"The maternal nurse tells you - they should sit up by this age, they should weigh this much. I wish there was something like that for literacy."
Literacy Hub Persona 4: Parent Fiona
Age: 38
Work: Part-time admin assistant and full-time mum.
Family: Single Mum with a 10 year old boy, a 6 year old girl and a 4 year old boy.
Location: Regional
Approach
Personality
Fiona's story
Fiona is dedicated to supporting her children's literacy development, but it's a process she understands "by osmosis".
When her kids were toddlers, she actively sourced puzzles, placemats, and flashcards to help them learn the alphabet. Later, she bought games, apps, books, and even commercial programs, to teach the relationship between letters and sounds. Ben, the eldest "took to it straight away", but Harlow, who is 6 years old, is less interested.
Fiona wants to help Harlow but doesn't know how to. She relies on personal experience from 30 years ago, and advice from family and friends. She tries to buy "good books" but has no formal way of judging the quality of a text.
Fiona's limited awareness of phonics comes from programs like Reading Eggs and Letterland. Plus, she tries to follow "whatever gets sent home" by Harlow's teacher. The problem is, Home Readers and sound lists are so boring that Harlow refuses to do them. So reading, which used to be a special bonding activity, is now a battle that they both dread.
Fiona wishes her children's literacy development was benchmarked, just like their health. "The maternal nurse tells you - they should sit up by this age, they should weigh this much. I wish there was something like that for literacy. So I know what to expect. At the moment I don't know how she's going until I get her school report."
Goals
- To help her children learn to read and write.
- To experience reading as a special family time that feels satisfying and bonding.
- To learn how to teach literacy properly, so she can support what's happening at school.
- To have a clear understanding of what her children should be capable of, by when.
- To find good quality literacy resources.
Frustrations and Concerns
- Her lack of knowledge and skill in teaching literacy.
- Her inability to differentiate for her own children.
- The boring nature of home readers and literacy homework.
- The lack of information from schools - and the fact that it comes too late.
How can the Literacy Hub help?
- Tell me what my children should be able to do, by when.
- Publish lists of good books, games, apps, toys and other literacy resources, organised by age, and interests.
- Create short videos or stand-alone activities, to teach me how to teach my kids to read.
- Organise the whole thing by age.
Influences