Promoting critical reading and writing virtually during a Covid-19 pandemic

a university extension report

Abstract

Writing and reading practices are essential for the construction of knowledge and, within the exams for entering Higher Education, writing is one of the main means used to measure these language skills. In the current pandemic context, with the interruption of classroom activities in the school environment, teaching needed to be rethought.  In this scenario, the Caririense Program for Writing and Reading in Adolescence (Celead Program) emerged aiming to help students from Cariri´s public high schools in  the production of the dissertative-argumentative text, as well as encouraging reading practices, to contribute to effective learning in this new remote teaching reality. Therefore, virtual synchronous and asynchronous actions were carried out, via Google Meet, based on the availability of study materials on writing and critical reading. To measure the impact of these activities, the evaluations attributed by the participants were analyzed using online forms. In this context, the main challenges identified were related to issues of internet network instability, lack of digital inclusion of part of the target audience, difficulty in communicating dynamically, and little student interaction. Nevertheless, the activity evaluations were mostly evaluated as great or excellent. It is expected, therefore, that the project has indeed contributed to the critical reading and writing practices of the target audience. Also, concerning the members of the Celead Program, it was noticeable the improvement of several skills necessary for a good academic and personal formation.