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Grant brings children’s author to both Geneva and Beaver Falls classrooms
Children’s book author Dr. Lester Laminack brought his passion for literacy and writing to students at Geneva College and at Beaver Falls elementary schools. His March 31 visit was funded by an endowment that seeks to bring renowned artists to the college community.
The Visiting Artists – Patterson and Gilmore Fund, endowed by Paul H. Gilmore ’31, provides funds to bring high-quality artists and lecturers to Geneva and stipulates that all programs are to be open to the surrounding community.
To Dr. Adel Aiken, a professor of education at Geneva with a specialty in literacy and children’s literature, Laminack seemed a natural choice for this fund. The author of over 10 books, including books on literacy and teaching writing in the classroom, Laminack has also had first-hand experience in the classroom as a third-grade teacher.
During his visit, Laminack lectured to a group of over 75 education majors and guests on Geneva’s campus. He encouraged future teachers to read aloud to their students at least six times a day and gave them strategies for doing so. He emphasized the teacher’s role in the classroom and spoke about the ability narratives have to sensitize children to diversity and to the needs of humans.
After his campus lecture, Laminack visited Beaver Falls Central Elementary and Big Beaver Falls Elementary. With kids seated “criss-cross-applesauce” on the gymnasium floor, Laminack read his stories aloud to the students. He then encouraged them to notice things—to watch people and to keep a spy notebook in which they could record the sights, smells and interesting details they had observed.
Most school districts cannot afford visits like Laminack’s, and Aiken said it was a blessing to be able to provide this opportunity for Beaver Falls.
“Working in the community is a priority,” Aiken says. She believes that Geneva’s goals, and the goals of the education department, are to develop partnerships within Beaver Falls, and that Laminack’s visit “provided a piece in that puzzle of bridging the gap.”
Aiken appreciated Laminack’s emphasis on literacy and narrative to both the Geneva and Beaver Falls students. “Reading aloud as advocated by Laminack contributes to more effective teaching and, by extension, more literate students. Geneva’s mission is to transform society for Christ and one way to do that is through public education. Being able to provide this experience for the community where the college is located is an example of being faithful to our mission. Not only did our education majors profit from hearing Dr. Laminack, they also profited from seeing Geneva’s mission in action.”
–Laura Cerbus ’08