May_2017_Voice_of_SWLA_Mag

SWLA education
Ms. Davis' Fifth-Grade Class Reads The Voice of SWLA for English/Language Arts
By Joyce R. Kebodeaux
When Ellaweena G.
Woods, retired
principal, substituted
for teacher Deborah Davis
in the fifth-grade class at
John F Kennedy Elementary
the students were hearing
about Mardi Gras and Black
History Month. Mrs. Woods
gathered copies of The Voice
of Southwest Louisiana for
each student to have their
own copy. There were stories
in The Voice of Southwest
Louisiana about how Mardi
began and a lot of information
about Black History. She said,
“I pick up The Voice because
it has all of the subjects that
we teach in school like history,
reading, social studies, politics
and even math.” These local
stories inspired the children
and it kept their attention.
Many of the students took
their copy home and their
parents were unaware that
the publication was blackowned
and operated by two
minority women. When Ms.
Davis returned, the children
wanted to continue using The
Voice of Southwest Louisiana
as their reading choice.
After she saw the class’
enthusiasm, she said, “I will
continue to use this free
publication to teach. It is
a good tool for teaching
English/Language Arts.”
With The Voice of Southwest
Louisiana, students are
exposed to real life things
like street names in their
own neighborhoods and it
is more personal than when
they study about other places
that they only hear or read
about. Throughout this school
year there has been the
2017 Election Results in the
magazine with all those that
campaigned. The students
see some of these people
campaigning for office in
church, the work place and in
business places. The crowning
of Maaliyah Papillion, Miss
Louisiana USA 2016, is a girl
that grew up and went to
school in the local area and
that gives a living hope to
local girls to reach high and
achieve their goals. Dilmore,
A.K. (2015, December) Lake
Charles Native Maaliyah
Papillion Brings Home the
Miss Louisiana USA 2016
Crown, 3(4), In fact, a future
Miss America or our next
president of the United States
may have been in our midst.
As we visited with Ms.
Davis ‘class we asked the
students to tell what was
most interesting to them
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May 2017 WWW.THEVOICEOFSOUTHWESTLA.COM Volume 4 • Number 8