Edward Clark dresses like a superhero and reads to kids
By LEGION TAYLOR
Reporter
“Read like a hero,” a literacy program started by Edward Clark, paid a visit to Happy Time daycare last week, teaching kids to read with the help of iconic superheroes.
The program, which Clark started in 2020, focuses on helping preschool children get more engaged and enthusiastic about reading, by bringing the characters in some of their favorite books to life. In addition to reading stories aloud, Clark also does things like sight word review, phonics flashcards, and letter identification, to help kids to read on their own. Other than going to daycares such as Happy Time, which he does monthly, he also consistently pays visits to Tallahassee First Steps Prep.
Clark is a South Florida native, who grew up in Pompano Beach, and attended MarjoryStoneman Douglas High School, graduating in 2002. From there, he attended undergraduate at Talladega College, graduating in 2007 with a Bachelor’s in sociology.
After graduating, he started a career in Law enforcement with the Talladega Sheriff’s office, before becoming a federal law enforcement officer in 2013. He recieved his master’s degre from Walden University in 2016, and in 2022 was promoted with a federal agency in Tallahassee, transferring to Crawfordville.
“I’ve always struggled with reading growing up,” Clark said, “What helped me when I was growing up was my second grade teacher Mrs. Beltram. She gave me comic books, and that led to me loving comics first and foremost, and loving reading… I decided to make an activity through delivery of a service, going to different centers, providing educational content with one of my biggest struggles. I read to the kids, because they love reading. I believe the impact of seeing a different hero every time engages them to want to learn even more.”
He also goes beyond the basics, and does social emotional learning (SEL) activities as well. The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL), one of the leading organizations behind the SEL movement, states that SEL is ”the process through which all young people and adults acquire and apply the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to develop healthy identities, manage emotions and achieve personal and collective goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain supportive relationships, and make responsible and caring decisions.”
By incorporating interactivity into his storytelling, Clark can help students learn to interact with the world around them, and with others.
Clark can be contacted at Partyheroclark@gmail.com, at his phone at 954-303-1220, or on Facebook and Instagram @HeroClark.
