of the Competition

Quality of writing
The Grade Two students across the regions produced a similar quality of writing in the texts they produced. The sentences produced reflected their growing awareness of Standard Jamaican English.

Strengths
The following are identified as strengths in the entries that were judged:

1. There was a range of literacy competencies that were on display - these ranged from manifestations of different levels along the continuum of emergent writers - some students used paragraphing to varying levels of correctness while others did not.

2. Candidates’ language was largely childlike with minimal evidence of adult interference. The rainy day experiences documented largely seemed typical of childhood experiences across different geographical landscapes of Jamaica.

3. The artwork was colourful and creative. The judges with little expertise in child art sometimes found it necessary to consult with the Art expert in order to verify whether a Grade Two student was capable of some of the artistic creations.

4. Students were able to produce different genres of writing ranging from descriptive pieces, which appealed to sensory details, to narrative pieces that highlighted unforgettable events on rainy days. While the stimulus piece called was largely descriptive, students seemed to think outside the box and used it merely as a catalyst for their own creations.

Weaknesses
The judges highlighted the following weaknesses:

1. There were glaring disparities in the quality of entries. Obviously schools in some regions took the task a lot more seriously than those in other regions.

2. In a few cases of questionable authorship there was strong evidence of adult interference as vocabulary, sentence structure, formatting and, in extreme cases, even handwriting seemed to be heavily influenced by adults.

3. Failure to follow competition rules for presentation and submission led to the disqualification of pieces that could have been highly competitive and even potential winners.

View photos from Litkids Competition>>